JBL PD Series Loudspeakers Complete An Acoustical Masterpiece At St. Francis Of Assisi Church

 A new audio system at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Bend, Oregon, features JBL Professional PD Series loudspeakers, chosen to deliver the highest articulation with the least amount of speakers possible. Morgan Sound of Lynwood, Washington was responsible for the acoustic consulting and design and, using its past experience with the PD Series as the deciding factor in the choice of speakers, teamed with Anderson Group International of Eugene, Oregon for the installation.

The installation at the St. Francis of Assisi Church initially presented many challenges to the team: it’s a very large space with polished concrete floors, CMU walls and granite and marble covering the substantial altar platform, all of which work together to create a very reverberant room. There was a desire to maximize the presentation of sound without filling the entire auditorium with large, overbearing speakers, which is why Morgan Sound President Charlie Morgan ultimately chose the JBL PD series, powered by Crown amplifiers. With the exceptional pattern control of the JBL speakers, the church presenters are able to reach high SPL levels when needed with excellent speech clarity.

“As the Application Engineer at JBL, Jay Fullmer’s advice was most helpful in using the PD boxes,” said Charlie Morgan, President of Morgan Sound. “The sound in the room is focused, very intelligible and even throughout the entire seating area. In short, we couldn’t be happier with the result.”

In addition to the JBL PD series loudspeakers and Crown amps, there are JBL Control 29AV loudspeakers, all of which are controlled by a BSS London processor. An analog mixer on the platform gives the choir director control of the local inputs, and there is also the option to run everything in static mode with 16 microphone channels controlled through the BSS London processor. The system includes Harman’s HiQnet™ System Architect™ software for quick and easy configuration.

“We finished the installation in the 700-person auditorium of the church two months ago, and the customer is just thrilled with the result,” continued Morgan. “Using the Harman brands together gives the user a tremendous ease of use, and topping it off with the JBL loudspeakers means that they are getting the best possible sound available.”

Morgan Sound, (www.morgansound.com) based in Lynnwood, WA is a 35-year veteran of live sound and design/install services.  The company features a wide range of Harman products in its inventory, including JBL VERTEC Series and Crown Macro-Tech amplification.