I was in a similar situation almost a year ago. Except, its a small sized theater touring
system. So, a
snake, cases/racks, and other necessities were needed. I ended up spending a cool 5.5k on the
system, closer to 6 due to secondary purchases. For the mains. Ev Sx300s (300
watt, 12" 2-ways), sound fantastic. Best bang for the buck in the price range, best
frequency response and
power too. I choose to
power them up with a QSC PLX3402. Now this amp is a little
bit more due to it's lower levels of
THD and smaller size/light weight (which makes a difference when you have to
hall this stuff around. The amp drives all 4 speakers with more than enough
power, and I can drive two speakers if you
switch the resistance loads around.
Sounds like you have a wide area to
cover but not too deep of an area. Many 12" cabs are over kill for that depth, you'll be blasting the people to death. Before I got my
system last year I was "stuck" with JBL Eon 12" 2-ways. For the app which was CD playback, it wasn' too much of an issue. At the largest performance which was around 1000 or more (It could have be more people were practically sitting in the aisles it was fire hazard. It was 11 productions from 11 different schools in a single space, friends and family came to support) and we seemed to do just fine with the underscoring musical interludes. There was no reinforcement so it wasn' an issue
If you want
clear coverage you'll be spending money on a series of lower powered speakers due to the room size. Since your covering 50' horizontally and you only have 20 depth you'll need muiltiple speakers for decent coverage. You could probably get away with two if you had more depth, but considering you'll have some sort of
stage area the mains will most likely be right in there
face. And you can't set the mains behind the
stage to increase horizontal coverage. Depending on volume and placement 10" or 12" will do the trick, I'd stick with 10" to save dough. And it is a church in a small place, you'll be blasting people if the mains are placed too close. I'd say get the Ev Sx 10" 2 ways, 4 of them. They match nicely with QSC, but any amp will really work in this app.
Since your not neccessarly going to be mixing the services with demanding and complicated
gain structures, I'd go with a behringer. Esepecially since it's mostly all speach you'll be fine, it's like you'll have a bunch of open mics picking up a wealth of instruments. No more than 6
mono channels, just incase an extra mic is needed. Plan for playback with stereo channels for a CD player, and maybe a tape player. I'm not too familar with the behringer models but you'll be able to figure it out by
channel need. However if you can afford a
mackie VLZ pro, go for it. Either the 1202 (4
mono, 3 stereo) or 1402 (6
mono, 4 stereo). I really like the 1402 due to the wealth of channels.
My choral director's audio rig is similar to your room, wide w/short depth. There are 12" 2 ways mounted on the walls and they
cover the room nicely. They give both sides of the room a good perception of stereo. There is a
mackie vlzpro 1402 in the room. 4 channels are used for the hanging condensers used for recording, other two
mono are unused. The remaining stereo channels are used for a dual cd player/burner and dual casette
deck. This brings up a good
point, if you have the ability to place your mains above and away from the
stage you just may get fairly nice coverage.
As far as mics, stick the 58s if your on a budget. You can later upgrade to mics more ideal for alter and
podium apps. Mic'ing a piano is very hard to do...tonewise. Many professional engineers use as many as 2-3 mics along with a piano
pick up. You may just find that the piano will be loud enough acoustically, but if you have to mic it...you'll be spending some cash to get a decent sound. SM57s really don't cut it at getting an even, projected piano sound. You'll usually get muddy results, and most of the time it does more bad than good. It would sound a
bit phased out, with little projection and no distinct tonal characteristics. Since I have nor the time or money to perfect my piano reinforcement I just go closed lid (gotta keep that
bass in, sometimes open it if things are sounding too muddy depends on the piano. Some pianos sound more balanced close range while others futher ranges) and stuck to a good ol' PCC160 or two taped to the lid, plus it elminates any needs for stands. I don't own enough condensers anyway to really implement an in-depth experiment on piano mic'ing. It's such a difficult insturment to reinforce due to it's ambient sound the range of pitches. I have always have had delt with grand pianos so they're probably a
bit harder in terms of SR, but an upright would be nice considering the directivity of the sound coming from a much more compact space. But things still could get muddy.
As for wireless, consider it as a future option later down the
road. Sorry if this was all a
bit scattered and sloppy, it's a little late. I felt a little guilty about not contributing, especially since I have experience with this stuff. If you have any questions, fire 'em away.