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Sennheiser for Community of Christ Temple
Completed in 1994 and located just minutes from downtown Kansas City, Missouri, the breathtaking Community of Christ Temple is part of the church's international headquarters. The Temple features a 1,600-seat worship sanctuary and a number of smaller lecture halls and classrooms. The "Auditorium" located next door to the Temple facility houses a 5,700-seat auditorium and other smaller assembly halls, dining rooms and meeting rooms. Not surprisingly, the A/V systems that power the Temple are top-of-the-line in form and function and include new Sennheiser 2000 Series wireless systems throughout. The church bought the microphones from Harvest Productions both to take advantage of the 2000 Series' auto-programming functionality and to comply with new FCC RF regulations.
Consistent with the grandeur of its design and the scope of the Community of Christ's mission, the headquarters complex serves not just the needs of the church but those of the community as well. The main auditorium features an immense pipe organ and the ability to accommodate everything from a fully-featured Sunday service to concerts to theater-in-the-round to more than twenty graduation ceremonies each year. When Kansas City Chiefs' owner and American Football League founder Lamar Hunt passed away in 2006, The Auditorium hosted his memorial service. As part of its yearly routine, The Auditorium and Temple are the venue for Christmas and Easter performances, concerts, plays, and conferences. And they rival many public venues in both scope and magnitude.
"If they can think it up, we are here to support it," laughed Bob Haworth, CTS-certified electronic media systems engineer for Community of Christ. Haworth heads up the Event Media team that not only operates the facility's equipment, but also designs and installs it. They handle projection, sound reinforcement, real-time translation, and live Internet streaming. Haworth summarized, "If there's a medium out there, we're involved in it on a professional level."
When FCC regulation changes made the frequencies of TV stations 68 and 69 no longer usable, Haworth went to work ensuring the new system would not only meet the new regulations but also make daily operations at Community of Christ much smoother. He placed eighteen dual-channel Sennheiser EM 2050 receivers in fixed positions in six different rooms throughout the facility. Those are matched by 16 Sennheiser SK 2000 beltpacks with HSP 2 headworn microphones and MKE Series lavalier microphones, as well as eight Sennheiser SKM 2000 handheld transmitter microphones with multiple Sennheiser evolution series capsules to accommodate various acoustical situations.
The Event Media Support Team of two full time and 14 freelance staff handle many simultaneous technical needs. "The auto-programming functionality of Sennheiser's new 2000 Series is immensely practical," said Haworth. "Our tech team gets it immediately. We leave all of the fixed receivers on pre-established channels that don't conflict with the outside RF world or each other. Then, as wireless equipment is needed in various application and rooms, the operators can simply take the transmitter over to the receiver and 'zap' the proper frequency. It even works as groups move from room to room in breakout sessions. Nothing could be simpler or more robust!"
In addition, the variety of transmitters and microphone styles gave the church the flexibility to meet their many and varied needs. "We love the HSP 2 headworn microphones," said Haworth. "We use those most often for spoken word. The lavs are nice too; a natural extension of the units our video crew had been using. With the handhelds, we have the ability to switch out any Sennheiser evolution wireless series capsule. That means we can use cardioid or hyper-cardioid as the needs of a service, program or event change."
To welcome the diversity in their community, Community of Christ provides real-time translation services. Haworth is currently in the process of drafting a final design detail that involves Sennheiser IR transmitters and receivers, a reflection of the great experience we have with Sennheiser's RF wireless equipment.
"My job is to provide sound reinforcement that is not noticed, and the Sennheiser wireless system helps my team provide quality sound for worship services and community programs," concluded Haworth.
In picture: the engineering crew at the international headquarters of Community of Christ Temple in Independence, Missouri selected the new Sennheiser 2000 Series wireless systems for its auto programming functions, compliance with FCC RF regulations, rock-solid performance and stellar sound
photo Dave Wheaton
7th January 2010
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