Framingham, Mass.-based Bose Professional announced that Connect Church, located in Cherry Hill, N.J, incorporated the new AMM multipurpose loudspeakers in its community-focused approach to worship with the help of Whitaker Technologies. According to a statement, Connect Church began in 1998 under the leadership of Pastor Kyle Horner and his wife, Danielle. It has has a foundation focused on multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-generational worship.
Need for an Upgrade
This high energy, contemporary church continues to grow and evolve to support the community, says Bose. Part of this evolution is not just adjusting to how the church serves, but also how best to improve its worship space in preparation for in-person attendance.
The church is known for creating a culturally relevant and spiritually significant experience with each service. It leverages a variety of technology — including lighting fog and multiple video screens. As a result, the services are an experiential moment. However, holding in-person services was suspended during the pandemic. The church thus took advantage of the time to improve the audio system that supported the overall experience and unified their space.
Viewing the situation as an opportunity, Horner and his team explored different ways of staying connected to their community. “The question became: what are the ways we can create a unified community?” Horner remarks. Part of the answer involved using this time to renovate the church and gathering spaces. “We had a plan to work on the sanctuary, café, kids’ spaces and the guest lounge. When people return, we want to give them something to be excited about, beyond just a fresh coat of paint,” Horner explains.
Horner and his team considered the meaning of community and how they could incorporate it every day. With this in mind, they moved the stage from a position at one end of the room, which was separate from the audience, to its central location where it is now part of the audience. In doing so, it unified the entire congregation with the worship service.
The Bose Professional Solution
The church awarded the project to Whitaker Technologies, a 30-year Bose Professional solutions provider. The Philadelphia, Pa.-based provider has an existing relationship with Connect Church, according to a statement. Owners Kevin Whitaker Sr. and Kevin Whitaker Jr. then proposed an exclusive Bose Professional solution.
In centering the stage, the first hurdle was addressing the size and configuration of the space, which is a long rectangle with 16-foot ceilings. The team moved the stage to the middle of the room. This created a theater-in-the-round layout with seats surrounding the stage on all sides. Additionally, it would be capable of rotating. This dynamic setup created audio challenges around the equal distribution of sound, as well as the need to address distortion and time delay. By solving these challenges, the new sanctuary would have a more inclusive, comfortable feeling. It would also be more like a living room and less of a stage highlighting “a show.”
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“I believe in presentation; the most important thing we can do when we bring people together is experience the presence of God. I believe how we present His word, and ensure it can be heard and understood clearly, helps people understand who God is,” adds Horner. “They can read along and feel connected to the people around them. This helps us transition from spectator to community mode.”
Developing the Audio Design
With its unique setup and Bose Professional audio expertise, Whitaker and team developed an audio design to ensure an exceptional experience using the AMM multipurpose loudspeakers.
“We were blown away by the low profile, ease of installation and design flexibility of the new AMM product line,” Whitaker Sr. says. “We couldn’t wait for the church to experience the final result.”
Whitaker Technologies also chose the ShowMatch SMS118 DeltaQ subwoofers to complement the AMM loudspeakers. This pairing created a more consistent coverage over a wide frequency range. This further adds to the crystal-clear vocal clarity during the services.
The team also selected the PowerMatch and Powersoft amplifiers to provide completely customizable modes. This allowed the church to allocate the power to one or more output channels. Finally, the ControlSpace processor completed the package. It provided the flexibility needed for the ultimate high-quality, yet easy-to-use sound system control.
The next challenge was upgrading the sound system in the lobby, boardwalk deck and children’s areas. Here, the team needed to ensure each member experienced exceptional audio everywhere they went.
Reconfiguring the Church Sanctuary
This customized Bose Professional solution helped the church expand its reach for the convenience of all its members. This includes even those running a few minutes late or dropping younger family members off at the children’s area. “People experience Bose audio from the moment they pull into the parking lot to the moment they leave,” Horner observes.
With the reconfiguration of the sanctuary, the church now has 360 seats. Moreover, each one of them is positioned for a sensational audio and visual experience. The loudspeakers also provide vocal clarity, tight bass, excellent pattern consistency and high sound pressure level required for the space. Thus, the AMM products proved to be the ideal solution for the specifications and efficiently met the church’s audio needs.
According to a statement, the previous system had been too loud because the distribution was off. As a result, the upgrade needed to be loud enough to push to the back of the room, but comfortable and enjoyable to a wide variety of ages at the same time. Horner comments, “I sat in every section to listen to the sound. It doesn’t matter where you sit, it’s the same great quality sound experience.”
Praise for Bose and Whitaker Technologies
Because of the integrated audio solution of loudspeakers, amplifiers and processors, the conversion of refreshing and unifying the sanctuary — and the community — is now complete, per a statement. “Having Bose help us engineer the solution from start to finish enabled us to realize what could be and permitted us to bring to life the concept in our heart,” shares Horner. “The expertise that Bose brought, especially with the AMM loudspeakers, helps us realize the dream!”
Horner also commends the partnership and efforts between Bose Professional and Whitaker Technologies. According to him, together, they provided “excellence” at every touchpoint.
“Whitaker Technologies is a company built on relationships and trust, and the relationship between Connect Church and Bose is so important. The power, strength and technology from Bose, coupled with our technology and integration team, provided a win-win situation for everyone.”
Kevin Whitaker Sr.
Whitaker Technologies Inc.
With one less detail to address on Sunday mornings, Horner shares, “I’m no longer worried about the audio and how everything will sound. It’s a huge peace of mind to be able to say this; audio and video are usually what concerns pastors the most before services.”
With Bose audio to help create a uniquely engaging space, the church says its dream of using the power of sound came true.
Click on “View Slideshow” on upper-right corner for images of Whitaker Technologies and Bose audio solution at Connect Church. All images courtesy of Bose Professional.
