Small, But Warm Venue Adds d&b 24C Column Speakers

	The Cultural Arts Center in Lancaster, South Carolina

The Cultural Arts Center (CAC) in Lancaster, South Carolina was constructed by the First Presbyterian Church congregation in 1862 as the first brick church building in the town. The building's architecture is in the early French Gothic Revival style.

The major historic event to occur in the old Presbyterian Church was its occupation by Union troops in the spring of 1865. Cavalrymen led by General Judson Kilpatrick stabled their horses in the sanctuary, using the pews as feeding troughs.

With the departure of the First Presbyterian congregation in 1926, during the following 30 years, the building was used intermittently for a variety of historical and cultural purposes, but, despite efforts to restore and maintain the building, it gradually fell into decay. In 2008, with the assistance of the City of Lancaster and private donations, the Lancaster County Society for Historical Preservation launched a concerted effort to restore the church structure and to bring it back to a new life as the Lancaster Cultural Arts Center. In 2010, the first concert was held in the restored building. The year 2020 brought major changes to the CAC; a spacious vestibule/ lobby, a large "green" room, and new bathrooms for both the audience and performers were added. The bathrooms, parking lot and entrances are ADA compliant. The grand opening took place on November 5, 2020.

The new Lancaster Cultural Arts Center recently upgraded their sound system to two d&b 24C cardioid column speakers with 24C-E column extenders. The PA is primarily for speech, background music, and acoustic/unplugged-type scenarios. The very small, but reverberantly warm venue also holds events such as classical piano, small orchestra, jazz, classical, and currently holds events with a COVID social distancing procedure in place.

"The 120-seat room has an average decay time of approximately 4 seconds and is a loud room acoustically," states Jerry Temple, owner of XL Mediaworks who installed the d&b system. "Minimal noises such as a door closing resonate the space and un-amplified speech is un-intelligible. The space is also used for community meetings and things such as local political debates where intelligibility is required." The early Gothic style architecture has 16" thick walls of plaster that are marked to resemble stone.

In order to address the needs of such a challenging space, XL Mediaworks employed the most effective tool to achieve the results that were expected by facility management. The 4" LF drivers of the 24C are arranged in a unique cardioid setup to deliver significant directivity down to 370Hz, and when combined with the 24C-E extender, directivity extends down to 190Hz. The cardioid pattern produces minimal energy behind the loudspeaker, reducing reflections and resulting in balanced level distribution across the listening area to provide a high-level of intelligibility.

"Before the installation, voice presentations were barely audible unless one was close to the speaker," states Johannes Tromp, Lancaster Cultural Center. "Today, voice is clear throughout, and the system allows for piped-in music providing great sound background in both auditorium and vestibule areas. This full and rich sound has added a dramatic atmosphere to the center. We are delighted with the results and look to benefit from the system for many years to come. XL Mediaworks has been a pleasure to work with and is providing ongoing training to achieve the maximum benefit of the equipment."

"The client did not want any acoustic treatment in the space but wanted both great speech intelligibility and premium quality sound," says Temple. "Having installed many 16C and 24C systems, we knew the 24C and 24C-E would be the best solution. Also, the d&b 10D amplifier allows systems such as this to be designed and deployed with one amplifier which helps for the overall budget."

The system consists of 2 x 24C column loudspeakers (white finish), 2 x 24C-E column extenders (white finish), and 1 x 10D installation power amplifier.