EUGENE, OREGON: When First Baptist Church of Eugene moved into their new facility in the Oregon city last year little did they know they were moving into a bad neighborhood. No, there weren't dilapidated houses, street gangs or bad schools. Rather, the church found itself in the midst of a radio frequency jungle. Surrounded by radio and television towers, high-tech industrial warehouses and a major interstate choked with cell-phone equipped cars, the church was facing a major obstacle to implementing fuller use of wireless sound in its services and other church functions.

"The bad news was they were in the middle of a very challenging RF environment," says Jeff Weinkauf, general manager of Anderson Group International (AGI, Inc.), the systems integrator the church hired to design an AV solution for the new facility. "It was a difficult spot to go with a more complete wireless microphone solution. For example, another church in the same area ended up having to use isolation transformers on every input and output on its audio system due to interference issues." First Baptist knew going in that implementing their wireless "vision" would be challenging.

Weinkauf, though, found a viable solution: a wireless microphone package from Sennheiser. Their wireless gear was not necessarily new to the church. In its old facility, the church had sparingly used some Sennheiser Evolution wireless systems, in addition to a number of Neumann KMS105 handheld wired mics.

"The church had some of the very first KMS105s on the market, and they planned on using them in the new facility," he says. "Yet, they were planning to hold more complex back-to-back services with very little time in between, so they needed a fail-safe, broadcast quality, wireless-based solution to keep the stage easy to reconfigure, but one that would retain the quality they had enjoyed with the KMS handhelds."

Weinkauf's design called for six channels of wireless, employing a mix of Sennheiser 3000 Series receivers and 5000 Series transmitters. All six channels utilize Sennheiser EM3032 receivers, with five of the six channels paired with SKM5000 handheld transmitters equipped with Neumann KK105-S microphone capsules. The same capsule the church had come to depend on in their KMS 105 wired mics. The sixth channel is a Sennheiser SK-50 transmitter with a Sennheiser MKE-2 lavalier mic, which is used by the pastor. The system utilizes two A2003-UHF wideband passive directional antennae, and a Sennheiser SAS108 selective antenna splitter.

"The Sennheiser 3000 and 5000 Series equipment works incredibly well in this difficult RF environment," Weinkauf says. "Sennheiser has built their wireless reliability reputation on handling challenging environments like this one. First Baptist has had zero dropouts since they began using the system. We know whenever anyone in the entertainment industry reaches for Sennheiser wireless they do it with the knowledge that the system is fail-proof. The church is arguably in the same position. They are tasked with communicating life changing information clearly, without interruption."

Since moving into the new facility last fall, First Baptist has found the Sennheiser wireless solution to be exactly as envisioned. In addition to its ability to almost completely overcome the challenging RF realities, the system delivers high-quality sound and makes the job of managing multiple services an easy one.

"I was a little doubtful at first about the system's ability to overcome the RF challenges, but it's turned out to be a real lifesaver for us," says Steve Maricle, minister of music and worship. "We still use wired mics for vocal chorus work and other applications, but there are an untold number of applications where the stage is now a lot cleaner with fewer lines going all over the place. It's given us tremendous freedom, and the option of not plugging and unplugging mics between services."

As the church moves toward more live music, and contemplates another move to a larger facility in the next couple of years, Maricle says Sennheiser is slated to remain an integral part of the church's sound system.