S&L transforms sound at Apex Baptist Church
S&L transforms sound at Apex Baptist Church
Poor speech intelligibility and uneven coverage in the sanctuary at were the primary challenges to negotiate when S&L Integrated was tasked with designing a new audio system for Apex Baptist Church in North Carolina, leading to the installation of WPS Wavefront Precision line arrays from Martin Audio with acoustic treatment and additional loudspeaker fills.
“We’ve had a long-standing relationship with Shawn Walden, the worship pastor at Apex Baptist,” explained Gage Helton, director of operations at S&L Integrated. “When they realised their previous audio infrastructure was holding back their worship experience, he reached out to us to design a complete, top-to-bottom system redesign.”
The church's previous system had struggled to keep pace with the growing congregation and the demands of contemporary worship services. Coverage was particularly problematic around the sanctuary's deep balcony, while reflective side walls contributed to long reverberation times and flutter echoes.
“Acoustically, it was a classic house-of-worship puzzle,” Helton described. “High RT60 reverb times, flutter echo off the side walls and balcony face, and severe acoustic shadowing under and above the balcony.
“Speech clarity was lost due to a lack of coverage, particularly in and under the balcony sections,” furthered Helton. “The upgrade was also designed to remove previous technical barriers to elevate their Sunday morning experience, building a scalable platform that could support future growth and higher-production events.”
Beyond regular worship services, the sanctuary hosts musical events, holiday productions, youth gatherings and conferences, requiring a n audio system capable of handling both spoken word and high-output music reinforcement.
S&L Integrated addressed the acoustic challenges with treatment applied to the walls and balcony face, alongside two flown arrays of 10 Martin Audio WPS elements, driven in single-box resolution. Three SXHF218 subwoofers are flown in a central cardioid configuration to reduce low-frequency energy reaching the stage. A further six Martin Audio FlexPoint FP6 loudspeakers provide front fill, while six FP4 enclosures cover the upper balcony. The system is powered by three iKON iK81 and three iK42 amplifiers.
Martin Audio's DISPLAY software was used to model the sanctuary and determine array positioning, trim heights and rigging points. Helton noted that the software also helped communicate the proposed coverage to the church before installation.
“The room sounds open, warm and exceptionally clear,” said Helton. “Vocals sit effortlessly on top of the mix without ever feeling harsh or pushed, and the low-end coupling from the flown cardioid sub array gives worship music a visceral, high-fidelity impact without room boominess.”
According to Helton, the completed installation has received positive feedback from church leadership, worship staff and the congregation, particularly regarding the improvement to the Sunday morning worship experience.
