Gardendale on the Move

With a rapidly expanding membership and a thriving seven-year-old TV ministry that reaches into 287,000 Central Alabama homes on Sunday mornings, Gardendale First Baptist Church is a study in progress, growth and forward motion.

The church’s current sanctuary was built in 1974 and seats an average of 1800 people, with Wednesday and Saturday night services and three services on Sunday morning. As Minister of Media Mark Ramsey puts it, “We pack them in tightly and, thank the Lord, they’re still coming.”

Asked what the Church was looking for in the new audio system, Ramsey says, “we wanted to improve the spoken word and provide even tonality throughout the entire room. We had a highly distributed system before, and it was creating too many resonant sound points and timing issues, so we’d lost our direct relationship with the stage psycho-acoustically. We wanted a PA that would localise all of the audio to the stage so that anywhere you sit in the house, the sound stage takes your attention to the platform for the first time in 20 years.”

Designed and installed by Anything Audio of Hendersonville, Tennessee, the main speaker system consists of 18 x W8LM Mini line arrays with three W8LMD downfill line array speakers powered by MA2.8s amplifiers. The system also consists of six WSX subs powered by two MA4.2s amplifiers.

The under-balcony system is comprised of an AQ6 TX 70V speaker powered by a MA1.6s amplifier, while the balcony delay consists of two AQ12 2-way speakers powered by MA1.6s amplifier and a Crown 70V amplifier. The Rear Choir Monitor System includes three F12 2-way speakers powered by an MA1.6s amplifier.

Discussing the impact of the new system, Ramsey enthuses, “It's such a dramatic difference in the spoken word that a lot of people have had to make a major readjustment. Among young and old alike, the most common reoccurring statement is, ‘I can finally understand what the Pastor is saying and what the music minister is saying between songs. Whatever you've done, keep it up because we love it.’

“In terms of the musical and choral reproduction the word would be ‘astounding,’” Ramsey adds. “The difference is beyond night and day. For the first time, we have intelligibility without sacrificing the musical aspect of that intelligibility. And with the way Martin Audio treated the room with their design, there's no energy going anywhere but where people sit.”

Summing up his feelings about the audio upgrade, he concludes, “Martin Audio has exceeded our expectations and our Church sanctuary is an example of how good it can sound when you can share your thought process and collaborate with the right manufacturer and a good installer. If that can happen, dreams do come true and right now, Gardendale First Baptist Church is living that dream.”