Dynacord Cobra & VariLine systems for state-of-the-art Canadian house of worship

A new Dynacord sound system at the brand-new 2000-seat Celebration Centre at Moncton Wesleyan Church in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, is providing the coverage and intelligibility of a world-class theatre sound system.
Signature Sound (Douglas, New Brunswick) designed and the installed the system, built around a main Cobra-4 system with VariLine fill loudspeakers. Mike Jones of Signature Sound described how Dynacord is becoming a brand to be reckoned with in the burgeoning House of Worship market:

“From the beginning I knew the Dynacord solution was perfect for this facility,” says Jones, “and, after hearing the system demo, the customer agreed. We have 40 Cobra boxes in our inventory, and we use them all the time for all kinds of applications, live and installed. The new VariLine boxes are amazing too—so compact, so versatile, so powerful. They’re the perfect compliment to the main Cobra system.”

Jones described how he spec’d the Cobra to precisely address the room without compromising on power: “The main system is a Cobra-4, but without the Far cabinets—each array comprises four Top boxes. Two boxes from each hang cover the main floor with support from VariLine VL 262 front fills; the other two per side cover the deep balcony area. The balcony seats around 700, so we needed to ensure good coverage. The room is about 80-feet deep, so we didn’t need the long throw of the Far boxes; we simply processed the top of each array independently using the DSP 244 (part of the dedicated Cobra-4 drive rack), and only minimal tweaking was required. Front-of-House position was built into the balcony, so that’s where the soundman sits; he basically has a Cobra-4 as his near-field monitors!”

For low-end support, two PWH subwoofers are installed into each of three fabric-covered cavities under the stage deck. The center cavity also contains a pair of VL 262 front fills; single VL 262s are stage-mounted above the left and right cavities. “This all keeps the sightlines clear and the stage aesthetics tidy—it works beautifully,” Jones says.

“The VL 262 was introduced to me as a super-compact passive box that shared the sonic characteristics of the Cobra, though obviously on a far smaller scale,” Jones adds. “That made sense, as we were looking for small-footprint front-fills for Cobra applications like this—we use a lot of Cobra systems for a wide range of projects, so they’re coming in very handy. They really kick—the combination of two six-inch woofers and one high-output compression driver provide incredible range and power for such a small unit. And keeping the Dynacord sound intact across all the speakers adds finesse to each installation or deployment—they’re very transparent with the Cobra system; they blend in sonically, and aesthetically, because they’re so small. You could easily use the VL 262 as mains for smaller venues.”

Dynacord LX3000, LX 2200, and LX1600 amplifiers populate the amp rack, with the bigger amps handling the subs, and up from there. “We have enough headroom on hand to power shade some of the boxes if we need to,” says Jones, “and all adjustments can be made from the computer—the DSP 244 processors are loaded with the RS-485 remote network interface cards. However, the system runs very, very flat, so only minimal EQ’ing is ever necessary. We like the Cobra for that reason: it just sounds good, and any tweaking is just a matter of taste.”

In addition to the main Dynacord system, Jones spec’d a range of additional products from Bosch Communications Systems: a dozen Electro-Voice T221M stage monitors (all powered by LX1600 amps) for eight mixes; Electro-Voice EVID 8.2 ceiling speakers and 4.2 wall speakers cover the greenroom and pre-stage areas, powered by 70-volt EV PA series amplifiers; a pair of Klark Teknik Square One Dynamics and a DN370 EQ are racked at FOH position.

“The Technical Director and the team that operates the system love it—it’s very user-friendly,” Jones continues. “They’ve had four shows go through since the system was installed, and the response was positive all around. It’s set them up to exceed the expectations of even the largest acts that come through. I was there for the grand opening as an audience member, and I don’t know of anything I’d do differently given any budget—and that’s my highest recommendation!”

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