In a world where churches are popping up in spaces that once served as anything
from a bank to a department store, First Baptist Church of Los Angeles is a
throwback to an earlier time when houses of worship were built to be just that.
Until recently, the audio system there was a throwback as well, until the
congregation turned to CCI Solutions to design and install a new system centred on
Kiva and X Series enclosures from L-Acoustics.

Built in 1927 and modelled on the Palace of Ducal in Italy, the historical landmark is
reminiscent of a European cathedral—deep and narrow with soaring 60-foot ceilings.
And, in addition to services for a number of congregations, it regularly serves as a
shooting location for films and TV shows. All of this created a unique audio
challenge.

“It’s a cavernous space and really multi-use for a church,’ says CCI Solutions’ Duke
DeJong.’ It is almost like a convention centre that the church owns and meets in.
The main congregation doesn’t fill the auditorium, but they rent the space out to
other larger congregations. So when we took on the job, there were multiple sound
systems cobbled together to cover the range of uses. The goal was to have one
good, clean system that could handle anything they threw at it. And given the movie
and TV uses, it had to be low profile. L-Acoustics’ Kiva fit the bill perfectly.’

Systems from a number of manufacturers were considered, including some noted
for high-tech pattern control, but they proved to be the wrong fit in terms of both
profile and cost.

Another issue HOW installers and crews struggle with is intelligibility. Music is one
thing, but in a church, spoken word is the main thing. “All of the L-Acoustics
systems we use, including Kiva, have a great warmth-to-articulation ratio. You can’t
go into a church environment with a really aggressively voiced system. Spoken
word and music have to co-exist without either sounding flabby or harsh, and the
Kiva strikes a really nice balance between warmth and articulation.’

Ease of use and installation—especially in a building with such high ceilings—was
another important factor but Kiva quickly pleased all. “Installation has the potential
to be a monstrous task in a room of this size,’ comments Todd Gathany, CCI
Solutions’ project lead for First Baptist Church of Los Angeles. “Even with the
extremely high ceilings and hard-to-reach locations for the fill speakers, rigging the
speakers up went very smoothly.’

The system is literally centred on a single centre-hung, seven-enclosure Kiva array
supplemented by two flown SB15 and SB28 subs on the floor, plus X8 coaxial
enclosures filling in a couple of areas that the main array doesn’t effectively reach.

For more info on First Baptist Church of Los Angeles, visit www.fbcofla.org. CCI Solutions can likewise be
found online at http://systems.ccisolutions.com.