Mariners Church Upgrades to SSL Live

Mariners Church recently upgraded its sound system with a pair of SSL Live. L500 consoles for their 3,400-seat, 81,000-sq. ft. worship center. Nestled on a scenic hilltop next to the Newport Coast, Mariners Church features contemporary Christian worship and averages 14,000 attendees per week. This is a substantial increase from its humble start in the 1960s, when the church held worship at the homes of Newport Beach families and a series of rented locations, including Mariners Elementary School after which it was named. Since building its current worship facility in 2006, Mariners has opened additional locations in Mission Viejo, Huntington Beach, San Juan Capistrano, and Santa Ana.

It was nearly a decade since the church first installed its audio system, which included a 48-channel analogue FOH console, and the audio team knew it was time for an upgrade. They turned once again to CCI Solutions, the integrator on their original sound system, which this time supplied a pair of new SSL L500 consoles for both FOH and monitors.

"The clarity of the console and the way we can separate the mixing functions has been spectacular," says Mariners network technical arts director Jeff Stewart, who joined the church at the same time as the consoles. "It's not just me who feels this way, everyone has been telling me that it's a night and day difference over the old console, which was gone before I got here."