Like many contemporary churches, First Baptist Church of Manchester, Tennessee
has undergone a transformation in the style and energy of its services. Years ago,
services cantered on sermons augmented by music played by organ, piano or choir.
Thus, in a room that seats nine hundred, the demands on the sound reinforcement
system were rather light. But that has changed – and dramatically. These days FBC
punctuates sermons with a full band comprised of rock “n roll instruments. The
church’s old sound reinforcement system couldn’t keep up! Audio/video integration
firm Centerline Audio Visual, of Hendersonville, Tennessee, stepped in to design
simple, yet powerful, stereo reinforcement consisting of two Danley SM-100B full-
range loudspeakers buttressed from below by a Danley BC-218 subwoofer, with
Ashly Audio nXp-Series network multi-mode amplifiers providing power, integrated
DSP, and Dante connectivity.

“The architecture of First Baptist’s sanctuary is a little different,’ explained Scott
Oliver, Centerline AV president. “It’s not a box. The roof is pitched, and the room
itself is a trapezoid; it’s about ten feet wider at the back than at the front. The
Centerline philosophy is always to use as few components as possible because
there’s generally a trade-off between the number of components and the resulting
sound quality. More boxes can help with coverage when necessary, but it almost
always comes at the expense of sound quality. For First Baptist, we gave them just
about the simplest system you can imagine: a pair of Danley SM-100B loudspeakers
and a single Danley BC-218 subwoofer.’

The SM-100Bs hang at a steep angle above either side of the stage, and the time-
aligned subwoofer hangs from the centre of the ceiling, approximately one-third the
way back from the front of the room. Centerline’s Greg McDougald managed the
project, and Barlow Harlin of Harlin Technical Services, of Bowling Green, Kentucky,
handled all the rigging.

An Ashly nXp3.04 amplifier and an Ashly nXp4004 amplifier power the new system.
Each amplifier provides four channels, with the nXp3.04 rated at 3,000W per
channel and the nXp4004 delivering 400W per channel. Oliver opted for on-board
Protea™ DSP and a Dante™ network card for each amp. A Soundcraft SI Performer
console serves as user control for the new system, with an Allen & Heath ME-
System for in-ear monitors.

The system is already successful despite a lack of acoustical treatment, which is
slated to occur sometime in the next year. For now, it’s brick walls and nothing but.
“Danley’s famously steep pattern control keeps sound off the walls to a large
extent,’ Oliver said. “That helps a lot with intelligibility and musical impact. And the
Danley SM-100B is an especially gorgeous-sounding box. It’s amazing that two of
them are more than able to cover a nine hundred-seat room: it only has a single
coax driver for the mid and high frequencies! It’s a bit like our design philosophy:
keep it as simple as possible. By not overcomplicating the system, it’s more
effective, less expensive, and easier to maintain. Importantly, those benefits come
with zero compromises.’