AVE Upgrades Technical Infrastructure At The WOFD

Martin Audio partner, Audio Video Electronics (AVE) has successfully upgraded the technical infrastructure at the Word of Faith Dominion Church (WOFD) in Lake Mills, Iowa.

Based in Brooklyn Park, MN the integrators opted for a TORUS constant curvature array solution after their engineering team had reviewed a number of possibilities.

According to AVE Sales Consultant, Kerry Graffunder, the Church’s existing PA had reached end of life and was no longer delivering the coverage or clarity required from a worship establishment that is just 25 years old. "The pastor merely requested some ‘thump in the trunk’ … and the intelligibility has greatly increased also," he said.

This result was obtained by hanging a pair of TORUS, left and right of the stage, with a Blackline X218 subwoofer in the centre. Nearfield coverage is provided by a pair of Martin Audio’s differential dispersion DD6 under two angled scrims at the front of the stage. The new set-up is powered by a pair of Martin Audio’s iKON iK42 multichannel power amps.

Project lead, Karl Selander, explained how they had arrived at this solution. "We have many different HoW installations using [Martin Audio] CDD point source under our belts, but this was our first time wetting our feet with TORUS. We had not really had an opportunity to explore the TORUS line previously, but when we looked at the different options, it was clear that a CDD solution wasn’t the right fit for the room."

Instead, by placing a T1215 (15° vertical pattern atop a T1230 (30°) he knew he could get both the throw and width of coverage in an 80ft x 80ft square room (particularly as due to the 17ft stage thrust the net coverage area for congregants was little more than 60ft).
The technical upgrade was undertaken in two phases, with a new mixing desk and control up on the balcony, forming the first phase, and the ‘racks and stacks’ following in phase two.
Martin Audio has been on their list of specified brands for the House of Worship specialists for as long as they can remember. The O-Line micro-array had marked one of AVE's first forays into that market with the brand. "It was for a specific customer, and seemed a really good fit," they noted.

However, moving on to TORUS—which adopts a hybrid approach between line array and point-source, Karl Selander led an exacting collaborative review, enlisting design support from Martin Audio’s US office, fronted by Martha Callaghan. This ensured they were deploying the correct solution and giving up to 200 congregants the best bang for their buck—whether receiving the word of the Lord from the celebrants, or rejoicing to the worship band.
While WOFD was fairly forgiving when it came to reverberation, unlike some worship houses, Martin Audio's own technical support team assisted with the DISPLAY software modelling to ensure optimisation.

In fact the installation team had faced very few challenges, as Karl Selander explained. "The rigging solution we came up with ensured we could securely mount the T12 grid. It was relatively simple to get the angles correct, using Unistrut [brackets] attached to the existing purlin and optimise the pan and tilt angles. It went up extremely quickly."

Presets available in Martin Audio’s VU-NET software for selecting the installed TORUS configuration gave them the head start they needed, and the recommended FIR filters placed on the appropriate amp channel. "We then just needed to dial in any problem frequencies within the room. After that, it sounded great straight out of the box."

Selander's verdict on TORUS? "The size of the cab was easy to work with, and the tech crew there had no problems moving anything around. The adjustments that were available with the waveguides were simple to understand and use and the support from Martin Audio was spot on. We had all the information we needed right out of the gate."

Kerry Graffunder added his own endorsement, praising the support from Martin Audio and Callaghan’s recommendation in particular. "Given the history of Martin Audio it was the correct decision … it's given the Ministry a ton of extra benefits."

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