Christ Chapel Bible Church in Ft. Worth in the US knows sound. The 30-year-old
church has steadily expanded since it was founded in 1984, adding new
buildings to its evolving main campus and recently opening a satellite location,
and all of the main venues have state-of-the-art sound systems from a number
of iconic brands.

Like many contemporary houses of worship, Christ Chapel Bible Church
recognises that delivering a powerful message requires a sound system that
can offer utter clarity for the spoken word and clear, clean sound for a strong
music programme. In order to achieve all this and stay at the forefront of sound
system technology for its main sanctuary, Christ Chapel Bible Church chose to
purchase and install an L-ACOUSTICS KARAi line source array system – the
version of KARA specifically tailored for the fixed install market.

The sound system installation was completed earlier this year by long-
established Ft. Worth AVL design and integration firm Electro Acoustics, Inc. The
system consists of 32 KARAi enclosures configured into four line array hangs of
eight enclosures each, with each hang topped by two L–ACOUSTICS SB18i
subwoofers. The entire system is powered and managed by eight L-ACOUSTICS
LA8 amplifier/DSP controllers.

Electro Acoustics was largely able to use the same rigging points in the ceiling
above the 1 800-seat sanctuary that it had installed for the previous system it
put into the main church 10 years earlier, helped greatly by KARAi’s lightweight
design. In addition to providing clear, intelligible sound for spoken word and
music, the KARAi also brings wide coverage to the space. The system’s 110-
degree horizontal directivity is more than enough to address everything from
the front rows on the floor to the balcony seating, and four hangs easily handle
the 70 to 80 degrees of coverage that Electro Acoustics President and Chief
Steward Chris Jordan estimates was necessary vertically.

This was the first L-ACOUSTICS installation for the church and for Electro
Acoustics, and both were very pleased with the outcome. “I and some of my
team were attending a sound system shootout at the WFX Worship Facilities
Conference & Expo last year, and when we got to L-ACOUSTICS we all just
stopped and said, “What was that?’’ Jordan recalls. “We immediately noticed
that it sounded superior to every other system on the floor and decided to look
into it.’

Fortunately, Christ Chapel Bible Church Technical Director Rob Wimberly was at
the same show and had a similar experience when listening to the L-ACOUSTICS
rig there, which reinforced Wimberly’s already high opinion of L-ACOUSTICS’ V-
DOSC system that he’d heard in touring form at concerts. “Rob is a very gifted
sound mixer,’ says Jordan. “He really understands how music should
sound.’

With that, the decision was made – the decade-old sound system in the church’s
main sanctuary was due for an upgrade and it would be the newly introduced
KARAi that would keep Christ Chapel Bible Church at the sonic cutting edge.

“We are able to keep the energy off the side walls and on the audience,
consistently covering every seat, and with eight amplifiers, we have plenty of
headroom for what has become a very energetic music programme,’ Jordan
concludes.