And the Winners Are...

I will go ahead and warn you this will be a long one….but I have had some people interested in knowing how the speaker/projector demo’s went….so….here it is…

Apparently my last entry regarding the audio/video upgrades at Fellowship prompted a few phone calls. So…with that in mind I am sure there are at least a few people that are going to be curious how things ended up.

Following is a list of who we demo’d and what our thoughts were:

Loud Speakers:

SLS RLA 2 Line Array: SLS is known for their ribbon technology. They normally have a very smooth sound to them. There were two things we were worried about – first was how the boxes responded in our room. The room seemed to take over the sound….second was the fact we were worried that while the ribbon sounds stellar on more acoustic sounding stuff and at lower volumes it didn’t have the get up and go that we need for some more aggressive music. I would recommend you listening to their boxes though…they sound pretty amazing in the right application.

JBL Vertec Line Array: JBL has a real nice sounding box with the Vertec line array. JBL components have always had a very distinct sound. It’s a bit colored, but I think it makes it sound pretty musical. The JBL folks treated us great and did a great demo. Reed Hall at Lakewood put the larger versions of this cabinet in at their new place. Reed knows what he is doing and made a good choice. The box has a good sound to it.

Meyer MICA Line Array: This is Meyers baby brother to the MILO cabinet. We did a shoot out between MILO and MICA. Let me say…the vocals coming through this box were stunning! The box had a great quality about it. I have heard it said that Meyer didn’t truly start making line arrays till they released MICA….I can see what people are talking about…..STUNNING!

Meyer MILO Line Array: If I hadn’t heard MILO along side MICA I would have picked MICA without blinking an eye. The one TASTE thing that Matt Wheeler and I both agreed on was there was just a little bit of magic in the beefiness of the cabinet that we couldn’t overlook. The reason I say taste is because in a lot of ways the MICA was actually a better sounding cabinet there was just something that Matt and I knew we wanted for what we are wanting to do.

AND THE WINNER IS….MILO …Thanks so much to everyone who we have spent time with over the past few days. The decision wasn’t exactly easy. All the finalists were solid and have a great product. I would recommend to anyone to look at any of the products we did.

We will be looking in to hanging a MILO cluster with HP700 subs. We are still making some last minute decisions on extreme outside fills and under balcony.

Projection:

Christie Digital S+12k: We are currently using S12’s in our satellite facilities and on the center screen in the main room so we were pretty aware of what they can do. They look great with an HD signal going to them. It’s a native 4:3 projector and with us being in 16:9 format you automatically lose approximately 25% of your light. When using chip projectors converting and image from 4:3 to 16:9 eats up the chip and you have light loss. They say you get approximately 10,000 ansi lumens and when you subtract out your light loss and screen size I think we were seeing around 6,500 or so.

Christie Digital S+16k: This is similar to the S12 with the main difference being that it puts out 14,000 ansi lumens. Once again, it’s a native 4:3 so you have a 25% light loss automatically.

Christie Digital S+25k: KILLER product…and the best thing….it’s native 16:9!! The s+25k is rated at 25,000 ansi lumens and since it’s a native 16:9 projector you actually get that amount of light. Now with us being on a larger screen surface (it looks like we will be 13’1/2”x24’) there will be some loss, but it should still look stellar. The other REALLY cool thing is, if you have ever used larger projectors they can be real noisy, Christie has made it so the fans can be up to 100’ away from the projection unit which keeps your room quieter.

Barco R12: We used these projectors at the American Airlines Center for Christmas Eve. They looked great…no complaints. The bummer is that it’s a 12,000 ansi lumen projector and it’s native 4:3 – notice a recurring theme??? They have a 25k projector they are bringing out next week, but the bummer here is that it’s real noisy. They are suggesting double stacking 2 – R12’s, but I have to wonder if that will be cost effective. We shall see.

And the winner is...Christie Digital S+25K - we will be using the Christie 25K for our side screens flanking the stage. We also will bee installing 2 - 16K's double stacked for our center screen. We couldnt get the lensing to work out to use a 25K.

I will keep you all posted how this all proceeds. We intend on having the video in by mid August and the audio in by the end of August - no pressure right???

Comments

[joel yates]

Mike just curious why l-acoustics/ v-dosc or dv dosc was not considered since this seems to be what a lot of tours and pa companies are stocking and artists are requesting? Killer sounding boxes.
Joel

[Mike]

Joel,

Good and fair question. We have a bit of a unique situation here at Fellowship. Several members of my staff including myself have extensive touring backgrounds. We have use most other products out there including L-Acoustics...in fact I have used V-dosc on several large festivals.

You are right...great sounding box! What we were in need of for this project was not just a great sounding box, but an exceptional sounding box with great precision. A lot of what you find in use for touring applications while they sound great with music pumping through it, they dont handle speech as well or as natural as I would like. Working in the church obviously music is a huge deal....but we always start and end with our pastor. We knew he had to sound exceptional and the bonus we got was that the music also sounded excpetional.

You always have to find the product that works best for you and your application. After going down the paths that we did we just found that the MILO line was the line of choice.

Mike

[Rod Pearcy]

Mike,
Great stuff. We are using the Christie 12K in our multi site also and it seems to be the current winner.
We are converting to line array in our main sanctuary and going with Martin.
We'll let you know how it sounds.
Rod Pearcy
Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale

[joel yates]

Cool Mike thanks for the reply and you are exactly right you do have to use what works best for you and your application. Hope everything goes well with your new overhaul. Look forward to hearing it one day.
Joel Yates
New Spring Community Church

[Eric Rizner]

Mike, I appreciate you posting your findings. I'm a huge Meyer fan. Who is doing your install on this project? Is Clark Pro Media involved?
Eric Rizner
Rocky Mountain Christian Church

[Mike]

Eric - Thanks for checking out the findings!

Yes Clark Pro Media is involved. I will be putting more information related to the install shortly....stay tuned...Mike

[John Bartlett]

Hi Mike, just curious what happens to the existing equipment once you upgrade?

[Mike Walker]

In regards to what we will do with the existing equipment...we will sell it off. We have a local company that has done real well for us brokering items.

[Brian]

Mike,

I work at a new church in Keller. I visited Fellowship Church tonight and the new screens were amazing! Great work on choosing the best! The sound was greta too. The best thing is that no technology got in the way tonight. They all enhanced!

Have a blessed night!
Brian