The ability of a church sound committee to purchase the right sound system for their needs would at times appear to rank right up there with mortal man trying to part the Red Sea. The majority of church sound system installations we see across the country are not only out-of-date, but inadequate to perform the job that is being requested of them.

That's not for a lack of reason, actually. Many of those systems were installed ten or twenty years ago, yet in many churches the music being performed has changed rather dramatically in that time. Couple that with the fact that loudspeaker and system technology has also advanced significantly in the last several years, and it's no wonder that the sound system designers and installers of today are making a nice profit. They've awakened to the fact that most churches today need a new sound system. Fortunately for us there are a great many reputable, intelligent and knowledgeable audio companies out there ready to rise to that demand.

One job, then, of the church sound committee is to determine which sound company is the best choice for installing the new system. And that isn't always an easy task. One can't tell the whole story from price alone. They need to weigh the bottom line price along with the company's ability to meet the installation schedule and their record of after-the-sale service. I remember putting in a bid with a church to install a large sound system at a very reasonable price, only to get beaten by a better salesman with a bid nearly double that of mine. I was willing and able to give them a significantly higher quality system than they ended up with at a much lower price. Not understanding that, the sound committee ultimately chose the better "talker". The interesting thing is that the church now is sorry that they went with that choice.

Technology At Its Best

Designing a great sound system tailored to the specific needs of a church is an art in itself, a craft which takes a great deal of careful study as well as creative use of the available tools. Probably the most difficult segment of the design to get "right" is choosing the best speaker system. Some manufacturers build great sounding devices which perform exactly to their printed specifications, while others either don't tell you much in their specifications or applaud marketing terms, buzzwords and features rather than performance. The reality of the matter is that each product sounds different than the next.

Another painful reality is that, while a particular speaker may perform exactly according to its published specifications, those specs are only true for a single device in a particular setting. Take a second speaker of the same model and position it alongside the first, and all of those specifications in regards to its dispersion pattern go out the window. Move one of those devices even an inch, and the dispersion pattern changes again. This could be why so many sound system designers have premature balding.

The truth is that the formulas that aid the sound system designer in taking those speakers and packaging them into the best sound system for your particular use and facility design have been around for a great many years. Those companies who package their thorough understanding with an ability to present it fairly to an unknowledgeable church sound committee deserve to win the battle. Clean marketing and a fair price don't hurt either.

Do Your Homework

Any reputable system designer or pro audio company can provide you with a list of references of other churches with whom they have worked. Call a few of them. Find out if they felt good about the working relationship, if the job was completed on time and within budget, and most importantly ­ is their after the sale service at least as good as it was before the sale.

If you're shopping for one or two pieces of gear, you might consider calling a representative sample of dealers around the country. Find out what you can get the piece of gear for. If your local dealer's price is way out of line, then thank him for his time, but let him know that you'll be getting the gear from another source. My suggestion is not to play two dealers against themselves. I would never do that. You're simply doing your homework. If the salesman knows that you don't know what the piece can be purchased for, then he'll get every dime out of you he can. The reality is that some dealers do so much volume that they can purchase the equipment from the manufacturer at a lower cost than other dealers can. This gives them their competitive edge, because they can pass those savings on to the customer. At the same time, if the price comparison is relatively insignificant, I would always choose to purchase from my local dealer. The reason is that you want to develop a good working relationship with the local dealer, because he will support you when you need an extra wireless mike for a special service, or the loan of a stage monitor while yours is being repaired. Never underestimate the value of that relationship. Likewise, don't abuse the guy sitting in a store hundreds of miles away from you. If you really don't intend to buy from him, then don't call him. That's not a good witness to him, and he has plenty of churches in his local area that need his time.

Finally, the long term benefit of doing your homework is that over time your local dealer will learn to respect you. You'll become friends and he'll have no choice but to shoot you a fair price right from the start.

The LAR Factor

There's still a problem, however. The one injury that usually keeps the quality designer from staying in that battle for your dollars is the swift entry of some dealer who happens to win you over by having "exactly what you need" right on his shelf, ready to bring it over today if your check is ready. We've witnessed churches solicit and receive proper design and installation bids from first rate pro audio companies, only to go with the low "it's-just-as-good, really" priced equipment from a nearby MI (musical instrument) dealer. What usually happens then is that the church will fuss and complain about the inability of the system to do the job they expect of it for the next three to five years, at which time they, in desperation, return to the quality dealer for help. The reality is that a high quality, great sounding system could have been installed by the better dealer in the first place for just a slightly higher price.

Despite the widespread availablility of the critical information for designing proper sound systems, a disturbing number of people who call themselves sound system designers operate with the LAR (Looks About Right) approach to system design. They tend to solve design problems with prepackaged systems, an approach which actually does a disservice to both the customer and the original equipment manufacturer. The church is unhappy because the system doesn't do the job they expected of it, and the manufacturer is unhappy because word will get around that his product is "obviously no good" because it didn't work in that church. The product may be a perfectly good device used in the wrong situation or wrong placement.

While we're at it, I'm not knocking the MI store, nor do I mean to discredit the lower priced equipment. One reason it exists is because there is a genuine need for it. Just don't make the mistake of expecting first rate sound from a much less expensive piece of equipment. And remember that sometimes long term reliability and a low price don't go hand in hand. If the quality serves your purpose and if you're happy with the sound, then fine. The caveat is ­ know what you're buying, and don't believe the salesman's "it's just as good" pitch. If there's a question, simply ask for an A/B demonstration in your facility.

Who Defines "Good Sound"?

That brings up another dilemma. Who decides what "good sound" is? Using the formulas, and given an understanding of what the church expects the system to reinforce, a good sound system designer can design what he believes will serve your needs. But part of his job is to accurately interpret the sea of information that the sound committee gives him. He is going to take your complaints of past system performance, requirements of the proposed system, comparisons to so-and-so's church sound, and personal embellishments of the committee members, and turn that into a big picture of what he thinks you want.

If at all possible, the person who is going to design your sound system should sit in on one of your church services. How can he truly know what your particular style of church service is like, or the extremes to which it may vary over the year, if he doesn't take the time to sit in on at least one of your services? Trust me. There are no rules in his bag of tricks that say "if you're designing sound for a Baptist church, use formula #27". There are no such rules because no two churches are exactly alike.

Someone is going to come to you and tell you that he can take your plans and design a proper sound system on paper. The cool thing is that, if he knows what he's doing, he/she can. Even if you haven't broken ground for your church yet, if you give him an accurate set of plans, and if the facility is actually built exactly according to those plans, if all the materials called out in the specifications were actually installed that way, he can design a system and guarantee its performance within a given set of tolerances before you ever break ground. (This also assumes that his system is installed the way he designed it!)

The Grey Area

The grey area is this — he can prove by simple measurement techniques that its performance is within his guaranteed tolerances. But does it sound good to you? Yes, with a talented mixing engineer at the controls, just about any system can sound good. A master mixing engineer can make a lousy system sound fairly good, but a master engineer mixing with a great system can work miracles.

It's important that you remember that this is a two way process. The sound system designer's decisions rely on the accuracy of your comments to him. We know of one case where a first rate system designer went through the entire design process with a major church. Their final word to him was that only the spoken word would need to be reinforced in their sanctuary. Given the extraordinary reverb time of the facility, his proper design choice was to install a quality pewback sound system. The problem came with their very first function held in the new sanctuary — a Beverly Sills concert!

You must choose your words to him carefully as well when you compare your desires with the sound at so-and-so's church. There's nothing wrong with this idea. In fact, we recommend that you visit other churches and develop a feel for what the possibilities are. But, if that church happens to use brand X speakers, you can't necessarily expect those same speakers to sound exactly the same in your sanctuary. For one thing, the acoustics of your facility may be drastically different than the acoustics of the other church. If, however, you find in several settings that you always prefer the sound of those brand X speakers, then you may have sufficient reason to request that your chosen system designer try to use those devices in his design for your facility.

Acoustics

Acoustics play an integral role in the function of a sound system. Some churches have never realized how important this fact is because their facility was designed properly in the first place. Many others live with dizzying slap echo and other such acoustic misfortunes on a daily basis. One church we know of has two design mishaps fighting for attention. Not only was the sound system designed and installed by an LAR (Looks About Right) team, but the sanctuary was designed with a concave balcony face that focuses the racquetball-court-like slap echo right back at the platform. The sound team (and the congregation) often heard the pastor request that they do something about his "echoing". Since this often accompanied a slight feedback ring, they thought this was simply his term for feedback. The audio engineer would drop the level of his lapel mic and this would make the pastor happy. They later realized that, in fact, the pastor was simply tired of hearing his voice come back to him 141 milliseconds later and that it was difficult to preach with that kind of competition.

That brings up one caution if you are planning to build a new facility ­ architects are generally only concerned with a building's look, its functional layout and its structural integrity. Few architects truly understand how a sound system interacts with the acoustic space, and yet this is critical to the success of the sound system design.

The good news is that there are a growing number of tremendously knowledgable consultants who understand both sound system design and how the sound system interacts with the acoustic space. In fact, we know one sound system designer who often turns down the request to design a sound system unless he can get into the project before the drawings are made. If the foundation is already poured, he'll probably turn down the job entirely. It's that important.