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Sound
Image recently upgraded the audio system
at the Tabernacle in Atlanta with JBL VTX line arrays. |
NORTHRIDGE, California – Sound Image of Escondido, California has dramatically
improved the house PA system at the Tabernacle in Atlanta with an upgrade to
HARMAN’s JBL VTX line arrays. While the venue, constructed as a Baptist church
in 1910, posed a variety of acoustic challenges, Sound Image’s expert
application of the VTX system has created a listening experience on par with Atlanta’s
most prestigious venues.
Known
informally as “The Tabby,” the Tabernacle has a seating capacity of 2,600
people and has changed very little from a structural standpoint in its 100-plus
years. The Tabernacle features an open, standing-room space on the ground
level, with three balconies at different levels.
According to
Billy Lindsey, House FOH Engineer at the Tabernacle, the design of the venue
creates a visually striking but sonically challenging environment. “Since it
was built as a church, the Tabernacle was architecturally designed to amplify
preachers, so you can talk from the stage and be heard well into the balconies,”
he said. “Take that, add modern music and the stage volumes that some musicians
can achieve, and you get a rough idea of what the acoustics are like.”
For the main
PA system, Richard Davis of Sound Image and his team installed 24 VTX V25
fullsize line array elements (12 per side), with 12 S28 arrayable subwoofers
(six per side), with left-right hangs of three VERTEC® VT4886 subcompact line array
elements each for out fill. Crown
IT12000HD amplifiers
power the system, which also features dbx DriveRack 4800 processing. HARMAN
HiQnet System Architect™ was employed for system configuration and
monitoring.
The third
floor of the Tabernacle also features a VIP lounge called The Room that
features a main PA system of four VRX932LA Constant Curvature loudspeakers and
two VRX918S subwoofers per side.
Davis noted
that he had not heard the VTX system prior to the installation at the Atlanta
Tabernacle, and pointed out that it’s a perfect fit for the venue. “When I
tuned the PA for the room, I didn’t even have to touch the high end,” he said.
“It was pretty much right there from the downbeat.”
“With the
VTX system, you don’t have to struggle to get above the resonance of the room,”
Lindsey said. “These boxes can also go really low and easily go all the way out
to 16K.”
In addition,
Lindsey noted the advantages of the Crown
IT12000HD amplifiers,
which feature the OmniDriveHD™ DSP engine (co-developed with HARMAN’s BSS),
specifically optimized for fast and efficient audio processing. “What’s great is everything is in
those amplifiers, they have the architecture in the amps all ready to go, which
is amazing,” Lindsey said. “We have four amp racks—two at house left and two at
house right—and each one has a rack with eight amps per side and four zones,
with a secondary amp rack handling the front fills and subs.”
“If I had to
measure the level improvement of VTX over the previous system on a scale of one
to 10, I’d go with a 12,” Lindsey concluded. “The high-frequency intelligibility,
what you really need to cut through the muck, is incredible. And the turnkey
package of VTX with Crown I-TechHD is a hip combination. I can comfortably say
the Tabernacle is now the best-sounding room in Atlanta.”
For more
information on Sound Image, please visit www.sound-image.com
For more
information on the Tabernacle, please visit www.tabernacleatl.com
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