Circle Church Improvements

University Church adds new speakers to fellowship hall to facilitate student worship

New NEXO ID speakers have been recently installed on the ceiling in the University Church fellowship hall. Increased use of the fellowship hall as a meeting place for student-led Circle Church has been problematic from a sound perspective as temporary speakers had to be setup each time. A permanent solution was devised through a collaborative effort between the church, the Walla Walla University campus sound department, Circle Church, and alumnus Daniel Rafuse.

The fellowship hall has a low ceiling and a very wide seating area, which means the speakers had to have a low profile in order to avoid blocking the audience view. NEXO ID speakers are very compact with a high output, making them the perfect choice for the room. Rafuse personally completed final tuning of the system. Students at Circle Church enjoy much improved sound quality, and the sound crew appreciates the streamlined setup.

Circle Church is a student led gathering which meets every Sabbath at 10:30 a.m. in the fellowship hall. It began in 2011 as a time to enjoy church not as a location but as a community. The students gather roughly in the shape of a circle, symbolizing the central focus of Jesus with every member recognized as an equal. The student church has grown since its beginnings and moved from the Canaday Technology Center Black Box to the fellowship hall in 2014 after the University Church offered the space.

Speakers are just one of the improvements made to the room. A student-constructed wooden background for the stage has been set up and two 70-inch 4K displays, donated in part by The One Project, have been permanently installed. These new features make the room a powerful new tool for student outreach and small church programs.

The NEXO ID system is new to the industry and the installation generated some buzz in the professional audio community. Read what they had to say

Posted on November 28, 2016

Hidden in plain sight. The new speaker system delivers rich sound while staying out of the way on the ceiling.
Student leader Matthew Burghart delivers a talk at Circle Church aided by the new speakers.
The new sound system is a permanent feature of the room and doesn't require extensive setup for each event.