Outfitting Fiji’s World Harvest Centre with New Audio

Suva, Fiji (August 19, 2024)—In-the-round performance spaces are always an audio challenge, but mix in the added pressure of needing every word to be heard perfectly and a somewhat remote location and the complications multiply. That was the scenario facing CVAV Australia when it was recently called to Fiji to create and install a P.A. system for Christian Mission Fellowship International and its World Harvest Centre (WHC)—a round church building that can hold more than 3,500 worshippers, a full band, production, and a 100-member choir.

Since its construction in 1990, the center has installed numerous sound systems, none of which could quite tame the large reverberant space. Under new Head Pastor Suliasi Kurulo, the church’s production crew and the committee awarded the project to Carey Leghorn from CVAV Australia, who proposed a Martin Audio-based solution.

Leghorn, together with Anthony Russo from Technical Audio Group, Martin Audio’s Australian representative, made several visits to WHC to evaluate the scale of the project and create a design for the site. The services are major concert events with 3,000-plus people singing, supported by a full band and choir, so a system would have to achieve SPLs generally associated with an international touring act.

Leghorn notes, “This project was one of the most difficult I had ever worked on. We faced several challenges, from working at 15m heights for PA rigging to custom steel fabrication on site. Additionally, we had to install several kilometers of cables through a complex roof structure. Also, much of the fabrication had to be done in Australia with no room for error once the project was containerized and sea freighted.”

Nub Sound Rolls Up for Tunes in the Dunes Festival

Opting for a Martin Audio Wavefront Precision line array system, Martin Audio’s Display prediction software was used to design a 56-cabinet WPM system based around a 32-cabinet left and right system in two-box resolution, along with a 10-a-side WPM operating in one-box resolution mode. Supporting that are two stacks of six Martin Audio SX218 subwoofers per side, each individually processed. The choir stalls are covered with eight individually amplified and processed CDD12 two-way cabinets from Martin’s coaxial CDD range. An eight-cabinet Blackline X12 delay system was installed to complement the main P.A., and  three CDD10 speakers are used a front fills across the stage.

Despite the challenges posed by the rigging and structural steelwork, the CVAV crew managed to hang a center cluster and allowing beam steering of the sub-cluster, thereby implementing a textbook solution. “Once I saw it hang together in place, it was a dream moment for me,” commented Russo. “It’s extremely rare to get subs in that position in churches, where projectors, sightlines and roof weight loadings often constrain you. This results in compromised split left and right subs and the inevitable power alley and off-axis cancellations.”

On the day of the new system’s debut, Russo personally addressed thousands on stage and, in an emotional speech, praised the church’s vision, noting that the project was not about cutting-edge technology, but that the congregation could now truly appreciate the sound of their musicians, choir, and preachers. He concluded by stating, “This location had become a place of learning inspired by a team, welcomed like family by its people and, in turn, willing to share their knowledge for future generations.”