Most people who know me understand that I like to do a lot of things myself. Churches are the same way. We don’t want to spend money on things that we feel that we are capable of doing or we have a well meaning “friend” who can help us. While there are things that can be done by laymen in the church or someone who has worked with electronics before, there are just some things that should be left to professionals. Equipment that hangs from the ceiling is generally that type.

Take, for example, the hanging of speakers in the sanctuary or your youth building. One might think, “It can’t be that hard to do. I can take the speaker out of the cabinet, drill two or three holes in the top of the cabinet, place some washers on both sides and place an eye bolt to connect some chain that is connected in the roof. That should be sufficient to hold the speaker cabinet, shouldn’t it?”

What you don’t realize is that the most speakers are made of medium density fiberboard (MDF), GLUED together and held with a few screws in key positions. Unless you are spending BIG money (translation: thousands per speaker box) the speakers are wood pulp pressed together into sheets. While it works well for most applications, hanging from homemade mounting devices is not what these manufacturers designed the speaker box for. They were designed to be placed on stands or on a platform. Major manufacturers understand that some people are going to hang these speakers in a manner not unlike that described above. They, however, are responsible enough to manufacture the speaker box with enough strength to hold its’ weight for some time.

What happens though if a cheaper speaker is chosen, as often is the case, and they are not put together quite as well? Well, the weight of the speaker and the cabinet could cause the glue to fail and the cabinet becomes a 60 pound weight crashing to the ground, breaking a pew, chair, or worse. Or even the best manufacturer’s glue won’t hold forever. After 10 years, do you really want to have a speaker fall apart when you least expected it. Safety should never be sacrificed in the name of finances.

There are many things that you can do to save money for your ministry. You can run the cable yourself or terminate the cable ends if you have someone with that type of expertise. You can rack mount your amplifiers and support gear before the final installation.

If you must do it yourself, spend the money and make sure that you purchase speakers that have “rigging points.” These are threaded inserts that are engineered to support the weight of the speaker cabinet for the life of the cabinet. They are usually made of real wood or have cabinets that are reinforced internally to assist in the support of the weight.

Thanks for reading and as always, email us at Churchnology@churchnology.com if you have any questions regarding the use of technology in your church or ministry. We are here to help.