Taipale Media Systems

Our Work

Middletown Christian Church

Location: Louisville, Kentucky

TMS Scope: Loudspeaker System Renovation

Project: The design of the original loudspeaker system was spot on for the church's needs 10+ years ago. Designed by a highly respected consulting firm using then state-of-the-art technology, and installed by a highly capable company that obviously cared enough to do it right, the system had served its purpose admirably. Yet as so many churches have done over the years, the worship music style at Middletown Christian Church had evolved towards a more contemporary style. The old system just wasn't able to deliver the warm, "fat", clear sound character that the church was looking for. Not only that, but the reverb decay in the room was longer than we would hope to have for that new worship style.

Fellow ChurchSoundcheck member Neal Hoover first contacted me in 2010 to discuss the possibility of my designing their replacement loudspeaker system. One good thing about some church projects taking so long from their initial concept to commissioning the installed system is that sometimes in the interim a product comes along that is the perfect fit. The loudspeaker system that we ultimately chose for this project was still in the early development stages at Bose when Neal and his fellow sound tech, Sean O'Mahoney, were sharing their original ideas with me. Easily a year later, with the help of our friends at Bose, I was able to arrange for the church to hear a private listening demonstration of the Bose RoomMatch system.

The rest, as they way, is history. Sean and Neal are enjoying mixing on their new loudspeaker system. The system sounds gorgeous, and the coverage gives every listener the best seat in the house. The reverb time in the room is of course still longer than we would hope for, but the performance of the RoomMatch loudspeaker system delivers such a clean sound to the listeners that the room acoustics issues are, well, less of an issue. One day they will likely add some of the acoustic finishes that I've recommended to them, but for now they couldn't be happier.

Their first service took place on July 29, 2012.

      Main Sanctuary Equipment
        • Main Loudspeakers: Bose RoomMatch (4 modules)
        • Subwoofers: Bose Subs in a Flown Cardioid Array
        • DSP: BSS London BLU
        • Power Amps: LAB.gruppen

Special thanks to Bose Field Engineer John Rogers for showing me how to properly voice a Bose RoomMatch loudspeaker system. And then ... since we had some time left over on Saturday night before the first Sunday morning service with the new Bose system, Sean and I hauled my TEF gear over to their gymnasium and invested a few hours bringing that truly troubled loudspeaker system back to life. Thanks, Sean, for the late night run to McDonald's!