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REGIONAL ROUND-UP
STAGE AUDIO WORKS KITS OUT FAITH DOME SAW PROVIDES AN AV SOLUTION FOR THE 10,500-CAPACITY SOUTH AFRICAN HOUSE OF WORSHIP.
After years of work, the renovation of Faith Dome – the South Africa headquarters of the Faith Broadcasting Network – is complete. Set inside the cavernous space of a former wool warehouse, the indoor arena holds a staggering 10,500 live attendees, making it the largest in the Eastern Cape. Stage Audio Works (SAW) was commissioned to design and integrate a state-of-the-art audio, lighting and rigging solution for Faith Dome. The company has been involved since 2013, although it was only in the past 18 months that the plan accelerated towards the client’s 360° vision, which places the stage and the PA system in the centre of the arena. “It was important for us to
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have a central stage as it truly places the focus of worship in the midst of our congregation,” commented River Group Founder and CEO, Dr Andre Robert. “It’s more democratic than a traditional front-to-back organisation and allows everyone to remain connected and involved with the worship experience.” Although this makes sense in terms of presenting a grand visual spectacle for live production, it posed a considerable challenge to the AV integration for several reasons. “From an acoustic perspective, the sheer size of the space is a factor to be reckoned with – in particular the extreme height of the room, which necessitates a PA system that provides comprehensive
vertical coverage,” observed SAW CTO, Nathan Ihlenfeldt. “We ruled out a traditional line array, as the number of speakers required would have interfered with the client’s broadcasting setup and stretched the budget. For this installation, d&b audiotechnik’s A-Series augmented array technology was the perfect fit in terms of directivity control, sonic quality, and price range. Notably, this project marks the first A-Series installation in Africa.” SAW opted for eight augmented arrays of three AL60s flown from a custom-built square truss, itself flown from the ceiling at an impressive height of 13m. To handle low end, four hangs of four V-SUBs are flown from a second square truss
