Seacoast Church Johns Island Campus
Building on a Proven Relationship
Seacoast Church is a multi-campus contemporary Christian church with 16 locations across the Southeast United States. Seacoast has a long-standing relationship with their integrator, WAVE. Fulcrum Acoustic has become the sound system of choice across many campuses, supporting Seacoast’s goal of delivering a quality and uniform worship experience. For WAVE, Fulcrum offers a practical and accessible range of loudspeaker options and supporting technologies that allow the team to create reliable, tailored solutions for each space.
A New Campus for a Growing Community
Seacoast again turned to WAVE and Fulcrum Acoustic for the sound system at its new Johns Island campus. Before moving into a permanent location, the Johns Island congregation held services in a local school using a portable sound system. When the church designed and built a new 450-seat building, they needed an installed audio system that matched the modern design of the building and supported its multiple functions. Located near Charleston, South Carolina, an area known for destination weddings, the space was designed to function not only as a church, but also as a picturesque wedding chapel and a community gathering space.
This mix of uses influenced both the technical audio requirements and visual system design. The system needed enough output to support modern worship with a full band and multiple vocalists, while maintaining clarity for spoken word and providing an unobtrusive aesthetic appropriate for ceremonies and events.
Delivering Clarity and Control
At the center of the design are two, four-box arrays of white CC215 constant curvature loudspeakers. Positioned on either side of the stage, this main system was designed to provide even coverage across the seating area, match the church’s aesthetic, and control stage spill.
WAVE prioritized passive cardioid technology as part of the solution. In a modern worship setting, managing stage volume is critical. With a full band and multiple vocalists or spoken word with a headset microphone, excess energy on stage can quickly impact clarity and gain before feedback. By reducing low frequency energy behind the boxes, the CC’s passive cardioid design helps keep the stage quieter and more controlled, improving clarity and intelligibility.
“Passive cardioid is great at keeping the stage quiet and eliminating feedback. With sensitive headset mics, anything we can do to reduce stage volume is excellent. It’s key for us,” explained Rick Russell, Vice President of Design at WAVE.
For the distributed system, delay fill is provided by two CCX1265 coaxial loudspeakers, while four RX5 compact loudspeakers act as front fills for the near seating area. Three Sub218L subwoofers installed beneath the stage deliver powerful, controlled low-frequency reinforcement to support the dynamic modern worship services.
Efficient Design with Fulcrum One
The architectural design of the space introduced additional challenges. “The room has a hard ceiling, pitched roof, and a lot of windows. It’s hard to get the right acoustics in there,” explained Russell. To predict acoustic performance, WAVE used Fulcrum One software during the design process to model the room’s acoustic surfaces, evaluate coverage, and optimize loudspeaker placement. Russell described the software as fast and easy to work in, allowing the team to move efficiently from design to deployment. “The design translated the way we expected it to. When we got on site, we didn’t have to go in and move things around or adjust for something we didn’t expect.”
Built for Today, Ready for What’s Next
Since opening, the system has delivered consistent performance and clarity across both music and speech, even in the challenging acoustic environment. The response from leadership, staff, and the congregation has been overwhelmingly positive. “We’ve had nothing but positive feedback about sound quality and speech intelligibility in the space. It’s a pretty live room and it worked out well acoustically,” Russell noted.
At Johns Island, the system provides a consistent and reliable foundation for both worship and community use. By delivering clear, controlled sound throughout the space, it supports how people gather, connect, and engage today while remaining flexible for the future.
Photography: Ryan Barger