GC Pro Outfits St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church

A worship band performs at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, in Newport Beach, California. Visible in background are two new DaLite 10x13-foot screens, sourced through GC Pro, along with four Panasonic PTDZ21KU 3-Chip DLP projectors (not pictured).

— As an authorized Panasonic dealer, GC Pro sourced the high-end projectors and screens necessary to overcome a large amount of natural light in the church’s sanctuary —

— GC Pro’s Affiliates Program, which matches each project with the right AV systems integrator, found the church the right installer partners in FirstFire AV and subcontractor Olsen AV, Inc. —
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, February 5, 2014 — St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, in Newport Beach, California, obviously aims for its members “seeing the light” as a primary goal. However, on account of the space’s terrarium roof, the church’s sanctuary is often filled with bright natural light all day long. That created a problem for viewing the church’s video content that plays during services. Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, came to the rescue.

Drawing on the wide array of high-end projector products now available to GC Pro since having been named an authorized Panasonic dealer in 2013, GC Pro Account Managers assessed the situation and determined that a solution could be found in two new DaLite 10x13-foot screens lit by a total of four Panasonic PTDZ21KU 3-Chip DLP projectors, achieving 40,000 lumens per side, more than enough to cut through the bright Southern California sunshine. “We have most of our services in the daytime, and with so much light inside the church from our glass ceiling, it can be a challenge getting the screens to be readable,” says Dustin Laemmlen, the church’s Director of Production. "We wanted to achieve a real cinematic effect for our testimonials and announcements, so we needed to find a way to increase the necessary contrast.”

Church leadership wondered whether projection of LED displays would work best, and GC Pro set up demonstrations on site at the church of both types for comparisons. Once it was determined that dual-stacked projectors were the best solution, GC Pro Affiliate Program member FirstFire AV was assigned the installation phase of the project, with Olsen AV, Inc., of Fontana, California, engaged as the installation subcontractor for the projects.

“There is a huge amount of ambient light inside the church that would not have made for a good viewing experience without the projectors that GC Pro were able to source,” says Arthur Olsen, Operations Manager at Olsen AV. “GC Pro was able to make sure we had everything we needed, including custom projector lenses, the mounting hardware for the screens and the custom enclosures from Panasonic that enabled us to mount two projectors atop each other per side, as well as over 300 feet of cabling for all of the projectors. The images are crisp and clear, even in the bright sunlight inside the church.”

GC Pro also coordinated with Panasonic Sales Engineer Randy Moreau on the installation, to provide exact alignment for all four of the projectors. “Everything was pretty much where we needed it, when we needed it,” says Olsen, “and if there was a question, GC Pro was there to answer it.”

Laemmlen adds, “Our experience with GC Pro was super smooth. What they can do that most other vendors cannot is really search out the absolutely best solutions and be able to negotiate pricing directly with the manufacturers. We even had Panasonic corporate right here at the church.”

Olsen notes that all parties will be back at the church to renovate the sanctuary’s podium area and install even larger projection screens. “We’re looking forward to working with GC Pro again on that,” he says.

For more information, please visit www.gcpro.com.

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About Guitar Center Professional/Guitar Center
Guitar Center Professional is the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. Its clientele includes recording studios, audio engineers, producers, recording and touring musicians, live sound venues, post production facilities and more. Emphasizing extraordinary individualized service via local account managers, GC Pro offers expert consultation and a comprehensive selection of the world’s finest equipment for music and audio professionals. More information on GC Pro can be found by visiting www.gcpro.com.