Based in the Orlando area, Action Church has a large number of Allen & Heath digital mix systems deployed at all four of its locations, with three additional dLive systems recently selected for deployment at its broadcast location in Winter Park, FL.
John Williams, Experience Director for Action Church, worked closely with church volunteers and Bradenton, FL-based Crown Design Group for this latest expansion phase. “We started with the original install back in November 2018 and dLive has been a great platform since day one,” Williams notes. “We’ve been blessed to have off the charts growth at the church and when it was time to ramp up further on the audio side, there was no hesitation about going big again with even more dLive.”
Action Church drives front of house and broadcast mixes from dLive S7000 control surfaces, with 96 kHz XCVI core mixing via a DM64 MixRack at FOH and a DM0 at broadcast. The S7000 is the largest surface in the dLive family, with 216 assignable fader strips, 36 faders over 6 layers and dual 12-inch capacitive touchscreens. Monitor mix duties are tackled on the compact C1500 surface connected to a dedicated DM64 MixRack. The C1500 is one of the smallest surfaces within the dLive series, offering 12 faders over 6 layers, built-in audio I/O, an audio networking port, and a 12-inch capacitive touchscreen in a rack-mountable frame.
A collection of two 64 x 64 Dante cards, three 128 x 128 Dante cards, 128 x 128 Waves card and four 128 x 128 gigaACE cards were installed across the MixRacks to provide 96 kHz audio networking and further expansion and integration options. The gigaACE audio networking card is one of several audio networking options that can be fitted to any Allen & Heath dLive or Avantis I/O Port. It provides a point-to-point link to another dLive or Avantis mixing system with an low transport latency stated as 5 samples.
“Each dLive MixRack can easily handle 128 input channels with full processing, but amazingly we needed even more total inputs and busses in our full system,” Williams adds. “The direct plug and play compatibility across the full dLive range made that expansion requirement a cinch. We also kept everything consistent with the original install by adding an additional Bittree patchbay, complete with Whirlwind snakes. And shielded, redundant Cat-6 connections, where applicable. This system is very complex, but also extremely flexible. The convenience of digital tie lines and being able to cross between several protocols is totally amazing.”
