Michael Garrison Associates (MGA), a design-build systems contracting firm, installed its first L-ACOUSTICS system at the new 110,000 sq.ft. Calvary Church (formerly Calvary Temple) in Irving, Texas.

Under the direction of MGA senior systems designer Brian Roggow from the firm’s satellite office in Springfield, MO, twin arrays, each comprised of 10 L-ACOUSTICS dV-DOSC cabinets plus three dV-SUBs, were flown above the left and right sides of the stage in the 1,500-seat main sanctuary. For low-frequency reinforcement, four SB218 subwoofers are positioned up in the room’s center cavity, while two SB118s are located under the stage. Four additional coaxial MTD108a systems are further called upon to deliver front-fill, and all loudspeaker systems are powered by L-ACOUSTICS’ own LA Series amplifiers.

"Our initial system design for Calvary Temple featured a more traditional trapezoidal type of enclosure that would have been concealed behind the soffit," recalls Roggow. "However, during the building construction phase, several people from the church visited Angelus Temple in L.A, which has a full dV-DOSC rig, and they decided that they wanted a similarly aggressive concert-style system to better accommodate their contemporary worship band."

"We were all really impressed with [L’ACOUSTICS] dV-DOSC’s wave guide," says Roggow, "which is wide, accurate, and very pleasing to the ear. These speakers do everything that they’re touted to do."

The system is flexible enough for the variety of acoustical elements in the church such as speeches and live musical performances. "After getting everything installed and angled correctly, we found the loudspeakers to be extremely precise in their directivity and remarkably consistent in terms of coverage throughout the sanctuary," Roggow continues. "The system also has very good gain-before-feedback and rear rejection of the stage, which is critical because the pastor often walks down the front of the sanctuary wearing a Countryman E6 microphone while the band is performing and he obviously needs his voice to be intelligible above the music. That was one of the biggest challenges we were tasked with, but this system handles it very well."

Kerry Jones, executive pastor at Calvary Church, is pleased with MGA’s results. "The audio system MGA installed in our facility, in my opinion, is the best church sound system that I have personally experienced," exclaims Jones. "It is equally excellent for both speech and music reinforcement."

For more information, visit www.l-acoustics-us.com.