Bose Professional Systems Helps the Boiling Springs First Baptist Church Upgrade Performance

	A RoomMatch loudspeaker array from Bose Professional Systems Division at the First Baptist Church of Boiling Springs, part of a PA system upgrade. Photo: David Clyburn, MusiCraft Systems.

The First Baptist Church of Boiling Springs, South Carolina, recently undertook a large scale project to upgrade technology in the church's sanctuary. The church's worship style incorporates elements of both traditional and contemporary worship, using choir and organ, plus a worship team and amplified instruments at the front of their 1,100-seat church. Several solutions were evaluated, but only one company offered a configuration so ideal that it was the equivalent of a custom-designed sound system: Bose Professional Systems Division, whose RoomMatch loudspeakers and PowerMatch power amplifiers offered precisely what the job needed.

The new PA system for the church is composed of two Bose RoomMatch RM5505, four RM5510, two RM7010, two RM9010, and a pair of RM12040 array module loudspeakers, plus four RMS215 subwoofers. Plus two RM12060 modules provide for balcony fill-in coverage. Six PowerMatch PM8500N amplifiers power the system.

Systems designer Jim Deal utilized Bose Modeler sound system software, an acoustic design and analysis program that can accurately predict a sound system's performance, and the first sound system software to offer full STI prediction, according to the company. Modeler was used to fine-tune the design and coverage patterns and select the proper system components. The sound system was installed by Roebuck, South Carolina-based MusiCraft Sound & Video, a longtime Bose dealer.

Deal says he'd been intrigued by the design approach of the RoomMatch and PowerMatch products since they came to market, especially their potential for maximizing performance in reflective and more reverberant environments. He was able to experience them installed in a church in the Dallas area and was impressed. Music pastor Butch King was also able to to hear the Bose system in person while attending a worship conference in Dallas, and was equally impressed. "The fact that the Bose RoomMatch components offer so many possible configurations allows me to design a system that will provide high quality intelligible sound to the seating area, while minimizing reflections from walls. The result is a system with greater clarity, detail, and impact, and we all were delighted with the result," says Deal. "Since the system was installed, the reaction from the church members and from others who have heard the system has been very, very positive. Everyone is pleased with the outcome."

David Clyburn, who was the project manager for MusiCraft and supervised the system's installation, says the RoomMatch speakers went in without a hitch, enabling them to complete the job within the tight five-week time frame allotted. "The wide variety of horn patterns means we knew exactly where each enclosure had to go, instead of the hang-and-shoot techniques you have to use with many line arrays that require constant tweaking after they're hung. With the RoomMatch modules, you can predict exactly where the sound is aimed, knowing that you can effectively keep the energy off the walls and keep it on the congregation," he explains.

Clyburn says he's been a huge fan of Bose Professional live-sound products for years. "We were excited when Bose came out with the RoomMatch and PowerMatch products," he adds. "They gave us a larger system to work with that we can apply to a wider range of projects. We've been working with Bose for years and we'll be working with Bose for years to come."