In the space of little more than half a decade, the number of seats in the Worship Center at the Biltmore Baptist Church in Asheville, North Carolina, grew by 50 percent, from 1,400 seats to three Sunday services averaging 2,100 per service. This growth came at a time when the entire landscape of church had become vastly more media-savvy – Biltmore Baptist's choir doubled in size to 250, and it increased its orchestra to 60 members. The line between house of worship and performance venue was becoming thinner. 

While the church's sound system, installed when it moved to its new location in 2000, remained very serviceable, its capability had diminished relative to the scale of the performances it was being asked to handle. Just as an administrative department would have trouble fulfilling its mission if asked to do payroll using a computer made 20 years ago, the system needed a boost.
Fortunately, there's help from technology. 

Mark Girardi, a member of the Biltmore Baptist congregation and owner of systems installation company Real World Audio INC., assessed the existing system with several key worship team members. They were able to refer to the digital modeling of the room's acoustics that Girardi had done six years earlier. Though the space's needs had changed, its acoustics, fortunately, had not.  They concluded that it was time to take the sound system digital. They decided to take an integrated approach to making that happen by implementing HiQnet, a digitally based protocol from the Harman Pro Group that allows an array of components on a system to be able to be programmed from a single point, significantly increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of a system. 

Girardi recommended that the main system speakers be changed to JBL VERTEC VT 4888 DP-AN drivers, a line array-type system configured in three clusters—left, center and right across the stage and flown above it, six speakers per cluster. This represented an improvement in several ways. 

"These speakers are self-powered, which means that we're able to match the speaker to the power amplifier/processing perfectly, every time," says Girardi. "The kinds of performances the space would be home to now called for this kind of approach."

That applied also to the rest of the system, and that's how HiQnet helped. The speakers' processing, such as delays and equalization, are set by the BSS Soundweb London loudspeaker management systems Girardi specified, but the entire system is aligned and monitored by HiQnet, at a user interface that can be located at either the sound mixer (FOH) position in the hall or in the technical director's station. Best of all, it did not require individual programming of every individual component's settings. 

"It's very much a set-and-forget kind of system," says Dave Duncan, director of worship media for Biltmore Baptist. "The HiQnet system is totally transparent, but when you look at how the system has changed, you see how important it is to the operation of the new system."

Duncan noted that a new digital console added many more inputs and outputs to the system, which now had additional stage monitoring and in-ear monitors, as well as more microphones to accommodate the larger congregation and wireless systems to give greater depth to stage productions. 

"There is simply more to manage," says Duncan. "With the HiQnet in place, all of the systems handle this increased complexity with much better efficiency."

The system's installation was done on a tight time schedule. Planning began in September of last year and the bulk of the system was installed in one week in November, in time for rehearsals for the church's annual Christmas performances to begin that same month. 

Girardi and Duncan agree that the convergence of tight schedules and new technology means that churches must plan systems upgrades such as these carefully. They make the following recommendations.

1. Make a list of what is expected of a space.
Will it need to accommodate worship, drama and music? Will it need to be used on a daily basis? The answers to these questions will help determine the type of system need.

2. Listen to the possibilities. 
There are many more systems and components on the market today than ever before. Installers and manufacturers are often willing to set up small versions of various systems for evaluation in the space where they'll actually be used. An alternative is what JBL and Real World Audio did for Biltmore Baptist's worship team – they arranged to bring them to the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, where a HiQnet system using similar components was in place. 

"They could experience the system working in a similar environment, and that reassured them that it was the right system for them," says Girardi.

3. Keep what you can. 
Girardi was able to make use of the existing digital modeling of the space, as well as several other components from the existing system, which helped keep the project on budget.

4. Don't scrimp for new technology. 
The HiQnet is not only the management backbone of the new system—it's also part of what makes it so cost-effective. 

"We determined from the outset that we wanted any new sound system to perform for at least five years into the future," says Duncan. "HiQnet essentially future-proofs the system, to a large degree."

5. Understand your personnel needs.
New technologies reduce the complexity of systems considerably, but they don't reduce their sophistication. Budget several days of training for your media support team into any new system installation.