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Meyer Sound M1D Bestows Georgia Church with “Fitting Sound”
Nearly hidden amid a grove of spreading oaks draped with Spanish moss, the new St. Simon’s Island Community Church on the Georgia coast seems to reflect the languid air of the Old South. Inside the church’s 975-seat sanctuary, however, the sturdy old hymns receive decidedly updated arrangements, and are complemented by energetic contemporary praise music. This “joyful noise” certainly benefits from 21st-century technology, including impeccable performance from a highly compact audio system featuring Meyer Sound M1D line array loudspeakers.
Designed and installed by Baker Audio of Norcross, Georgia, the complete system comprises two main arrays of eight M1D loudspeakers each, augmented by two UPJ-1P VariO™ loudspeakers for outer fill, eight MM-4 miniature loudspeakers for frontfill, and two 700-HP subwoofers for bass reinforcement.
The church’s key decision maker on the system, Technology Director Travis Paulding, made his preliminary loudspeaker selection after attending a demonstration session, arranged by Baker Audio and involving four different line array systems.
“I didn’t know much about the Meyer line arrays before that day, but after listening, I thought the Meyer system sounded a lot better than everything else,” recalls Paulding. “That was the bottom line.”
However, the arrays he’d heard consisted of the M’elodie™ line array loudspeakers. Calculating the array length needed for full coverage, and working from a low 22-inch hang point, it became apparent that the more compact M1D loudspeakers would be a fitting solution in both size and performance.
“We do both acoustic and electric music styles, with a lot of piano, but we’re not a hard rock church,” notes Paulding. “The M1Ds have demonstrated plenty of power for our applications. That was a relief, because I made my decision without having heard a main system of M1Ds, though I’d heard them in a larger church as sidefills.”
Testifying from the installer’s viewpoint, Baker Audio’s vice president of operations, Jon Whitwell, remarks, “The best thing for us was the great support we have had from Meyer. Every time we had a question, they were there for us. They were very responsive.”
The Meyer Sound package also included a Galileo™ loudspeaker management system, design assistance using the MAPP Online Pro™ acoustical prediction program, and system alignment using the SIM® 3 audio analyzer.
Completion of the new building marks a major milestone in the growth of St. Simon’s Island Community Church. Launched by a few families in 1996, the church had been meeting in rented space in a nearby retail and office complex. Today the thriving church draws over 1,300 people weekly to its Sunday services, special events, and community service projects.
More information is available by visiting www.meyersound.com
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