Located in the centre of Georgia, the Assembly at Warner Robins had outgrown its
600-seat sanctuary and was paying the price with multiple services scattered across
the weekend. To bring the entire congregation back together under one roof, the
church devised a plan to knock out the back wall and to more than double the
available seating with a theatre-style arrangement. In the process, integration firm
MABE Production and Installation of Lakeland, Florida designed and installed state-
of-the-art sound, video, and lighting systems. Citing ease of installation, reliability
of performance, and flexibility for future expansion, MABE specified a complete
Dante-networked sound reinforcement system, including Ashly Audio Dante-
equipped ne4800 and ne8800 Protea™ digital matrix processors.
“The Assembly has a high-energy, contemporary worship style, and they needed a
sound system with a lot of traditional, console-based control,’ explained Richard
Vaughan, project engineer and design engineer with MABE. “They wanted the ability
to do multi-track recording, and since the church’s technical director had a lot of
experience with Yamaha consoles, we agreed to install a Yamaha QL-series console.
The console’s Dante capability inspired us to build out the entire system using Dante
connectivity. It would make the installation a lot easier; it would make patching a
lot easier; and it would make future expansion a lot easier. Moreover, they could
simply tap off the Dante network for their multi-track setup.’
In addition to the Yamaha FOH console, a Behringer console, paired with the video
recording and playback system, is outfitted with an optional Dante I/O card, and a
bevy of new Shure ULX-D wireless microphones are also on Dante. An Aviom Dante
distribution unit ably handles all the Dante traffic, most of which is routed through
an Ashly ne4800 4×8 matrix processor and an Ashly ne8800 8×8 matrix processor. A
self-powered JBL VRX line array system provides principal coverage of the
sanctuary, with Ashly KLR-4000 (2,000W @ 2 Ohms) and KLR-5000 (2,500W @ 2
Ohms) two-channel amplifiers powering JBL delays and subwoofers, respectively.
“We’ve been installing Ashly for well over a decade now,’ said Vaughan. “I’ve
always been impressed with their reliability and their sound quality. Ashly’s sound is
very pure and transparent. Ashly processing is straightforward, easy to use, and
rock solid. Ashly’s Dante implementation is excellent – the setup and digital
patching was easy, and the cabling was way simpler than it would have been with a
conventional system. Just a handful of CAT6 cables took care of everything.’
The new video system at the Assembly includes 8k Panasonic projectors for side
screens, an 11k Panasonic projector for the centre screen, Blackmagic switchers, a
Blackmagic 40×40 SDI router, and Blackmagic converters on all the projectors and
screens throughout the facility. In addition, Blackmagic recorders capture video
content and camera feeds from the service. The new lighting system uses Chauvet
LED fixtures for the stage, and a pathway connect snap panel for analogue control
of the LED house fixtures. Leprecon entry stations provide the user interface for the
lighting system.
