Applications
Sound Systems for Houses of Worship
Worship rooms are built for singing, not for speech. The system's job is to put the spoken word on people and keep it off the walls.
What this application asks of a system
Most worship rooms were designed to flatter congregational singing: a high ceiling, hard parallel surfaces, a lot of glass and very little absorption. That same room is hostile to the sermon. Reflected energy from one syllable arrives on top of the direct sound of the next, consonants smear into each other, and intelligibility collapses well before anyone runs out of level. Turning the system up makes it worse, because the reverberant field rises with it.
The answer is directivity rather than power. Energy has to land on the congregation, who absorb it, and stay off the ceiling, the rear glass and the side walls, which do not. A line array or a column with tight vertical control does that. A pair of wide-pattern boxes on sticks, in the same room, mostly excites the room.
There is a second constraint that has nothing to do with acoustics. Many worship buildings are heritage, glass-fronted or architecturally sensitive, and the congregation should see the pulpit and the screen rather than the loudspeakers. That pushes the design towards slim, flyable or wall-mounted formats, and it is why the catalogue carries column arrays alongside the arrays.
Finally, the room now has two audiences. The live congregation and the stream both come off the same stage, and a system that spills into the choir mics or the platform will show up in the broadcast mix long before anyone in the room complains.
What we look at first
- Reverberation time and where the reflective surfaces are, before any box is chosen
- Vertical pattern control: how much of the array's energy lands on people rather than on the room
- Sightlines to the pulpit, the choir and the screens, which often decide the format
- Whether the room is speech-led, music-led, or has to switch between the two every service
- Balcony, transept and cry-room coverage, which almost always needs its own fill
- Stage spill into choir and lectern microphones, which sets the gain before feedback for the whole service
- Who operates it on a Sunday: a volunteer team needs a system that is safe at the console
Recommended SSOUNDS products
Grouped by the job each product does in this kind of system. Specifications live on the product pages and in the data sheets, so nothing is restated here.
Main system
The primary coverage. Array format follows room height, throw distance and how visible the system is allowed to be.
FeaturedSSOUNDS
SSOUNDS XTO 10P
Mid-format element of the XTO System, 3-way 10″, 100° constant directivity, 144 dB peak, 0°–14° splay.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS XTO 8P
Compact element of the XTO System, 2-way bi-amplified 8″, 110° constant directivity, 141 dB peak, 0°–10° splay.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS LS208
Compact dual-8″ line-array element, 141 dB peak, 55 Hz reach and 100° coverage from a 26 kg box.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS XTO 4.6
Column element of the XTO System, passive line array, 4 × 6.5″ drivers, 65 Hz – 20 kHz and 134 dB peak in a sightline-friendly column.
FeaturedSSOUNDS
SSOUNDS LS310
Flagship of the LS series, large-format quad-amplified line array, 143 dB peak, 110° × 8°.
Column arrays for reverberant rooms
Where the room is live and the priority is the spoken word, a full-range column keeps energy off hard ceilings and walls.
Point source mains, long throw and fill
Deep rooms, under balconies, transepts, overflow spaces and the first rows the main system flies over.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS P15-X
3-way long-throw point source, 2 × 15″, 4 × 6.5″ and 2 × 3″ behind a 70° × 40° waveguide, 2,000 W.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS P15-XA
Active tri-amplified P15-X, same 3-way long-throw package with full DSP control of each section.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS P15
Two-way dual-15″ point source, high-output mains and fill with a rotatable constant-directivity horn.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-10
10″ full-range, compact mains or monitor with strong vocal projection.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-8
8″ full-range, high-output multipurpose box for portable PA, fill and install.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-6
Compact 6.5″ full-range, versatile install and portable speaker with M8 rigging.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-4
Ultra-compact 4″ full-range, discreet fill and foreground audio with M-rigging.
Subwoofers
Low-frequency support sized to the band, from a discreet compact sub to a touring-grade single 18.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS XTO S18
Single-18″ subwoofer module of the XTO System, flyable on the shared track for arrays that hang with the tops.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-15SUB
Compact 15″ subwoofer, fast, musical low-end for portable and install systems.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-12SUB
Ultra-compact 12″ subwoofer, discreet low-frequency support for small rooms and AV.
Stage monitors
Low-profile foldback for the worship team, where sightlines to the platform matter as much as the mix.
Amplification and processing
System processing, loudspeaker presets and the alignment between the main system and every fill zone.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS D14X
4-channel DSP amplifier with FIR, line-array power plus full system processing and presets.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS D24X
High-power 4-channel DSP amplifier, subwoofer-grade output with full FIR processing.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS A14X
4-channel touring amplifier for line arrays, 4 × 2,000 W @ 4 Ω, analog input.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS DSP 4×8
4-in / 8-out loudspeaker processor, 96 kHz, 1/36-octave filters and full system alignment.
LED video
Lyrics, IMAG and foyer signage, at pitches meant to be read from the front row as well as the back.
Why these products. The XTO 8P and LS208 both name houses of worship in their product description, the XTO 4.6 names churches and auditoria, the XTO 10P carries the worship application tag, the LS310 is described as scaling to stadium-grade worship, the M3.12P names churches and reverberant rooms, and the M-12SUB names compact worship systems. The AIXCEL FP names houses of worship and the AIXCEL Poster names church foyers.
Guides for this application
Get this specced for your room
Send us the drawings, the seat count and what the room has to do. Our engineers model the coverage and come back with a product list, a rigging plan and a budget.