Life City Church, a vibrant, multicultural congregation based in South London, has upgraded its sound reinforcement system with a new K-array setup supplied by Audio Related Technology. The church, known for its live music-driven worship services, made the switch to accommodate growing audio needs as its services continue to center around live bands and high-quality sound.

The new setup replaces an aging Turbosound PA that had become cumbersome for the church’s portable format. Life City Church currently operates out of Woodcote High School in Coulsdon, while still seeking a permanent home.

“We wanted a portable line array system for a predominantly live band mix,” said Pastor Steve Sutherland, director of Life City Church. “Our main requirements were for better sound quality and, very importantly, ease of setting up as we frequently have to move the PA into position on the school hall stage for Sunday worship. Also, as we are a charity, the total budget of £60k had to cover all the audio gear including speakers, mics and in-ears and everything else.”

Simon Griffett of Chesham-based Audio Related Technology took Sutherland and other Life City team members to the headquarters of U.K. distributor 2B Heard, where Dave Wooster demoed a Pinnacle-KR402 portable system. The setup included Kayman-KY102 compact line arrays mounted on Thunder-KMT21 subwoofers.

“When Steve and his team saw the system their first reaction was like a lot of people who have not recently experienced a modern design PA speaker system: ‘How is that going to fill the room like the old rig? It’s only half the size?’” said Griffett. “When Dave played some tracks with just a flat EQ profile on the system, the look on their faces went from disbelief to a wide smile.”

The system is configured as a standard left-right stereo PA, using one active and one passive subwoofer to maximize amplifier efficiency via onboard DSP. The Kayman line arrays connect vertically above the subs for a streamlined, modular build.

“We can have the whole system up and running in less than 10 minutes,” Sutherland said. “And the tops just pack away in a really compact flight case. Portability was a big deal for us as the school is not our permanent home, and we are future-proofed for when we do move into our own facility, as we will then be able to rig the system and have it permanently available for use.

“We’re really pleased with the K-array system. The sound quality is really, really good and portability is excellent. We have a number of professional musicians who come in and play for us and they all remark on how good it sounds. Definition is crystal clear; bass guitar and kick drum really punch through, and the guitars sound fabulous. We may not be sound professionals, but we know what we like, and we’re happy that we now have a really professional setup.”

Simon Connell-Flynn, a regular audio engineer at Life City Church, said he noticed a dramatic improvement as soon as the system was deployed.

“We listened to a past Sunday service going through the desk and the speaker system. Within half an hour we had it sounding better than the previous system — much fuller, more low-end extension, a lot more intelligibility in the highs,” he said. “It’s quite surreal actually, as the volume and response is very consistent as you walk around the room.

“I remember the feeling when the Pastor, our drummer, and I first saw the K-array system at 2B Heard’s demonstration facility. We thought, ‘Surely these aren’t going to do the job?’ And then Dave turned them on and we were blown away.

“They look great as well. We didn’t want to distract people with bulky-looking gear in a church setting, so the form factor fits in really well. They’re thin, and they’re light, and they’re easy to set up. I don’t think we’d even have come close to what we need with any other speaker system.”

Griffett noted the smooth commissioning process, which included remote assistance from Wooster.

“After the initial delivery and setup, Dave dialed in remotely on a Sunday morning to make a few tweaks to the sub settings,” he said. “This shows the level of support and service that 2B Heard provides.”