Is Your Church Sound System Stereo or Mono?

[Cliff]

I wonder how many really have double mono and think they have stereo?

[Mikey]

Our system is stereo, but relatively few people would hear a stereo image. We are a portable church and our first venue allowed us to provide a very nice stereo image to the vast majority. Our current home does not allow that option. We've grown rather quickly and had to get a MUCH larger space.

Although I haven't seen all of the details yet I believe our new building is going to be an LCR setup.

[bbrunskill]

True stereo and an acceptable stereo image to 50%. We never hard pan anything, I like to keep pans moderate.

[pdc]

Originally Posted by moosicman

I'm curious to know what a consensus is and probably more importantly, why? I'd expect that many churches run mono because the sound/tech people are just volunteers and may get overwhelmed otherwise. Curious to know so please share!

Cliff is correct! There is no such thing as stereo PA in live sound. Stereo consists of two speakers in such an arrangement, that a phantom center image is heard by the listener, in the sweet spot. There is no phantom imaging in a live PA, because of the long distances between the speakers and from the speakers to the audience, and the inability for everyone to sit in the sweet spot. Generally, there is no phantom image past 12'. So, what you have is a L/R, dual mono type system.

[pdc]

Originally Posted by Frank DeWitt

My thought has always been where do you sit for stereo in this 1500 seat auditorium. We have left and right speakers because that is what I inherited (Centered over the left half and another set centered over the right half.)

I am very pleased to have mono with fair coverage (+/- 3 dB) same freq and same phase over most of the room. The back two rows are a bit funny, and the center isle is way funny but no one sits in the isle.

Frank

It is physically impossible to have all frequencies +/-3dB, in phase in a large space. Heck, the best recording studios have variances as high as +/-15dB out of the sweet spot.

[DaveRowell]

Multiple speakers, to cover every nook and cranny, but mono. Twice we have had the main RH speaker fail* but no-one noticed, proving the usefulness of redundancy with two independent mono channels. Utilising left and right on our analogue console to double the number of usable groups has not made an impact as people tend to ignore the group faders when mixing.

* Warnings that adding electric drums and bass would overstress the system went unheeded

[andyjk]

Stereo all the way. We have a wide set up and can get an ace stereo image in the centre. Extreme left and right don't complain.

[andyjk]

Stereo all the way. We have a wide setup and get an awesome stereo image in the centre. Extreme left and right don't complain.

[wogster]

Originally Posted by pdc

Cliff is correct! There is no such thing as stereo PA in live sound. Stereo consists of two speakers in such an arrangement, that a phantom center image is heard by the listener, in the sweet spot. There is no phantom imaging in a live PA, because of the long distances between the speakers and from the speakers to the audience, and the inability for everyone to sit in the sweet spot. Generally, there is no phantom image past 12'. So, what you have is a L/R, dual mono type system.

Given enough time and money, anything is possible, the difficulty is in trying to justify the expense. The real issue is that if you want the sound guys to mix stereo, they MUST be located where they hear a stereo image. Often the sound system is placed where it will be out of the way, and it does not work well, if they are trying to mix something they can't hear.

[Brad Weber]

Originally Posted by wogster

Given enough time and money, anything is possible, the difficulty is in trying to justify the expense.

Very true.

Originally Posted by wogster

The real issue is that if you want the sound guys to mix stereo, they MUST be located where they hear a stereo image. Often the sound system is placed where it will be out of the way, and it does not work well, if they are trying to mix something they can't hear.

Because the only thing that matters is what the sound guys hear.

I have found that many people seem to either not realize or not care about the fact that the sound can vary significantly throughout the room. Proper system design and implementation can help minimize the variations throughout the listener area but even major touring live sound applications often mix for specific 'money seats', which are likely not where the 'sound guy' is located unless they are intentionally located there.

I learned this in a very practical manner when I was mixing a show and saw someone walking up toward the mix position. They would stop every so often and get a puzzled look, then move a bit more and stop again. They finally came up to me and commented that they had started with the intent to complain about the sound but found that the sound kept getting better the closer they got to the mix position and it sounded great at the mix position. That made me realize that I had to get out from the mix position and listen around the room in order to be able to make informed choices to serve the entire audience. It also made me think about exactly what caused that and to learn things that I later applied in designing systems.

[wogster]

Originally Posted by Brad Weber

Very true.


Because the only thing that matters is what the sound guys hear.

I have found that many people seem to either not realize or not care about the fact that the sound can vary significantly throughout the room. Proper system design and implementation can help minimize the variations throughout the listener area but even major touring live sound applications often mix for specific 'money seats', which are likely not where the 'sound guy' is located unless they are intentionally located there.

I learned this in a very practical manner when I was mixing a show and saw someone walking up toward the mix position. They would stop every so often and get a puzzled look, then move a bit more and stop again. They finally came up to me and commented that they had started with the intent to complain about the sound but found that the sound kept getting better the closer they got to the mix position and it sounded great at the mix position. That made me realize that I had to get out from the mix position and listen around the room in order to be able to make informed choices to serve the entire audience. It also made me think about exactly what caused that and to learn things that I later applied in designing systems.

Places to watch for near walls, especially corners, play special attention to balconies, it's one of the reasons we should have specialists to design these systems. I went to one, very large, very fancy church, and it sounded worse then a $4 boom box. There are three reasons why, the first is the place is pretty much a barn with seats and a balcony. Second they have a TV ministry and a single mix console, so the TV sound takes priority. Third they have two large speakers hung on a wall, in the wrong positions.

[pianomandan]

Our system was originally stereo. We had the electric guitar mostly L (the side they were on), and the keys mostly R (their side), and a few other tricks to avoid competing frequencies. We set it up this way with the advice of a professional recording engineer (not sure what his actual title was). It sounded really great IN THE CENTER OF THE ROOM.

Fast forward a few months & we switched to mono. It works much better for us.