This project began many years ago when my associate Joseph De Buglio was hired to help design a new church building for the Mundelein Vineyard Church. At the time, they were meeting in a converted movie theater and had their offices nearby.

For a number of reasons, the project has since changed from new construction to renovation of an existing facility previously owned and operated by a local Southern Baptist church (who are now in a brand new facility). Renovations began mid July of 2003 and must be completed by the end of September 2003.

Because Joseph has been quite busy on other projects and since my office is only a few miles from the church, he turned the remaining project supervision over to me (Blake Engel) and All Church Sound. This move was accepted by the church, and Joseph remains involved with the project from his office in Toronto.

Please note that not everything Joseph and Blake suggested was done; some issues are minor while others are much bigger. The church is aware of these decisions and understands the compromises made which were done for cost, aesthetic, or other reasons.

Below is a photo of the front of the original sanctuary prior to any renovation work.

Next, a front and rear photograph of the initial renovation. The front half of the platform was removed, and the rear balcony walls were removed (along with the carpet and other small items)

As of late August 2003, renovations continue as work progresses on speaker brackets and painting the speakers. The ceiling will be painted, drywall outrounds will be built between the windows, and the overall room will be shortened slightly to make room for additional nursery space and a coffee bar.

Here's a few shots of two of the five required speaker brackets. These brackets will be used to mount two horns. The brackets provide pan, tilt, and height adjustment. Because originally ordered materials were not available on time, changes were made and the brackets were overbuilt; these brackets can easily hold a load of 1,000 pounds or more. (Please note that when hanging ANY speaker, it's best to hang it from the sides of the box, not the top. If you hang it from the top, you risk the box falling apart. In this case, since the weight of the horn and driver is only around 20 pounds, we felt quite confident the assembly could be hung properly and safely from the top alone. If this bracket were required to carry a heavier load, the lower portion would be changed so it connected to the sides of the speaker box rather than to the top.)

This is the lower portion of the bracket which attaches to the horn (above). The bracket is built as two pipes, one inside the other. They are connected via a 1/2-inch threaded rod run through them. This allows the height adjustment by simply turning (screwing in or out) the smaller pipe. A small setscrew is all that's needed to ensure the speaker doesn't turn anymore once positioned correctly. The bracket was built so the two pipes can never be taken apart, unless they're cut. This height adjustment also provides the panning. Tilt is acheived by the center bolt and curved track cut into one side of the lower section of the bracket. Once the angle is adjusted correctly, the center bolt and then the angle set screw are tightened.

Here are the final brackets for the (3) bass boxes. These brackets are adjustable by length as well via a 3/4-inch threaded rod.

Click here to see more photos and read about the bracket construction.

Here's an early photo of one of the speakers for the system (below). The church owned a set of three speaker systems, but they were just hidden away because no one knew what to do with them. Many will recognize this as a popular speaker from 30 years ago. JdB Sound, Acoustics, All Church Sound, and a very helpful speaker manufacturer all worked to determine how to best refurbish these boxes. Since JdB Sound, Acoustics and All Church Sound are not speaker manufacturers and don't know enough to take on such a project, it was the speaker manufacturer who took the time to analyze the boxes, determine where additional support was needed, re-design the ports, and chose the proper drivers to put in the box and for the horn. Many hours were spent on this portion of the project alone. The boxes and drivers have been redesigned to the point that they now handle 500+ watts (originally 120 watts), they have a very smooth phase response, an octave was added to both the low and high end, the sensitivity has been greatly increased, and the response is much smoother. These are just some of the main improvements made. To get a new speaker today that will operate the same as these boxes would require one to spend nearly $3,000.

The speakers are being refinished by one of the church audio team members; he's put in a great deal of time to make these boxes look good on the outside (not to mention all the modifications made to the inside!).