Lancaster Evangelical Church (LEFC) in Lititz, PA believes in the importance of being clear about its mission to ‘Love God, Love People, Live Truth, and Proclaim Jesus.’ They are vision driven and mission focused.
The Church began in 1980, gathering for worship in a local fire hall. Numerical growth brought about moves to several locations before a new church building was completed in March 2020 with the first services in the new building on Sunday March 8, 2020. With the new auditorium providing up to 1,200 seats, LEFC is currently gathering for two services each Sunday with an average of 1,000 attendees. As a contemporary house of worship, a typical Sunday morning worship team includes a 4-6-piece band and 4-5 vocalists with an occasional choir, brass, or string section.
During the planning stages of the project, the architectural design was completed by RLPS Architectural Firm (Lancaster, PA). Next Level Productions (Elizabethtown, PA) was tasked with fulfilling church requirements for the ideal loudspeaker installation as well as sound reinforcement, stage lighting, and projection. Next Level Productions, owner, Darryl Wenger suggested a front of house d&b Y-Series loudspeaker array with a V-SUB array. “The Y-Series fit the SPL requirements and budget requirements, with a shorter hang that does not impede the line of sight with the projection screens while viewing from the raked seating,” states Wenger. “We chose the V-SUB array over the Y-SUB to allow for additional SPL and lower frequencies. d&b does an excellent job of accurate reinforcement of both spoken word and contemporary worship music.”
The d&b Y-Series line array modules are 2-way passive loudspeakers with two 8” drivers in a dipole arrangement and a centrally mounted 1.4” compression driver with a wave transformer in either 80 or 120 degrees. The sophisticated cabinet design delivers full-bandwidth capability with an extended LF output and directivity control down to 500 Hz.
The d&b V-SUB is a high-performance cardioid subwoofer that can operate with two cabinets on a single amplifier channel, making it an extremely efficient choice combined with the benefits of the cardioid pattern.
“Initially the church hired an Architectural Acoustic Study by Custom Sound Design (CSD), using the preliminary architectural design to recommend design ideas and acoustic treatment plans to provide good acoustics in the worship space,” said Ken Martin, Pastor of Worship Technology & Care. “Consideration was given to shape, size, and surface materials in the sanctuary with raked seating and lots of hard surfaces. The goal was to start with an acoustically balanced space, and I am so thankful that we achieved this goal.”
Wenger said, the ultimate purpose was to provide a controlled speaker system in a controlled space. “Choosing the d&b Y-Series loudspeaker system and implementing acoustical treatment recommendations allowed for the ideal integration project. Pastor Martin was set on choosing d&b from the start after visiting many locations, listening to many systems, and noting the d&b audio difference.”
Pastor Martin said he enjoyed watching the installation and was intrigued by the final phases of work by d&b who tuned the system and finalized the ArrayProcessing. “The ArrayProcessing maximized the system’s coverage in the space; what started as good concluded with great sound, providing even dispersion for every seat.” Wenger said the back half of the room with raked seating benefited greatly by implementing ArrayProcessing.
ArrayProcessing is a unique d&b technology which optimizes tonal balance and level distribution of a d&b line array system over the entire coverage area to provide a consistent listening experience for each congregation member, regardless of where they are seated.
The Y-Series configuration consists of Left/Right arrays with 4 x Yi8s over 4 x Yi12s utilizing ArrayProcessing, a single Y10P point source center fill, 6 x Vi-SUBS in a SUB array, M2 Monitors, 10D and 30D installation amplifiers.
“The end result is a space where acoustics are complimentary to corporate worship and a d&b loudspeaker system that delivers clear and even dispersion for the lead worshippers sound and pastor’s messages to every seat,” concludes Wenger.
