Western Slope Pro Audio, Inc. Montrose, Colorado recently completed the installation of the sound reinforcement system for the newly constructed St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Grand Junction, CO.

The new facility, designed by Rex Peterson, AIA, features a 3,600 sq.ft. 250 seat worship space. Designed with moveable seating and staging, the room will have many possible uses and sound system requirements. Design & Project Management for the system was done by WSPA, Inc. President Scott Ikier with installation headed by Installation Manager Danny Kinimaka.

The sound system was designed to provide 360 degree coverage to the Sanctuary for all vocal reinforcement needs, the Parishes’ electric piano and future live performances or guest speakers.

The main speaker cluster included a custom fabricated 9’5"x 9’5" frame built in WSPA, Inc.’ shop in Montrose, painted to match the buildings interior, and suspended from the lantern ceiling beams at the center of the room. Seven Apogee ACS-SAT3 loudspeakers were also custom painted by WSPA, Inc. and installed on the frame with two speakers each covering the north, south and east sections of the room with a single ACS-SAT3 aimed to the west for monitoring use by the Pastors and readers at the lectern and on the altar riser. The speaker frame was suspended at a 14’6" elevation above the floor. Two Apogee ACS-110 subwoofers were installed in speaker soffits built into the east or back wall. All signal is routed through the Apogee ACS mainframe processor.

Power is provided by three Mackie Design M-800 power amplifiers allowing each section of the cluster and each subwoofer to be independently controlled . A Mackie MS-1202VLZ mixer was installed to provide mixing of the floor-box line audio feeds, electric piano and the vocal mixer feed.

A Sony WRR801 UHF mainframe was installed and loaded with four receivers, three lav/body-paks and one 

handheld transmitter. The handheld transmitter was installed on the lectern with each pastor receiving a body-pak/lav and a spare system available for guest speakers. Independent line outputs from the Sony mainframe were fed into a Peavey Automix along with the mic lines from the floor boxes, providing all automatic mixing functions for the vocal mics.

A secondary distributed speaker system was installed in the Fellowship Hall adjacent to the Sanctuary. Two folding glass walls provide an open overflow seating area for the worship services. Atlas/Soundolier in ceiling speakers with back-boxes were installed to provide coverage for this room and are powered by a Rolls RA2100B amplifier driving the 70-volt line. An in-wall volume control allows for independent level setting in the Fellowship Hall. A microphone connection was installed in the room allowing it to be used for meetings, dinners, or gatherings that require access to the PA system for a guest speaker. The Nursery also received a speaker and volume control from the distributed line.

Both the main speaker system and the Fellowship Hall system utilize Shure DFR11 EQ’s for room tuning and feedback control. The latter being a key factor in selecting the Shure product for this application.The existing Carillon system was installed in the equipment rack with four new Technomad Vernal 15 weatherproof loudspeakers installed outside for the playback.

WSPA, Inc. is the regions only full-service professional sound, video and control system design-build company, with over 35-years of combined industry experience.