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Speaker Test of a Public Place (Park Church)

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The goal of this experiment/test was to to go a public place that uses speakers, note where the speakers are, use a decibal meter to find dead spots, and think of what you would do to fix these dead spots. Because there are a not of easily accessible places for me to test, I went to Park Church with a friend of mine who knows how to run their system. I brought along with me the test CD and a decibal meter, and our procedure was very simple.

1. I played the 1,000 hertz frequency over the speakers

2. I placed the decibal meter about waist height and toward the stage of the sanctuary

3. I adjusted the decibal meter until I got an accurate reading

4. Repeated Steps 1-3 for about 25 locations around the sanctuary

Park Church was an ideal place for me to conduct this test because it is a perfect size room, not to big and not to small. Basically, there are three main speakers suspended from the ceiling above the stage, as shown in pictures 1-3. Because I couldn't take a picture of the entire sanctuary, I decided to drap a map and write down the decibal readings from the different locations I tested (the map is the last picture.) Quite honestly, the dead spots that I found didn't surprise me very much. The four main dead spots were along the walls far off to the side/back of the sanctuary and the two hallways that connect to the stage (there are pictures of the back walls and hallways posted above). It doesn't surprise me because with the way the sanctuary is shaped, they would need more speakers at different angles to convey the sound thoroughly. To fix the dead spots in the side/back walls of the church, I would maybe put two smaller speakers in the back corners. If they were angled correctly and not played very loud, they could easily fill those spots without interfeering with the speakers already in place. And as for the two hallways,  they are dead spots simply because they don't need sound in these hallways. They are for getting on and off the stage and those who are listening can't sit there anyway, so I wouldn't even worry about fixing them. One other dead spot that I did find interesting was a spot in the pews near a corner in the back of the sanctuary. The decibal readings in front and behind this spot were good, but I think I have a reason. I think that the reason the decibal reading further behind the dead spot is good only because it is near a corner where the sound can be somewhat tunnled downward.

My conclusion for the test is that Park Church has a very good audio system. The decibal readings around the church are very consistent in 95% of the places I tested, and the only dead spots were far off to the sides or back of the church where people wouldn't sit unless the rest of the sanctuary was full. One main thing I have learned from this test is how important the placement of speakers really is. This church was able to cover their entire sanctuary using only 3 (large, but still only 3) speakers! They get good sound almost everywhere and save money because they are aware of their speaker placement. Well done Park Church.

Posted May 17, 2010