Martin Audio O-Line keeps the faith at Arkansas chapel

When the First Pentecostal Church in North Little Rock, Arkansas (FPCNLR), decided to upgrade its sound system three years ago it became the world’s first adopter of Martin Audio's then new Wavefront Precision Compact and Mini optimised arrays.

Fast forward to the present and the church has added a new mid-size chapel on its campus for multipurpose use and brought in a new sound contractor.

This time the PA needed to reinforce events that were “too large for our rotunda space, too small for our sanctuary, and not quite casual enough to be held in our Great Hall,” according to the Church’s director of communications, Zachary Ward.

With aesthetics a prime consideration, the solution was found in Martin Audio’s discreet O-Line column micro array, specified and installed by Nashville-based Spectrum Sound. This provides balanced coverage for the 232 main floor seats and further 48 seats in the balcony.

“The new room presents an auditory challenge as the floors are of tile and the ceiling is more than 40 feet high, creating quite a reverberant space,” said Ward. “Added to that is the need to reliably produce clear, intelligible speech during a sermon or dinner involving a speaker while also being capable of producing rich, vibrant music and vocals during a time of worship. We feel that the Martin Audio system accomplishes these demands well.”

To achieve this, Spectrum has provided two hangs of 16-deep O-Line, run in 2-box resolution from a pair of Martin Audio iKON iK81 amplifiers, with a pair of white floor-mounted SX218 subs placed unobtrusively between a couple of large floor-to-ceiling columns, powered by an iK42.

Prior to installation, Spectrum Sound pre-assembled the systems in their workshops and flew them at trim, to test performance.

“O-Line is unique, because it allows the flexibility of a traditionally curved larger line source, but in a package that fits a space like this chapel much better aesthetically,” commented Spectrum Sound sales manager, Ken DeBelius. “And adding Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision magic really optimises what is possible as to the acoustical radiation from such a compact solution. We were happy with the sonic result right at the outset and adding the dual 18” subs made it a truly full range system.”

Tuning and design were carried out via Martin Audio’s proprietary Display software, using construction drawings and on-site measurements. In addition to powering the main system, the spare channels on the 4-channel amplifier were wired with stage connectivity for use with passive floor monitors. “For now, the system is being driven analogue by a small mixing console, but later on — with the upgrade to a larger console — they can drive the system via Dante directly into the iKON amplifiers,” said DeBelius.

In summary, the installer said that Spectrum had managed to meet not only the aesthetic requirement with O-Line but also delivered listeners with “good direct-to-reverberant ratios for their live amplified program content.”

Ward concluded: “We are extremely satisfied with the performance of O-Line. With such a unique room, including 42ft-high ceilings and several stained-glass windows reaching more than 28ft tall, O-Line provides even coverage and clarity while accomplishing our main goal, preserving the overall aesthetic of the room.

“We then ask our lighting and sound teams to design a system to fit the room. O-Line has certainly proven itself capable of meeting the demands placed on it by the unique aspects of our design and installation needs.”