Community Entasys

[aaronsternke]

Hey there all,
Hope this is the right forum for this.

Our church is considering the Community Entasys speaker system for our FOH PA in our new building.

The new room is basically a gymnasium... with a basketball court and everything. Walls are slightly non-parallel. Sealed cement floor. Limited / no treatment on the walls. Seats about 660.

Per side, we are planning to do 2 high frequency boxes stacked on top of each other, with a low frequency box on top of that... and then some dual 8's and dual 15's for subs... we are powering the speakers with the new Crown MacroTec i amplifiers.

We demo'd the speakers, (only one high freq. box and 1 low, and only 1 side... with quad 8's as subs... so kind of a handicapped system) and they sounded pretty darn good. The clarity was great, and the pattern control was really pretty amazing.

My one concern is whether they will have enough "thump" (even with dual 15's on each side) to sustain a full band, week after week, and still keep the vocal on top comfortably...

My question is: Has anyone used these in a full band situation? I know they're super new, so I might be asking a lot. Anyway, if anyone has any experience, bad or good, with these speakers, I'd love to hear about it! Thanks in advance.

Aaron Sternke
Willamette Christian Church » Home

[bishopthomas]

I'd never heard of them until your post. Upon clicking your link I was reminded of the Bose stick and immediately closed the window. You might get some opinions at srforums.prosoundweb.com. They deal strictly with sound reinforcement work over there. Although, there are a lot of people here with great knowledge too. How much are you looking to spend on a system? Maybe we can give you a few options so you can make a comparison. Either way, try before you buy!

[aaronsternke]

Yes... they do look pretty wimpy. When I listened to them though, closing my eyes and imagining they didn't look like they do, ... objectively, they did sound pretty great, especially on speech and acoustic guitar. But like I said, I'm just concerned about full range program material (band, mic'd kit, etc) every week...

Aaron

[bishopthomas]

I just read the description on the site and saw some pricing. First off, I don't think that's really what they're designed for. Secondly, for the money there are other things out there that you should listen to before making a decision. So am I to assume you want to spend around $15,000 for the system? Do you plan on installing/having it installed or will this rig be portable?

[NQJason]

If you haven't already, I would request an Ease model of your room using this system. This will allow for some predictive analysis as far as frequency ranges and coverages are concerned. Community supplies these models as a part of their design services.

I would also recommend getting info on the QSC ILA Line array system, and the JBL VRX. Both of these are relatively cost effective Line array solutions that will supply the pattern control needed for your room, but will also easily handle the full range material you are concerned with. QSC's design service staff is excellent, and I am sure they would be happy to do a room model for you. Also QSC is pretty aggressive with system demos, so I am sure a local contractor could arrange one for you.

Good Luck!

[aaronsternke]

Thanks for the responses guys.

Truth be told, the Entasys system is a second choice. We WERE going to go with SLS Line Arrays... but SLS is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind on order fulfillment right now. They promised us several delivery dates, pushed them back, pushed them back, ... and now they're not guaranteeing anything. Apparently they can't get parts from their suppliers, or something. Darn economy.

And actually, the JBL VRXs were a possibility. I know they're popular. From what we saw in our 3d modeling though, they didn't give us the coverage or pattern control we needed... they were energizing way too much of the (very live) room.

I hadn't seen the QSC ILA system before. Looks... niiiicccceeee... I'll pass that info on to our system designer.

Thanks again for the responses. Keep them coming!

Aaron Sternke

[NQJason]

Ah, SLS. That is a common refrain for them. Which is a shame because it is a great product.

Have your system designer contact Joe Etrick at QSC about the ILA. I think you will find it compares very favorably to the SLS.

Good luck!