"Why churches buy three sound systems"? Boy, isn't that the truth!

Our church is on sound system #2. The first was a single cluster of speakers, high above the altar, designed and installed by Muzak. That, teamed with a choir area with two pillars blocking the choir's view of the congregation, made for impossible sound.

Now we're on the fifth year of installation of our second sound system. The pastor met some guy who used to work for Bill Graham's outfit. You know the type - the tech-geek roadie, the only one around the band who wasn't stoned. Really likes music and can do good work, but never can seem to get the job done. He's using a Mackey mixer and four of those powered speakers that go up on tripod poles. The sound actually isn't bad, but the mixer is in the open and surrounded by piles of wires for people to step on, and somebody is always changing the adjustments.

There has to be a better way. I wonder how long it will take to get our third system....


My previous church had maybe 20 speakers in upside-down Kentucky Fried Chicken buckets, suspended above the congregation. The buckets were painted brown, but you could see the Colonel and the red-and-white stripes through the brown on a sunny day. Then we had a professional sound company install a system for $20,000, but half the speakers worked only half the time, and the sound company field rep was a jerk. That was our third system, I think - and it was worthless, too.

-Joe-