A member of the "Church Design Team"
	Eagle Sound and Acoustics "Working with Ministries to Sound Their Best"

Services & References   Eagle Notes   H.I.S. Standard   Church Construction   Contact   Home

EAGLE NOTE 104 MAKE ROOM FOR MULTI-MEDIA One of the most common buzzwords making its way into churches today is "multi-media". This blanket term has been used to refer to anything from sound systems, projection systems, television cameras, video editing equipment, computer networks, even security systems, etc... Whether we in the church like it or not, multi-media is a large part of the average person's life. We get our information from radio or television, listen to music on compact discs, watch movies on DVD players, keep in touch with e-mail and surf the Net for fun. This is why churches need to be prepared to speak to people in a way they can understand: through the use of multi-media. "But," you say "our church cannot afford to buy and install all the newest gadgets right now! What do we need to do?" Prepare the way! The number and quality of the multi-media systems installed in a new facility is often limited by the budget. The cost of installing multi-media systems after the facility is completed is usually prohibitive. If enough money does not exist to install these systems during construction, a church must plan for them to be installed later. The key is to install the infrastructure to support not only planned multi-media systems, but also future innovations. Surprisingly, the major cost of installing multi-media systems is not the cost of equipment, but the cost of getting the wiring from "point A" to "point B". Installing the wiring or conduit necessary for future multi-media systems during the construction phase can drastically reduce this cost. One suggestion would be to run a 4 inch conduit or an office tower raceway through all of the rooms of your church with branches as needed. This can be either an in floor system or overhead system in a drop ceiling. Unfortunately all too often multi-media systems are not planned for in the design phase. When the time comes ministries have to compromise their system designs. One example is the projection system. The ideal projection systems are rear projection. It costs very little to set this space aside and build the projection rooms during construction. Since most churches fail to do this they have no choice except a front projection system. Many of these churches always planned to install a projection system but waited until the sheetrock was installed prior to calling the projection companies. Front projection systems are aesthetically more intrusive, are more susceptible to ambient light, and projector fans may introduce noise into the room.. Jesus taught a wise man "counts the cost" before starting a project (Luke 14:28-30). The goal of pre-planning for multi-media prior to completion of the design phase is the same. Even though you may not install all of your systems during construction, you can "prepare the way" by installing the infrastructure to support these systems. An old saying is "failure to plan is planning to fail".

• E-Mail: info@eaglesound.com • 14643 Big Sandy Valley Rd • Tuscaloosa, AL 35405 Phone 205.758.7314 • Fax 1.866.529.4747