Our Work

Evangelical Full Gospel Assembly

Location: St. Louis, Missouri

TMS Scope: Sound System Renovation

Project: The design of the original loudspeaker system was appropriate for the church's needs when it was installed over 20 years ago. It was designed and installed by a local sound contractor using then state-of-the-art technology. Although the system was still working okay all these years later, speech intelligibility was marginal especially for those seated toward the back of the sanctuary, and the sound quality lacked warmth and fullness.

Senior Pastor Ron Garascia and project team members Ron Kilgore and Phil Jones started looking for the right company to work with to upgrade the sound system. They put together a Request for Proposal and did receive a detailed bid from a local contractor. But the bid left the team with questions as to how well it would work. As they continued their search for the right designer to work with, the team members independently did a search online for a "sound system designer in St. Louis". All three of their online searches landed on the same name - Curt Taipale. I have no explanation for that, other than I think God really wanted us to work together on this project.

The single Tannoy QFlex 40 provides extraordinarily even coverage to every listener in the room. I've seen many a sound system designer make that statement, yet it's rarely true. But in this case, it totally worked. (My heartfelt thanks to Ivan Schwartz with Tannoy who created the steering file for me!) And it works in part because we had the audacity to place the loudspeaker behind the pulpit position. You'll notice in the photos that the loudspeaker is mounted high on the upstage wall. The digital steering capability of the column line array allowed the vertical pattern of the loudspeaker to hit listeners in the front row and those at the back row. And it did that without any problems with feedback from the pulpit mic or other mics in the platform area.

Nearly a full year lapsed between my first visit to their church and the week I commissioned the project and trained their team. The installation was superbly executed by M&L Sound based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Joe & Bob were great to work with, always good attitudes and responsive to my (multiple) requests for minor adjustments as the installation came together.

Their first service took place on September 30, 2012.

Pastor Ron and his fellow project team members were such a delight to work with. It's often hard to convey in the early stages of a project the technical excellence that I know as a designer I can bring to a church. Having these individuals believe in me from early on in the project built a strong relationship throughout. Today they continue to be blessed with a sound system that allows every ear to hear, and I am blessed to know that I have such good friends in St. Louis. Now that the project is complete, I genuinely miss our conversations.

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