Quick view:
- St. Jude’s Catholic Church in Southern California upgraded its 20-year-old sound system to deliver consistent clarity and coverage for its 5,000–6,000 parishioners with four Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) AC6 ADAPTIve column loudspeakers (forming dual 7-foot arrays) and two 18-inch subwoofers.
- The previous system relied on a center speaker cluster that obstructed a stained-glass window.
- Using EAW's Resolution software, engineers fine-tuned coverage patterns in real-time to mitigate unwanted glass reflections, ensuring uniform sound quality throughout every seat in the sanctuary.
When St. Jude’s Catholic Church in Southern California set out to modernize its aging audio system, the parish leadership knew the upgrade needed to deliver clarity, consistency and long‑term reliability for its 5,000–6,000 parishioners. To achieve this, they turned to DayTech Consulting, led by owner and operator Andrew Day and audio engineer Brian Stanley, who partnered with Rat Sound Systems, EAW’s dealer for the region. Together, they designed and installed a transformative new system anchored by Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) AC6 ADAPTive column loudspeakers.
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For Day, the choice was clear. “The AC6 with its ADAPTive technology delivers. It’s not a secret sauce; it’s real engineering that you can rely on,” he said. “We could tell that during commissioning, when we made even tiny adjustments in the software, you could instantly hear the difference.”
St. Jude’s previous system, four loudspeakers and two large subs, had served the parish for more than two decades. But the center cluster obstructed a stained‑glass window, coverage was inconsistent and the system lacked the precision needed for today’s worship environments.
The new EAW‑based design centers on four AC6 ADAPTive column loudspeakers, two per side, forming dual seven‑foot arrays with a compact 12x12-inch footprint. These are supported by a pair of EAW 18‑inch subwoofers, one on each side, positioned just outside the AC6 arrays to provide balanced low‑frequency reinforcement.
The AC6’s compact footprint and ADAPTive coverage control allowed DayTech and Rat Sound to eliminate the center cluster entirely, preserving the church’s architecture and highlighting its stained-glass window, while improving coverage. “They wanted that center cluster gone,” Day explained. “To do that, we had to bring the speakers in a bit and find the right compromise. But once they were up, the results spoke for themselves.”
One of the most striking outcomes was the improvement in coverage uniformity. “Brian was walking around with an iPad tuning the room," Day recalled a moment during the first full Sunday Mass after commissioning. "We were sitting in the back corner, which originally was one of the worst seats in the house. He leaned over and said, ‘Wow, this is a really good seat.’”
“It now sounds the same, no matter where you choose to sit in the room,” adds Stanley. There is not a bad seat anywhere.”
During commissioning, EAW’s Resolution software was used to make micro‑adjustments to the system’s coverage pattern. At one point, reflections from a rear glass window were causing unwanted energy in the space. “He snapped a line in the software and lowered it less than a foot,” Day says. “We could hear the difference instantly.”
Beyond sound quality, long‑term serviceability was a major factor in choosing EAW. The AC6’s modular design allows the system to continue operating even if one module fails. “One of the biggest selling points was that if one module goes down, the other two make up for it,” Day noted. “You can keep going and not have to take the system down immediately.”
Parishioners have commented on the clarity, musicians are more confident and the music director reports a noticeable reduction in stress. The success of the installation has sparked new ideas for how the church can use the space. “They want to do jazz quartets, special performances, etc. They want to kick the tires on the system,” Day concluded. “When you have singers who can take the roof off the place, it’s great to finally have a system that lets them shine.”
