Lighthouse Evangelism officially opened its second church building in the north part of Singapore in August, following the American trend of investing heavily in the house of worship to provide a total sound, light and visual experience for its congregation.
Taking only four years from the drawing board to the finished building, the new Lighthouse Evangelism Church has been built at a cost of S$37 million, with 3 levels of basement, the main hall or Sanctuary, three mezzanine floors and a multi-purpose hall. Conceptualized as a modernistic church, its impressive high glass skylight foyer brandishes an illuminated cross over five meters tall.
Back in 2002, it was decided that Nexo would be the choice of sound system for the Sanctuary at the new building. Electro-Systems Industries, as the Nexo Far East distributor, was given the monumental task of designing the various audio applications for the new church building. At that time, the inventory was made up of Nexo Alpha. But, as the construction of the building continued, it came to the attention of the Church that Nexo had developed a new line array system. They were so impressed with the GEO-S series that they changed the audio specification, and, when the construction’s completion date was pushed forward by about six months, Electro-Systems were able to present the GEO-T Series. Prior to installation, the Church used the NEXO GEO-T system for their “Miracle Explosion 2002” live event, held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Main Hall
The Sanctuary (main hall) is an astounding 2,500-seater two-tier seating auditorium. The high and open hall has been designed with acoustics that accentuate the architecture of the auditorium. It is the first Singapore church to be fitted with the latest range of NEXO GEO Tangent Array loudspeakers.
An array of 6 x NEXO GEO T4805 and 12 x NEXO GEO T2815 cabinets are flown to the left and right of the front stage, supplemented by 4 x NEXO CD18 subbass units on the ground. A complement of 12 x NEXO GEO S830 tangent array cabinets provides fill under the covered balconies. All the speakers are managed by five of the NEXO NX241 digital processors and are powered by 12 x CAMCO’s top range Vortex 6.0 amplifiers which are racked up in the stage’s right preparation room. Main control for the Front-of-House was through a Midas H3000 72 channel console. Sound management and equalization for the multiple areas of the main hall is through 3 x KT DN504 (Quad Compressor), 1 x KTDN500 (Quad Compressor/Limiter) and 3 x KT9340 (Digital EQ with Dynamics).
The Monitor system is designed to allow for multiple sources “concert style” with up to 12 x NEXO PS15 speakers on hand. The PS15s are managed by 3 x NEXO PS15TD loudspeaker controllers and powered by 3 x CAMCO V4 amplifiers. Monitor control is from a massive Allen & Heath ML5000 with sidecar to expand to 72 channels patched through 4 x KT DN504, 6 x KT9349 EQ and 3 x KT DN1248 microphone splitters.
Multipurpose Rooms
Below the Sanctuary are the mezzanine levels and the multi purpose hall which can be used for weddings and private functions as well as the overspill audiences from the auditorium. Worshippers can hear the pastor’s address from high-quality architectural ceiling speakers. As the largest of the multi purpose rooms can host up to one thousand seated guests, Electro-Systems had to take into its design application the size of this room, and that sometimes it might be divided for multiple functions. The team at Electro-Systems came up with an audio design so that the room can be acoustically quartered off into four zones. Depending on the nature of the event in this hall, the Church can make use of a portable Nexo system, comprising PS15s and PS8s.
Johnson Lim, the Music & Drama Executive Director of Lighthouse Evangelism articulates the Church’s philosophy. “We believe music and light play an important and integral part of adding the worship experience in our service. The audio and light systems will help create the environment for worshippers to experience, be part of and bring back something tangible, as in touching the total being, from our service.”
Further information from:
Mr Lawrence Tay
Electro-Systems Industries Pte Ltd.
10 Ubi Crescent
#02-35/36
Ubi Techpark (Lobby C)
Singapore 408564
Telephone: +65-6742 5660
