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10 complete systems

Complete Church AV System Builds by Size and Budget

Ten complete systems, each one a full equipment list with every item priced, linked and totalled: installed sanctuary systems from 100 to 1,000 seats, portable systems for church plants, and livestream systems from a single camera to a broadcast rig.

In almost every build

The items that turn up no matter which system a church ends up with.

Installed sanctuary systems

Permanent systems for a room you own, sized by seat count. These optimise coverage, concealment and service life, and they assume the loudspeakers go up once and stay there. Every one of them needs a licensed electrician and, where anything is flown, a structural engineer or certified rigger.

Small church, 60 to 150 seats 100 Seat Church Sound System $5,534 20 items, every one priced and linked A complete 100 seat church sound system costs about in equipment. It runs a pair of 1,000 watt powered 12 inch mains , an 18 channel digital rack mixer, two wireless channels, a lectern microphone, wired in-ear monitoring and four ADA assistive listening receivers. Mid-size church, 150 to 350 seats 250 Seat Church Sound System $15,929 30 items, every one priced and linked A complete 250 seat church sound system costs about in equipment. It runs three 2,000 watt powered 12 inch mains and a subwoofer, a 32 channel console with a digital stage box, four wireless channels, a miked drum kit and personal in-ear mixing for the band. Large church, 350 to 700 seats 500 Seat Church Sound System $32,838 38 items, every one priced and linked A complete 500 seat church sound system costs about in equipment. It runs four 2,000 watt mains and two 18 inch subwoofers , a 48 channel console with a 32 channel stage box, six wireless channels and personal in-ear mixing for a full band. Multi-campus and large auditorium, 700 to 1,500 seats 1,000 Seat Church Sound System $41,605 42 items, every one priced and linked The equipment for a 1,000 seat church auditorium comes to about , and the loudspeakers are deliberately not on that list. At this size the main system should be a line array designed with prediction software by an integrator, not chosen from a catalogue. Everything else is specified here.

Portable and church plant systems

Systems that go up and come down every week in a school, a cinema or a rented hall. The priorities invert completely: weight, case count, setup time and how few volunteers it takes. A portable system that needs four people and ninety minutes will not survive its second year.

Church plant, one or two volunteers, under 30 minutes to set up Church Plant Portable Sound System $4,059 15 items, every one priced and linked A portable church plant sound system costs about and fits in a car. It runs two 30 pound powered 12 inch speakers , a single rack unit tablet mixer, two wireless channels and wired in-ears, and two volunteers can have it up in under thirty minutes. Growing portable church, 120 to 250 people Growing Portable Church Sound System $9,714 24 items, every one priced and linked A portable system for a church of 120 to 250 people costs about . It runs three powered 12 inch mains and a compact subwoofer , a sixteen preamp tablet mixer, four wireless channels and personal in-ear mixing for a full band, and still loads into one van. Established portable church, 250 to 500 people Full Portable Church Sound and Video System $21,393 36 items, every one priced and linked A full portable system for 250 to 500 people costs about . It runs four powered mains, two subwoofers and a 32 channel console with a stage box, six wireless channels, eight personal mixes, a portable projection system and a livestream feed, and it needs a box truck and a six person team.

Livestream and video systems

Video is a separate budget line and a separate volunteer team, not an add-on to the sound system. Worth saying plainly: livestreaming well is harder and more expensive than it looks, and a church is almost always better served by one good camera and excellent audio than by three cameras and a microphone on top of a camcorder.

First livestream, one camera, one volunteer Starter Church Livestream System $2,401 7 items, every one priced and linked A starter church livestream system costs about . One camera, a hardware switcher that streams to YouTube with no computer, and a real audio feed from the console. At 1080p30 it needs about 4,700 kbps, so roughly 10 Mbps of measured upload . Established stream, three cameras, two volunteers Multi-Camera Church Livestream System $6,485 10 items, every one priced and linked A three camera church livestream system costs about . It runs three pan tilt zoom cameras on one network , a switcher that records every input separately so a bad cut can be fixed afterwards, and a dedicated broadcast audio mix rather than a copy of the house mix. Broadcast quality, dedicated team, multi-campus delivery Broadcast Church Livestream System $16,513 16 items, every one priced and linked A broadcast-grade church livestream system costs about . It runs eight inputs with isolated recording, three 4K NDI cameras and a cinema camera , with an eighteen channel multitrack audio path so the broadcast mix is built rather than borrowed.

Every build side by side

Complete church AV system builds, equipment cost only
System Suits Items Total
Starter Church Livestream System First livestream, one camera, one volunteer 7 $2,401
Church Plant Portable Sound System Church plant, one or two volunteers, under 30 minutes to set up 15 $4,059
100 Seat Church Sound System Small church, 60 to 150 seats 20 $5,534
Multi-Camera Church Livestream System Established stream, three cameras, two volunteers 10 $6,485
Growing Portable Church Sound System Growing portable church, 120 to 250 people 24 $9,714
250 Seat Church Sound System Mid-size church, 150 to 350 seats 30 $15,929
Broadcast Church Livestream System Broadcast quality, dedicated team, multi-campus delivery 16 $16,513
Full Portable Church Sound and Video System Established portable church, 250 to 500 people 36 $21,393
500 Seat Church Sound System Large church, 350 to 700 seats 38 $32,838
1,000 Seat Church Sound System Multi-campus and large auditorium, 700 to 1,500 seats 42 $41,605

Totals are the sum of listed equipment prices when each page was compiled and change often. None of them include installation labor, rigging, conduit, electrical work or permits, which on an installed system commonly add 30 to 60 percent on top.

Researched, not professional advice. These builds are compiled from published manufacturer specifications, operator manuals, FCC rules and owner-review consensus, not hands-on testing. They are a starting specification, not an installation design. For a permanent system engage a qualified integrator, have any flown loudspeaker and its attachment points signed off by a structural engineer or certified rigger, and have all electrical work done by a licensed electrician to your local code. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.