In March of 2002 Joseph DeBuglio (EdB Sound, Acoustics) and I (Blake A. Engel, All Church Sound) met with Byron Center First CRC to discuss their building and renovation plans. The basic plan was to build a new sanctuary attached to the existing facility, and renovate the existing sanctuary into a fellowship area and classrooms.

The original sanctuary is shown below. Basically, it's an "L" shape. The ends of the "L" are so deep that people seated at the rear of one side can't see those seated in the other part of the sanctuary. The original audio system had been well designed, though a few extra pieces of knowledge could have made it even better. What was most interesting in this space is that if offered a look into how a room performs when it's long and narrow, and how it performs when it's wide. The people sitting in the rear half of either side heard the room as if it were long and narrow. The people seated in the front half of the room experienced it as if it were a wide room. After some discussion with church members, they did realize people who sat in the front section did tend to sing less and "wander" a bit more than those seated in the other areas.

After spending 3 days on-site in March, the church requested additional project guidance from All Church Sound. Nearly a year was spent working out the final acoustical details of the new sanctuary facility. In addition, information was provided to ensure proper lighting, video, HVAC, and of course, the audio system design.

Please note that not everything 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. This includes decisions to use the room wider than it is deep, the placement of the sound booth, and other similar details.

Initially, the church had planned to install the audio system themselves - but due to time constraints and finding a local company who would complete the install at a very respectable fee, they chose that route. In addition, the new audio company had some of their own audio system design elements. These items were worked through with the guidance of All Church Sound. Once the plans were reviewed and comments made, All Church Sound was no longer involved with the project.

Some of the audio system changes made included speaker placement, speaker hanging methods (they used cable instead of a solid bracket), speaker selection (12-inch rather than 15-inch drivers), and DSP chosen. While these are all very important issues, the final product is quite good; music sounds live and natural, the spoken word needs a little adjustment, but once set, blends right in and you forget you're listening to an audio reinforcement system.

The church is quite pleased with the acoustics and audio system.

(4 construction photos above taken by a church member and sent to All Church Sound)