HONG KONG, January 31, 2013 — Located in Gyeonggido, Namyangju City, near Seoul, the Dongbu Kwangsung Church was founded in June 1996. In almost 20 years of service, church membership has grown to 7,000 and the modern building contains a main worship area with a seating capacity of 850 people, a youth worship area, a cafeteria and a childcare center. Shure ULX-D™ Digital Wireless Systems answered a number of challenges, and 10 channels including 2 quad channel digital wireless receivers were installed in the main worship area.
Given the changing RF landscape and the new 700 MHz restrictions in Korea, Dongbu Kwangsung’s head engineer, J.S. Park, selected ULX-D to upgrade the church’s current Shure SLX™ series and also to replace several wireless systems from a different manufacturer. Most importantly, Park wanted the new wireless systems to provide better performance and more flexibility for a variety of applications, including weekly worship, benefit performances, Christian contemporary music (CCM) concerts and plays.
Before adopting ULX-D, one of Park’s main concerns was RF performance, after experiencing signal drop outs in the past. The drop outs may have been caused by over 30 meters of cable length between the receivers and the antennas, and also the fact that end-users commonly keep the bodypack transmitters in their pockets during use. Shure Authorized Distributor in Korea Sama Sound recommended ULX-D in the 470-698 MHz range, which provides maximum 20mW RF output power. After a product demonstration, it didn’t take long for Park to reach his decision. Not only has ULX-D solved the drop out problems, but the system’s functionality has taken him to an entirely new level as an engineer.
For example, during an event, performance or service, the engineer has to focus on every single detail. Getting the right sound for the band and chorus is just as important as the sound of the orator or leader of the congregation, and all this is possible when wireless systems are trouble–free. Park explains, “Needless to say the strong RF performance gives me time to focus on other things…I haven’t had a single problem with ULX-D’s RF performance.”
ULX-D’s advanced power management system is another benefit that was not overlooked by Park. After a full day of service on Sunday, the audio team would easily use 20 to 30 AA alkaline batteries. The cost of the batteries was a concern only second to the issue of how to responsibly dispose of the batteries after use. “I didn’t wait until the batteries were completely depleted because you can’t take any risk in the middle of worship. After just a few hours, during a break in the sessions, I replaced them with new batteries and then wouldn’t throw away the partially-used old batteries as they could come in handy…but that day never came. I couldn’t use the old batteries simply because I can’t take any chances at any time,” says Park. “With the SBC battery management system, I don’t need to worry about either of those problems, so to anybody who wishes to purchase ULX-D, I strongly recommend the battery management system as a ‘must have’ option. It seems like the team that designed ULX-D considered all aspects of sound engineering.” enthused Park.
Exceptional audio quality is yet another standout feature of ULX-D, and this benefit was not lost on the end-users at the church. The very first person to notice the sound quality was the lead vocalist, Grace Chun. “This wireless microphone’s sound quality is simply awesome; it is three times what I’ve been using! The clarity is unbeatable.”
While sound quality is the main priority for many vocalists, the back-up singers were equally excited about the ULX-D transmitter features and especially the on/off switch. “We are not full-time singers so we use mute buttons quite a lot. Muting the SLX transmitter was easy enough, but with the ULX-D, it is just effortless” commented vocalist Jenny Lee.
For more information on Shure's ULX-D Digital Wireless System, visit: www.shure.com/asia.
