[ATTACH=CONFIG]199793.vB5-legacyid=11821[/ATTACH]ODESSA, Texas – February 2015 — Founded in 1999 in Midland, Texas and now home to over 3,500 worshipers, Stonegate Fellowship Church is in growth mode. Like many thriving houses of worship, Stonegate is using the satellite-church route for its expansion, opening a new location in nearby Odessa. But with this kind of growth comes uncertainty; as the new location builds up steam, it may have to move between multiple locations to accommodate more people. That’s where the L-Acoustics ARCS Focus sound system the church has invested in for the Odessa campus has proven to be a wise choice.
“This is Stonegate Fellowship Church’s first attempt at a new location and there was a lot for them to think about,” observes Steele Beaty, operations manager at Skylark AV, the Oklahoma City-based AV system integrator that the church has worked with at its main campus for its audio, video and lighting needs. “Instead of investing right away in a new building, they’re setting up church every Sunday in the auditorium of a local middle school, but that location could always change. They also know that the quality of the sound has to be the best wherever they are, so they needed a system that has excellent audio quality, high reliability and is easily portable. The L-Acoustics ARCS Focus is the only one that meets every criteria.”
Skylark AV assembled a system consisting of two stacks of two ARCS Focus modules atop two SB18 subs with a dedicated LA4X amplified controller powering each stack. “What’s great about this system is that it’s compact and easily set up and broken down, as it has to be every Sunday morning, and if they were to have to change locations, it can be configured as either ground-stacked, as it is now, or flown.”
That kind of flexibility is important for start-ups, because it means they can take their investment with them as their location needs change and evolve. Beaty also cites L-Acoustics’ Soundvision simulation software, the technical and after-sales support, and ease of use – the church’s staff was able to take over operation of the system after just two hours of training – as reasons he recommended the ARCS Focus system for the church at this critical junction in its history.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]199794.vB5-legacyid=11822[/ATTACH]Stonegate Fellowship Worship Pastor Tyler Dodds says the recommendation was spot on. “Our current worship venue in Odessa is very challenging because it has a high reverb time; it was originally designed to amplify acoustic instruments and voices, so it wasn’t designed to have a PA in it,” he explains. “To maximize clarity in both our speech and music reinforcement we knew that we needed something that would be very clear in the midrange and high end, plus be focused to put the sound exactly where we needed it. With so many hard surfaces in the space, we wanted to keep as much sound as possible off of the back and side walls, and the ARCS Focus boxes allowed us to do exactly that.
“The subs are just as impressive. The low end is extremely punchy and clean – not at all muddy – and the amount of power that they put out for their size is just ridiculous! Combined with the ARCS Focus, the whole system is highly phase coherent and very linear. From the lowest lows all the way up to the top end we are really getting out of it something that we love.”
Beaty is equally pleased with how the L-Acoustics system turned out. “The sound quality of the ARCS Focus is legendary,” he adds. “It means that no matter where this takes them, the church will always have perfect sound even in an imperfect environment, and an investment that will keep paying them dividends for years to come.”
Stonegate Fellowship’s home on the Web is located at [url]www.stonegatefellowship.com[/url]. Skylark AV can also be found online at [url]www.skylarkav.com[/url].
[HR][/HR]
About L-Acoustics
Founded in 1984 near Paris, France, L-Acoustics is a leading manufacturer of turnkey solutions for the professional sound industry. With 250 team members, 20 percent of whom are dedicated to R&D, L-Acoustics is present in over 60 countries either through subsidiaries or via a network of certified distributors or providers.
Recognized throughout the industry for pioneering the modern line array, L-Acoustics offers a total system approach for both the touring and fixed installation markets, and a product line responding to the needs of venues from the most intimate club to the grandest arena. L-Acoustics sound systems can be heard in places like the Hollywood Bowl, the NBA Houston Rockets Toyota Center, or the Philharmonie de Paris. L-Acoustics solutions have been used at six of the world’s ten top-grossing festivals, the London and Sochi Olympics, and on the Justin Timberlake 20/20 Experience World Tour, among others.
