 Here at Lambda we custom build systems that meet our client’s space and fit what they are trying to accomplish for the long term. One of our long-time clients, First Presbyterian Church in Salida came to us, asking about a new audio system. Their old system was a set of hanging powered speakers and an over 10 year old soundboard. We wanted to design a system that would be able to provide even coverage, high intelligibility, and was cost effective and able to fit into their budget. Our favorite speaker manufacturer, Danley Sound Labs, recently released some new speaker offerings including the SH-110. The SH-110 is a 2-way, passive loudspeaker with 2 x 8″ low-frequency drivers and a 1.4″ exit high frequency compression driver, all mounted within a single 110° x 60° horn. After building a CAD of the room in Salida and modeling the room in Danley’s software, we chose the SH110 paired with a set of Danley Cubes and subwoofer, the THMini.
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 As a student, a teacher, and now an AV professional working in schools, I have used many school AV systems. These systems typically were installed when the schools were built and lasted 15 or more years, untouched and unmaintained, before failing or exhibiting some signs of ending their functional lives. School budgets are tight and can’t be used to refresh a major room audio-visual system every five years. Lasting reliability is how we approached a new AV system in the natatorium for Pine Creek High School in District 20. The primary requirement, and place we started, was audio coverage. First, all speakers needed to be weather-tight with sealed connections for the highly corrosive pool environment. Second, school pool is a highly reverberant and ample open space. The sound echoes a lot, and by the time you add cheering parents, it can be a nightmare to hear what’s going on clearly. To address the clarity issue, we used higher-power speakers to get audio above room noise-level. We added more speakers to ensure each audience area around the pool had direct coverage rather than reflected coverage.
 At Lambda Audio Visual we always want to make sure we spec the right tool for the job. As AV integrators it’s our job to take multiple tools and combine them into one functional, practical system. We love it when we find one great product suited for a specific task. This time that product was the Maxhub IFP or Integrated Flat Panel. This is a unique piece of equipment that we installed in a workspace and will continue to become very popular option for many businesses and collaborative community spaces!
When NAMI or the National Association On Mental Illness was moving into their new space they reached out to us for technical recommendations. They had a double meeting room with collapsible divider in the middle. They wanted this space to be functional for just about every type of meeting. Nami’s needs were a Zoom room, Microsoft teams, a white board, PowerPoint presentations, music, the list goes on and on.  It truly is a great feeling when the time comes for the first event for one of our customers after an install. It is the culmination of weeks, months, and sometimes even years of planning and work; not just for Lambda, but for the group themselves.  Cross and Crown Church has worked with us for many years now and has been faithfully planning, saving, and dreaming about what this day might look like. On January 1st, 2023, we got to see that vision come to life. A well finished project is what we got to see for Cross and Crown (C&C). It is our firm belief that technology should not distract and should instead contribute to upholding the primary mission of the organization and its events. With C&C we got to see some serious fun and excitement as the church settled in to their first Sunday and look forward to future day to day events. Let’s look at how this build came together and how it fit C&C and their vision for the future. In building C&C design, technology selection was a key piece. The church had communicated a desire for new systems and flexibility but did not want a system that felt overbearing and in need of skilled operators or one that was over the top in look and feel. They didn’t want a system that would take over the look of the church but blended with them. In each request, we were careful to select technology that would uphold these goals.
 When the US Air Force Academy Hockey and Basketball games were picked up for broadcasting to cable tv, they knew they had to up their audio game and called Lambda AV. AFA hockey and basketball have been historically fun attractions for those local to the Colorado Springs area and with the success of the Avalanche in the Stanley cup even more attention was gained by local teams. Altitude Sports wanted to pick them up for distribution and while Adam and Brian at AFA had all the video gear needed to broadcast, they were lacking proper audio.
 A local D20 Elementary school approached us at the beginning of summer looking for a solution to improve their gym speaker system for the coming school year. At this point, nothing had failed yet, but the system was getting very old and was not well designed for how they now use the gym space. The gym, for the school, is where they hold assemblies, do theater productions, as well as have their normal PE/gym classes throughout the week. It was in desperate need of a redesign so the system could meet these needs.
 When Rocky Mountain Calvary (RMC) first approached us about doing an audio system upgrade, one of the main areas of concern and they really wanted to focus on was improving coverage in their main worship space and adding intelligibility. We reached out to Danley Sound Labs to have them design a system that would provide just what the church asked for. They did a great job of understanding what the church was after and designing a system to fit that! The main portion of the sound system was… 1 speaker! Yes, when we told RMC they responded with the same question I’m sure you are asking. “How could 1 speaker cover an almost 2000 seat auditorium?”
 We all know that the last few years have brought a lot of new ways in how people interact with AV. It has highlighted the area's businesses will need to focus on as they build their systems and seek to keep people engaged and connected through changing times. So, what does this mean for you, and how does it affect your vision for your business?
 Many churches get to a point when growth, new goals, new building, or just equipment age forces them to think about upgrading. Everything might still be working reasonably well, but it’s harder to accommodate new asks or larger worship teams. Or perhaps the equipment is just old enough that parts are no longer available and your confidence in it lasting through a weekend just isn’t there anymore. If this is the case, where do you even start to make a plan? This is really where Lambda comes in. Rocky Mountain Calvary in Colorado Springs hit a point where their equipment was old, goals were changing, and budget was available to make some changes, so they reached out to us looking for an idea of what steps to take next.  When we met up with the RMC tech team, they expressed first of all wanting to upgrade the audio system. The tech team very much wanted a new soundboard and waves audio plugins. When we saw their building though, we noticed speaker system was more than 10 years old and had lost much of the fidelity from when they were installed. They also just didn’t fit the space as well as new technology could. So, we suggested upgrading the speakers first and then replacing the soundboard, integrating waves audio effects, and maybe even some new mics. This would ensure they would have good audio from the absolute start to the end. We met up with the team from RMC several times to build request lists, talk about dreams and goals, and even moving through older equipment talking about what new equipment is capable of. In the end, they decided on upgrading four major areas: Camera lenses and a video switcher, speakers, soundboard, and house lighting. We also discussed future steps such as led walls and staging pieces to add dynamic.
 With more and more emphasis on broadcast in today’s world, a good pair of headphones is critical to monitoring program output, along with a variety of other things. One of our favorites for this is the Audio Technica ATH-M70X’s. These have proprietary 45mm large-aperture drivers and do an excellent job to reproduce extreme low and high frequencies while maintaining perfect balance. They are ideal for studio mixing and tracking, FOH, mastering, post-production, and personal listening. As they are a closed-back headphone design, the studio headphones provide excellent sound isolation and are equipped with 90° swiveling earcups for easy, one-ear monitoring.
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AuthorsAll of the Lambda Staff contribute to the Blog. If you have any questions about the info we provide, please don't hesitate to ask! ResourcesCheck out our resources page for FREE checklists and tools we mention in articles! We are here to help you improve and maintain your Audio Visual Systems!
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