Review: Martin Audio Wavefront Precision
By Nick McKinnon
First Pentecostal Church offers a variety of music during worship, from Southern-style gospel, to contemporary worship, and everything in between. Unfortunately, the architectural style of our facility is not conducive to great acoustics – high, vaulted ceilings (65′ high), hard marble surfaces, stained-glass windows and a balcony present a challenge. The sanctuary seats close to 3,000 and we run a front line of nine singers, a worship leader and a full band. We needed a system that would sound clean and bright, but be directional and avoid bouncing off the harder surfaces, but also reach every part of the room, and we wanted to avoid adding acoustical treatments, so we needed to choose the best system for our facility.
I was drawn to Martin Audio because of the quality of their control. We were able to run a demo of their MLA system before making any purchasing decisions, and it became apparent very quickly that Martin Audio products would do everything we needed them to do. As we were waiting for the quote on the MLA from Clark, they told us Martin Audio’s Wavefront would also be available. We were able to go to Infocomm to see a comparison of the MLA and the Wavefront side-by-side, and made the decision to go for the Wavefront Precision system.
Read more in our November issue, online now.
Sid Gattis, owner of Gattis Pro Audio, was all set to install a top-notch, state-of-the-art line array system at First Baptist Church in Lincolnton, North Carolina – as he had done in scores of other churches – when fate intervened. Gattis attended InfoComm and heard Danley Sound Lab’s new SM-80F point-source loudspeaker with built-in subwoofer support. Designed by pioneering acoustician Tom Danley and his team of engineers using several of their patented technologies, the SM-80F provides remarkably even coverage, well-defined pattern control, and articulate, high-fidelity audio. Gattis had always been sober-minded about the limitations of even the best line array systems, and he saw that the Danley SM-80Fs would save the church $12k, provide higher-quality sound, and – at half the size of the line array – limit the visual impact to First Baptist Church’s aesthetic.
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As one of the music industry’s most highly respected studio and live mixing engineers, Russ Long recently embarked on the Christmas with Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith tour, which also features Jordan Smith, Season 9 winner of The Voice. Long needed a microphone that would capture Grant’s soft vocals without any handling noise. The solution was 
Lawton First Assembly located in Lawton, Oklahoma has a 10-year history with AGI Professional of Eugene, Oregon. “We needed an AVL company that would understand what our needs were,” states Senior Pastor Don Barnes. “Our church was so outdated, we even had the original red carpet. We were in need of a facelift and without a large budget, AGI always looks ahead so we don’t spend money on products that would soon be obsolete. Greg Slape (AGI owner) knows the church as well as he knows the technology.” The company was again chosen to specify and install complete audio, video, and lighting systems first in the youth auditorium followed by the sanctuary.
