A recent renovation at the Ham Lake, MN location of Eagle Brook Church (based in the Minneapolis area) saw a new video-wall system and L-Acoustics A10-based PA implemented in a project that also incorporates a DiGiCo Quantum225 — making it one of the first houses of worship to be equipped with the new console platform — and it’s paired with the very first installation of the even newer Dante-specific DiGiCo DQ-Rack.
“They wanted to push the envelope with this installation, and we had been talking to them about the Quantum225 ever since we had heard about it,” says Cameron Fries, the project manager for Summit on the AV aspects of the renovation. “The Q225 is the console they wanted to use to make the leap into the next generation of technology. It’s a perfect fit for them. It’s compact but it has all of the features and functionality of the larger Quantum338, flexible routing and function assignment, and a great user interface and intuitive operation.”
The install was done earlier this year with support from Summit Integrated Systems. Also unique is that the church, which typically deploys an Optocore-based cabling infrastructure at its campuses, this time chose instead to use a Dante network for Ham Lake’s audio. That was a good match for the Dante-specific DQ-Rack, which provides the power of the larger SD-Racks but in a more compact unit, along with the added flexibility of Audinate’s Dante protocol. The 6U DQ-Rack offers 48 mic inputs and up to 24 line outputs in a design that allows the last four outputs to be switched between line outputs and stereo AES/EBU outputs, adding up to a maximum of eight AES/EBU output channels.
“All our people know DiGiCo, in terms of operation and maintenance, so it makes sense to stay DiGiCo, and it was logical that we made the move to the next step with the Quantum,” says Matt Beckstrom, Eagle Brook Church’s audio systems engineer, noting that SD features that they use often, such as Snapshot and macros, are easy to access on the new Q225.
“This new campus is also heavily Dante, so it was also smart to move to the DiGiCo DQ-Rack, which keeps it an all-Dante signal infrastructure,” he continues. “For instance, we’re going over Dante right from the DQ-Rack to the in-ear monitors onstage.”
In addition, connection to the Q225 via the console’s DMI-DANTE64@96 card means that all inputs and outputs on the racks can be accessed at both 48 kHz and 96 kHz. And for added reliability, the DQ-Rack is equipped with dual redundant power supplies as standard.
Beckstrom says that while much about the Q225 is familiar, the added power of Quantum processing is welcome and there’s a lot of headroom for the church’s mix staff to grow into. For now, they’re continuing to use the Waves processing integrated into the Q225, but are looking forward to getting into Mustard and Spice Rack processing in the near future.
He adds that that familiarity with DiGiCo systems made installing the new Q225 themselves, with relatively minimal assistance from Summit, a simple and straightforward process. “That kind of simplicity is especially important for churches, who are always budget-conscious, no matter how big they are,” he notes.