Dull mono sound. Looking to get things sounding more full

[volounteer]

@Lishinsky

A church is not a studio.
Most venues never had stereo to start with.
If you did have stereo then as the diagram @Brian posted shows that those on either side will miss some of the sound.

When I walked around my house I noted that I lost sound from one channel as the speakers are not fisheye but have limited spread.
Stereo is good for home, bad for churches, and a total fail in a ball park or arena.

[Lishinsky]

The difference between mono and stereo extends way further then the ability to pan elements to left or right.
I’m not sure how well you understand the true concept of stereo.

I’m not here to give lectures, but I recomend that you and other engineers who think like you, rethink your approach to stereo.
Here is a good place to start

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Dave+rat+stereo+vs+mono

[volounteer]

@Lishinsky

I understand stereo quite well.
I have done stereo for over 60 years using all normal methods, but not a few of the way out multi mike versions.
I used real textbooks not utoob videos to provide true facts for guidance.

Do you understand that if you put something on the right side of stereo field
but the people on the left side cannot hear it at all because of the speakers not being fisheye
then you have terrible sound for half the audience.

Stereo has no place in a church setting unless it is very small and meets in your living room.

If you think stereo is so good for a church then why not go 5.1 ?

[Dave]

Do you understand that if you put something on the right side of stereo field but the people on the left side cannot hear it at all because of the speakers not being fisheye then you have terrible sound for half the audience.

Depends on the PA and the seating arrangement. Some PAs have full LCR hangs pointing at each part of the venue, and some (probably most) don’t. Some PAs are just a stack on each side of the stage with seats right in front of them, and some rooms use the space immediately in front of the PA as aisles and the seating starts far enough back that you can hear both stacks, even in the front row (and some PAs have small fill speakers to ensure the people right in front of a stack or hang can hear what’s coming out of the other side. Some PAs are just a “primitive” cluster hung above the podium, some have the most advanced speaker tech available.

I don’t think the OP ever said where his church falls on the spectrum.

[volounteer]

If it is a church then I suspect it would be low cost and functional, and not super expensive high end like possibly a Bway theatre. If it is stereo at all, I would expect two speakers on either side with perhaps a center fill if the LR are very wide.
I do not know any churches that have stereo. But I guess there might be some of those somewhere.

[SteffenR]

If it is a church then I suspect it would be low cost and functional

in many countries churches look and sound different than in the US
we have buildings that where build over 600 years ago and still get used as a church…
and functional is not what comes to mind often

[volounteer]

true
my experience is with usa

and toe-knee who started the thread is in the usa
yet still his church may be one of the big megachurches where money is not a drawback to doing things as good as possible

[Dave]

If it is a church then I suspect it would be low cost and functional, and not super expensive high end like possibly a Bway theatre. If it is stereo at all, I would expect two speakers on either side with perhaps a center fill if the LR are very wide.
I do not know any churches that have stereo. But I guess there might be some of those somewhere.

It varies wildly. I’ve attended a church that fit entirely within a single service in a single classroom, and didn’t have (or need) a PA at all. The one I work at now is big enough that we can host such a church in a classroom that we weren’t using during our last service. Anyway, our sanctuary has reasonably good stereo coverage… I’ve seen smaller churches have better & more expensive PAs, and I’ve seen bigger churches with worse PAs. It just depends on how the congregation prioritizes things, and on how much financial support they can get from their denomination (if they’re affiliated with one).

Anyway, most of the time, by the time there’s an audio engineer involved, there’ll at least be a speaker on a stick on each side of the “stage”. Obviously, you’re not going to get any kind of “stereo image” on such a PA, but I would still recommend wiring it in stereo just so the engineer can compensate for significantly off-center stage volume. It doesn’t come up often (at least in my experience), but last summer we were meeting outside in a tent due to Covid. The drummer was off to one side, and his channels were the only ones panned.

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