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Posts Tagged ‘Solomon’s Temple’

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Does sound quality in a Worship Space –

Posted by jdbsound on June 22, 2021


  • Affect church attendance?
  • Affects church finances?
  • Affects church health?
  • Affects a church’s reputation within a local community?
  • Affects how people respond to the Gospel message?
  • Affects what a minister preaches the Gospel?
  • Affects how a minister preaches?
  • Affects people emotionally?

Myths vs Facts: 

According to various hearing organizations such as the American or Canadian Hearing Societies and other health organizations, 8 to 25% of people will have hearing loss or impairment within any community. For some people, the hearing loss is in one ear or both ears. For other people, using a hearing aid does make up the difference so those people can interact socially with others without needing to use sign language. The bottom line is, if a person can have a normal conversation in a living room but has trouble hearing and being engaged in conversations in larger rooms, these people are less likely to attend a church with less-than-ideal acoustics and amplified sound. Hearing loss, the invisible disability, does make social gatherings awkward for many. Numerous people with hearing loss resort to the practice of self-isolation from social events, including weekly worship services. Sound does have an impact on church attendance for those who have any kind of loss or impairment.

Good acoustics and sound system design in a church make the worship space much more accessible and appealing for those with hearing loss within any community. That is why churches that follow the Bible, when it comes to worship space acoustics, experienced a consistent and sustained 10% attendance increase on average 6 to 18 months after upgrading, while churches that just upgrade their sound system and not the acoustics realize a short-term increase of 5% and 2% over long-term follow-ups. Churches that upgraded both the acoustics and sound system saw no significant attendance changes when compared to churches that just upgraded the acoustics. (However, some churches did reinstalling the existing speaker system to take advantage of the better acoustical conditions and expand the performance of the sound system.)

These facts have been consistent with churches where the pastor, church leadership, and local economies had not changed from 3 years before to 5 years after upgrading the acoustics. The conclusion is, no matter how good or popular your pastor is as a preacher and leader, if the acoustics and sound system are not up to Biblical standards, there are many people who are being excluded. Depending on your point of view, some people see this as a denial of service.

Another thing to consider is that an attendance change of 10% also adds up to a 10 – 15% annual increase in tithes and offerings. For a typical 400 seat church, that could represent an income difference of $208,000.00 over ten years or enough money to replace a church roof.

(Fact: Most churches will sell parts of their property, including their parking lot, to pay for building repairs such as roof replacement.)

Church Size400 seating
Before average weekly church attendance230 people
People returning to attending because of hearing improvements10% or 23 people
Average giving per person (Health Research Funding Org. May 2020)$17.00
Weekly giving increases$390.00
Monthly increases$1,564.00
Annual increases$20,280.00
Over 10 years$208,200.00
Stats are provided from client follow-ups of 5, 10, and 20 years which followed the Biblical method of managing church sound.  The sample size is from 130 of the 400 churches that upgraded their acoustics between 1994-2019.


Not knowing if the acoustics of your church are up to Biblical standards could mean that your church is denying people from attending your church more frequently or from ever returning.

While there are many personal and spiritual reasons for people not attending a particular church, our records show that good acoustics combined with a quality designed and adjusted amplifying sound system constantly translates into higher attendance and tithing. For some churches, the better-quality sound translated into higher giving from people who did not have a hearing issue which was unexpected in our research. These were people who responded to a questionnaire where one of the questions asked, if they noticed the higher quality of sound and whether it affected their tithing. The most consistent response was that when the church board invested in its members by making the worship experience better with quality acoustics, then they felt it was worth investing in a church that took care of its own first, and out of the excess, they could better support others including missions. Church sound is not just an emotional experience; it is a physical experience that directly impacts church attendance and finances.

The Biblical standard for church sound comes from the Bible and specifically in the Story of Solomon’s Temple. In following the story literally, we find that what God designed through the hand of King David is a house of worship that makes it possible for modern sound systems to perform at their highest levels. This makes the room compatible for people with all ranges of hearing loss, and it provides ideal sightlines for people who start to learn lip-reading as their hearing declines with age. Solomon’s Temple is also compatible with ADA (access for Disabilities Act) and other similar laws around the world as the Temple had no steps in the sanctuary, making the worship space wheelchair friendly, even before wheelchairs were invented. Solomon’s Temple doesn’t just set the standard for church sound; it sets the standard for all aspects of church worship and building planning.

You should get your worship space assessed and know it’s acoustical score. If there is room for improvement, have a plan in place when your church can afford to upgrade. On the other hand, some churches have upgraded their acoustics as a last-ditch effort to remain relevant in a local community. All of the churches that made such a desperate move are still open, healthy and have expanded their status in their local community. The knowledge we now know about Solomon’s Temple can benefit your church today.

Then there is the issue of quality versus quantity or loudness. Do people want their sound louder or of better quality? Research suggests that most people choose quality over quantity, hands down. This is especially true for people with hearing problems. While those with hearing loss and using aids to help them hear, a loud sound with distortion renders their hearing aid less capable of help than a clean sound at a lower volume.

Sound systems that have too much distortion at any level are a turn-off because distortion can become painful as the sound levels increase at certain frequencies. Many expensive high-end sound systems are distorting long before reaching their maximum loudness levels. Young people who hear distortion tolerate it better than people over 25 years of age. They often have the mindset that if you turn up the sound system loud enough, the distortion goes away. What they are really doing is desensitizing their ears while damaging their equipment at the same time. Ears have a limited natural way to protect themselves by tightening muscles around the ear canal and drum for short-term excessive noises. For older people, these muscles are not as effective, and distortion becomes intolerable, assaulting the ears at lower volume levels as people age. On the other hand, when the sound quality is high and free of distortion, people of all ages enjoy the louder amplified music, considering that an unamplified congregation can sing over 100dB in a good room without complaints.

The quality of the acoustics, combined with a professionally designed sound system, does impact a church in many ways other than just attendance, tithes and offerings. That impact of sound quality can affect church attendance as little as 8% and some churches up to 18%, and that is just by attending to the physical needs of people. Unfortunately, we have no way of measuring how sound affects people emotionally and spiritually and whether that influences attendance. On the other hand, many movie theatres have upgraded their seating, installed higher-quality speaker systems, add substantial amounts of sound-deadening materials, and other details to enhance the movie viewing experience. Judging from the higher ticket prices people are willing to pay, there is little doubt of an emotional experience tied directly to sound quality.

The secular community has tested how sound affects people numerous times. By simply changing the quality of the sound, it affected how people judge the quality of the picture they saw on the screen. In one well-known test, two identical theaters were made to look the same in every detail. The projectors were the same as well as the popcorn and other items people do when watching a movie. While both theaters had carpeted floors and padded seating, one theatre had very visible acoustical panels and hardware on the walls and ceiling, the other theatre had fake panels that had no acoustical properties but looked identical. After having two groups of people listened to the same three movies over three days in both theatres, the majority of the listeners judged the theatre with the proper acoustical treatment to have a better picture and they remember much more details of the movies. Additionally, some thought the seating was more comfortable, the popcorn and drinks tasted better. Some also asked to see some of the movies again in the theatre where they found the seating more comfortable. As a caveat, the sound in the theatre without the acoustical treatment could not perform as loud, even though both sound systems were properly equalized, so the sound levels were set to a lower volume. The acoustically treated room with bass traps was able to perform to lower frequencies without any distortion which augmented the sound quality. This is a clear example of how sound quality affects people emotionally in a big way.

Finally, can the number of people responding to altar calls, faith healings, being slain in the spirit, speaking in tongues, and experiencing holy laughter be attributed to sound quality? For churches seating less than 400 people, that depends. Churches this size or smaller should have good enough acoustics without a sound system if the worship space meets the Bible’s acoustical standard. When the room cannot support quality sound acoustically, the church will resort to using sound systems to make up for the room’s failure to perform. At best, a typical professionally designed and installed sound system can raise the performance by a mere 10 to 15% of the room’s potential performance. When the room is acoustically upgraded, the room performance often improves 50 to 60%. In a bad room, at best, 1 or 2% of the people will respond to a worship service event. In a good room, you can add another 2 to 3% response to such church activities. Sound quality, along with uniformed sound coverage, will impact more people. Whether this translates into adding more people to the church, that is up to the church leadership and how supportive they are in helping people in understanding what just happened.

For larger churches, the sound system is very much part of the worship service all the time, and without the sound system, large churches cannot have worship, let alone get the responses that they may have. The larger the room, the more critical the acoustical management of the space becomes. In larger churches, sound quality has a larger impact on people responding to church events. The responses double between good and bad rooms.

When people like Billy Graham evangelized in outdoor stadiums, the sound was often fairly good everywhere because there were no surrounding room surfaces creating interfering reflections. Nothing was getting in the way of the spoken words. Even the echoes heard were not a problem because those effects were often 15 to 20dB lower in volume than the direct sounds from the sound system speakers. Seeing thousands of people responding at outdoor events is rarely duplicated percentagewise indoors, where the acoustics do not meet Bible standards. That also explains the higher response levels to outdoor events when no tent is used versus using a tent. When Jesus spoke to the multitudes, it was always outdoors. Except for when Jesus confronted the Pharisees, Sadducees, priests, and scribes in the Temple and Synagogues, almost all of the teachings to the crowds were done outside. Teaching the disciples and close followers was whenever Jesus knew they were ready to listen and save that knowledge for later when the Holy Spirit gave them understanding.

Church sound does have a huge, long-term impact on churches affecting their growth, health, unity, and support by members and the local community. What a church does after they have upgraded their sanctuary, is up to the leadership whether to promote the improvements or fall back and take sound for granted. From our experience, there has been no downside to making existing, and new worship spaces meet the Bible’s standard. True, no acoustics or sound system can save a person’s soul, but the quality of church sound can make a difference in reaching that soul.

In the end, upgrading the acoustics that will automatically get the best performance possible from the sound equipment of a church to help people with hearing issues alone. This should be enough reason for making such improvements. Upgrading to solve the congregational singing issue is another good reason. That solution is in the Bible too. The number one reason to upgrade is to have a church where no matter who walks through the doors in your worship space, when the person hears the Gospel message, there will be no doubts in what they have heard and no excuses in saying I didn’t understand the message. That said, no sound system or acoustics can remove the veil over someone’s eyes. That is the work of the Holy Spirit and whether the person’s heart has been opened to understanding and receiving the truth.
When Jesus taught, people either fled away or were changed by His teaching. Those who were being changed stayed and kept following Him to learn more. Those who fled, Jesus knew that they would never change because they loved or believed in something they thought was better, believed in other false gods or a lie. When that Gospel message competes with unmanaged reflections of sound in a worship space, those bad reflections will interfere with the person’s ability to understand the Gospel message. That is something that no one can measure. The idea here is to remove any possibility of bad acoustics and sound from keeping someone from understanding the message as no one knows the battle that is going through a person’s heart and mind when they are hearing a sermon at church.

Many times, ministers had shared with me how their ministry changed before and after the acoustics were upgraded. Some ministers have said, knowing a certain person who was at a point in their lives that they needed a push to understand salvation, the minister would prepare a sermon to reach that person. Before the upgrade, such efforts often lead to some people going to other churches, where they became born again. Perhaps the sound was better over there, or the minister was better at preaching. Who knows? After the acoustics were upgraded, most of those efforts in tailoring the sermons not only reached the person the minister was praying and preaching for, but sometimes other people responded to the same message. Sound quality can impact the confidence in efforts of the minister and everything else that happens at the front of any church. Who would have ever thought that sound quality in a church could affect the confidence of a minister’s ability to teach?

Sound quality does impact every part of church worship more than what people realize. It affects people physically, emotionally and it impacts how they respond to the Gospel. It is time for churches to get their houses in order and follow what the Bible teaches in something that we should not take for granted. If your church is dedicated as houses of worship to God, shouldn’t it SOUND like it is dedicated to God?

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Bible Flow Chart from Solomon’s Temple to Modern Church Design

Posted by jdbsound on June 4, 2021


Here is an updated flow chart from Old Testament to New Testament, to help lift churches out of limiting themselves to entertainment styles of worship.

I think many people would agree that there is no experience better than singing in a church, with a congregation, and where everyone wants to sing.  Can you imagine singing in a church where 70% or more of the congregation sings all the time!  What a concept to be singing in a room where you know that your voice is contributing along with everyone else’s. Singing in unison or in harmony sounds just as heavenly and exciting—singing in a church where it sounds just as good with or without musical instruments contributing or leading the worship.  Many people dream of such a church sanctuary that performs like this.  Do such worship spaces exist?  Can a church be transformed into having such qualities?  

When only 20 to 30% of a congregation is singing, and the rest are passively swaying to the music, some with hands in the air and others almost dancing on the spot, is that the kind of worship the Bible describes?  Why don’t more people sing?  Is it because of the music, the hymns, the sound system, or could it be because the room is not able to support the kind of congregational singing described in the Bible?  If the room can’t support good congregational singing, that becomes an acoustics issue, and when most churches try to fix their worship spaces, they often kill the room to make the sound system perform better which makes the congregational singing worse – never better.

Evidence shows that it is easier for a church to resort to an entertainment style of worship because the secular community has not demonstrated any method of fixing the congregational singing issue in existing churches, and new churches opening these days are void of such performance qualities.  That then begs the question, is the entertainment style of worship honoring God?

In the Bible, there are no examples of musical instruments leading the singing, rather, the instruments followed the singing of the people.  When there is a worship team performing in most churches, the worship leader prompts the congregation to sing, and the performers who play instruments, follow the lead singers, not the congregation.  Often it is because they can’t hear the congregation singing at all, and they use floor or IEM monitors to follow the lead singers.  The reason the musicians and singings can’t hear the congregation is because of a room problem.  This creates a room full of people passively worshiping rather than actively worshiping.  That is not much different from going to a music concert.  Is worship in music as long or longer than the sermon? 

What does the Bible say about any of this?  God designed a house of worship in the Old Testament.  Why?  Why didn’t God leave it up to David or Solomon to design something that they wanted?  Why was God so heavy-handed and specific to its design.  Was this house of worship to be a relic of the past, something for the future – and something for the present? 

If the temple was to be a relic, then why are there so many specific details?  Why were those details preserved for over 3500 years?  What if in those details are solutions to many of the problems many churches have today – not just with sound problems, but other issues churches struggle with today? 

Study the flow chart. See what happens when 3500 years of history collide with science.  If there are any errors, let me know.  This work is a result of 27 years of fixing and documenting over 300 churches with another 100 plus churches that copied from the 50 church examples posted who informed me of their successes and from studying over1400 churches since 1983.  Visit my blog if you want to know more about the results in following God’s way to design churches and manage sound.

Click to access flow_chart_of_solomons_temple_3d.pdf

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Do Churches that build what they want, get what they need?

Posted by jdbsound on January 19, 2021


When it comes to houses of worship, there is one fundamental question that Christians need to be honest with themselves.  Do we design houses of worship based on what we need or what we want?  The evidence that we can see and hear as a person visits houses of worship is that Churches are designed and built around what they want, and after they move in, they expect the building to give them what they need.  Many Churches seem to spend unlimited amounts of money after they move in to make the room give them what they need, and the results almost always come up short. 

Since the edict of tolerance by Emperor Constantine, there has been a search for the perfect house of worship.  It is supposed to be an ideal place for Christians to gather, hear the scriptures, study the Gospel and sing praises to God.  After building millions of churches around the world since then, that perfect worship space has been elusive.  When it comes to worship space design, it looks like the church is following a world view of thinking, which is similar to those who believe in evolutionism, materialism and atheism.  The evolutionist believes that if we keep building enough churches with random designs, we will eventually get it right over an endless period of time.  The materialist believes that there is a yet to be discovered equation that can explain to us how to create the perfect sound for worship.  The atheist believes that we can design churches without needing God.  Not one of these world view designs has created a building that meets all of the needs of Christian Worship as detailed in the Bible. Yet, every church, church board, and building committee prays to God for help in designing new worship spaces, but they don’t turn to God’s Word for answers as part of the process.  No one is answering the question of whether we are to design for what we need or what we want!

Why are Christians looking for answers to this problem outside of the Bible, the book that changed their lives?  The Bible, a timeless book, has a design for a house of worship that does give the Christian church everything that they need –  yes, even in these modern times.  The Bible teaches that the scriptures are sufficient to give us what we need and not what we want.  God is our loving heavenly Father, who wants to take care of His children.  GOD gave us a blueprint pattern to follow, which was designed by HIM through David in the Old Testament.  It is a perfect space for Christian Worship today. Shouldn’t the Christian community follow the Bible in what we need as a house of worship and leave the idea of what we want to our personal lives?

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Acoustical Proof of Worship Space Failures

Posted by jdbsound on December 30, 2020


Almost every church has a sound system. It is supposed to be a tool to preach the Gospel message with. When that goal is achieved, it turns out that such a sound system is also excellent for the singing portion of the worship. In a survey done a few years ago, most church sound systems failed at meeting all of the requirements for worship. During the survey, approximately 90% of the worship spaces were limiting the performance of the sound system. In some cases, where churches had expensive “State of the Art” sound systems with the latest digital technology, the acoustical condition of the room limited the performance of the sound systems to 70% or less.

These sound systems were limited in many ways, including even when the congregation can sing over 85dB, but if the sound system was even louder than 83dB, people vigorously complained that the sound system was too loud. Other issues included the need for expensive drum shields, which can cost thousands. Many churches are turning to In-Ear Monitors, and all of the hardware needed to go with the system that cost thousands. In many churches, they were limited in the number of open microphones that could be used, or everyone had to have headset microphones and so on. What is also distressing is that most churches are investing more money into technology and replacing the technology in cycles of 15 years or less- long before the equipment is worn out or obsolete.

What would happen if you could fix the acoustics of the worship space permanently with an acoustical system that can be repainted in future renovations to last the lifetime of the church building? What if that permanent fix could get 90 to 100% performance out of your existing sound system or any future system expansion? What would happen if you only needed to replace sound equipment whenever it failed because of age, rather than trying out the latest technology? What does the latest technology get you in a room that is underperforming acoustically? Does investing into the newest hyped up devices, making promises that can only be reached if the room is fixed in the first place, do anything to help people understand the Gospel better, or is it better to just pacify people through a better entertainment quality sound system? What happens if we turn to the Bible to look for answers? The only example of a worship space is in the details of Solomon’s Temple. That was an edifice that was built over 3500 years ago, and if it was truly The House of God, then why did God allow it to be destroyed?

Is there any proof or evidence that if a church is designed like Solomon’s Temple as it is detailed in the Bible, it would not be suitable for modern worship today?  Are there any existing churches that have the same details of Solomon’s Temple, less the gold? If there is, how does it sound? If no place exists, then why isn’t there at least one?  Does Solomon’s Temple have anything to offer modern churches today? How can a building that some say is just a myth, a building that is said to have never existed, be relevant today? What could ancient technology possibly be usable in an ultra-modern church? Was there something that was in Solomon’s Temple that is usable in churches today, even if the modern church doesn’t resemble anything close to Solomon’s Temple? If the technology of Solomon’s Temple is transferable into existing churches, what does it say about the existence of Solomon’s Temple? Can a myth fix modern churches?  Has any of this technology been applied to existing churches? 

Jesus gave us the last supper, the communion that all Christians celebrate.  By that example, shouldn’t we follow the example of how to design a house of worship that Jesus designed – if we believe John 1:3 “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made”?  Why do churches go against what Jesus did for us in this issue? After all, Jesus is alive today. Why do we treat Jesus as someone who is exclusively from the past?  When did Jesus and God stop being in the present?

In the Gospel of John, it begins with “in the beginning was the WORD and the Word was with God.”  This is about the past and how all things came to be.  At the end of the Gospel, after Jesus rose from the dead, John said, (John 20:31)  “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”  Here, John clearly makes a transition where Jesus in not just the Son of God in the past, but is the Son of God in the present.

As a Christian, the teaching is that the whole Bible is the Word of God. The Bible is the word of God for the past – lessons from which to learn from; for the present – how we are to live day to day with God today; and for the future – to know where we go when we die and how the future of the world will be. Every part of the Bible has something to teach us today, and that includes what we should know about Solomon’s Temple. Was the destruction of Solomon’s Temple of God’s failure to protect His House, or was it to tell us that the details of Solomon’s Temple has valuable technology that is meant to be used in all churches after Jesus rose from the dead?  Here is a link that teaches about how Solomon’s Temple is relevant to churches today.

Here is a link to photo albums of over 40, of the 400 plus churches that have already applied this ancient technology of Solomon’s Temple with amazing results. Any church can benefit from this technology today.  The cost of such a system that can help save lives is priceless, but it is possible to add it to all churches, especially when it costs less than a typical sound system upgrade or replacement.

Please leave any comments you might have in the comment section below.

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What Would Jesus Build?

Posted by jdbsound on December 2, 2020


Jesus would build exactly what he has already designed for us. Christian don’t follow what Jesus designed because most view anything from the Old Testament as something that is irrelevant today. That is from the old covenant. Oh!

In the New Testament, Jesus did not hint or suggest how houses of worship or churches should be designed, or did he? In Matthew 5:17 Jesus said “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Next we have to look at John 1:3  “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” When you read the first 5 verses of the Gospel of John, he is talking about Jesus. Jesus was there for creation, and all things were created through Jesus. Then when you skip to 1 Chronicles 28:19, King David told his son, Solomon, that it was the hand of God that guided him in the design of the temple. God also made him to understand what was being designed. When you put the other parts together, beginning with all things were created through Jesus, and nothing was created without Him, then that means it was Jesus who guided the hand of King David.

As a relic from the past, I can understand why people are so fascinated about Solomon’s Temple. The Ark of the Covenant, the gold on all of the walls and floor, and the gold covering the two giant sized Cherubs over the Ark of the Covenant. It all seems too good to be true, or is it? Since the temple was built and destroyed, many scholars, scientists and historians have been either, trying to validate its existence, seeking something spiritual, or think that there is something supernatural about the building. There are also people waiting in the sidelines for the chance to rebuild another temple. They all have their reasons, but most of them believe that there will be some kind of restoration, and building a third temple will move revelations forward. When man decides to build the third temple in Jerusalem, will not change God’s timing for future events. God will decide that and the unsaved people of the world will have one more chance to change where they will spend eternity.

When you think about it, the second temple, which was built with the best of intentions, was turned into an atrocity and few hundred years later. The temple was symbolizing all of the corruption and enslavement of the Israelites who were beaten into submission by the heavy burden of legalism enforced by the Priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes, long before the Roman Empire ruled Israel. When the Romans arrived, the religious leaders simply added some more rules to keep the peace with their new roman masters.

When you put it all together, Jesus designed the temple Solomon built. When you look at the temple from the perspective that Jesus designed it, then you should be asking the questions Why, and does it have relevancy today?

The knowledge of Solomon’s Temple that I am exposing has nothing to do with anything mysterious, supernatural or any mysticism. When Jesus cast the money changers out of the temple, he said “My House” in Matthew and Mark and said My Father’s House in John. Jesus said that the temple was His and His Father’s house. This was a copy, and a poor quality version compared to the first temple. Did Jesus claim this house because it was dedicated as God’s house or did He claim ownership because of where it was located?

For those who have come to realize this truth, Jesus didn’t have to give us a new church design in the New Testament. He already gave us that in the Old Testament, and when Jesus said he came to fulfill the law, I think he was also saying that anything that was designed in the past is a gift for us today. This may seem like a stretch, until you start applying modern science to Solomon’s Temple. You know – the temple Jesus designed.

Wait a second, are you saying that modern churches should be designed like Solomon’s Temple? Are you out of your mind? Who can afford such a building – consider this. When you remove the gold, you have the most compatible worship space to modern Christian Worship. They building method of the temple in modern times is a very affordable building that includes all the space a typical church these days needs. Ok then, are all churches going to look the same? The Holy Place or sanctuary portion of the temple is a roadmap that should not be compromised. How you design the rest of the building is up to you. Why would we want to design such a space? Perhaps it is because it is the ideal space to have the best worship experience possible on earth before going to heaven. It could be the closest thing to heaven we can experience here on earth, but we don’t know for sure because there is no building around that is completely designed that way.

Consider this, most church buildings cannot physically support all of the worship, detailed in the Bible in both the Old and New Testament, however, Solomon’s Temple, without the gold can. (There are already hundreds of churches that are using sound management from the Bible that suggests that Solomon’s design would perform even better.) Jesus had to have designed Solomon’s Temple. Why? So it can lay in a pile of dirt under a Mosque? Why else would Jesus guide the hand of David? What was so important in the design of the temple for the only man in History, David, to be touched by God? Many in the Bible have seen or been touched by Angels, but is was different for King David. The reason why it was Jesus that touched David, is because Jesus had touched people later on in the New Testament. Not even Moses or anyone else had such an experience until Jesus came to us in the flesh years later. Jesus said He came to fulfill the law. He had to, because He wrote them. It is possible that Solomon’s Temple was meant to be a gift for us to use today? Isn’t it time that we study God’s Word from a different perspective and embrace that gift and start experiencing church worship as God wants for us, or have we been too prideful and sinful to recognize His teachings, even when it comes from the Old Testament?

For those of you who think that Solomon’s Temple was a myth, how does a myth fix the performance of sound systems and acoustics in over 400 modern churches today? How many churches have to be fixed before using the methods from the Bible are considered standard practice in the Christian Church Community?

To learn of these secrets, have a look at this PDF file and let me know what you think.

White Paper on the influence of-solomons-temple-2021Download

Joseph De Buglio – in HIS service

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Did you know that there are Secrets in the Bible still being Discovered?

Posted by jdbsound on July 17, 2020


Does God say anything about modern church design?

What does the best sounding church for worship sound like?

Is it possible to have the best balance for speech, music and congregational singing?

Does the quality of the acoustics and sound system at your church honor God or Man?

The battle for a person’s soul is a constant war on many levels. The people involved are ministers, preachers, scholars, experts, archeologists, historians, prayer warriors, educators, and ordinary Christian people who provide different ways of bringing the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. The tools we have are Bibles, books, reading materials, colleges, universities, missions, donations, churches, multimedia, sound systems, and more.

Christians are taught in the sufficiency of scriptures. Many believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God and never question it. Some of the knowledge in the Bible is still teaching us today. It is only now that we are learning how relevant it is for all Christians and Jews.

Since the beginning of when Jews, and later Christians, started to build larger spaces for teaching and worship, most projects would run into common problems. These problems have been like a plague for Synagogues and Churches alike. The solutions to those issues seem elusive or beyond reach and yet the remedies to most of those issues have always been in the Bible.

For the rest of this article,   Bible secrets in the open

By Joseph De Buglio

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Half Round Tubes -Performance vs Aesthetics

Posted by jdbsound on June 9, 2020


Diffusers are amazing tools when used properly in a church. They solve a variety of problems in one step. Nothing performs better.

One question that is often asked, can you turn the diffusers sideways?  This is a great question, and the answer is based on our anatomy.  As humans, our ears are on the side of our heads.  This means we get our sound information for direction and clarity of speech on the horizontal plane or side to side. The time difference between our ears give us directional info to identify where a sound is coming from, and for speech, it helps us to focus on someone talking to us.

For diffusers to work correctly and to solve multiple problems in one step, their orientation is critical.  When applied vertically, the diffusers can solve between 10 – 29 acoustical issues in one step. No other acoustical system can do this.undefined

The problems solved or reduced are:

  1. standing waves
  2. deadspots
  3. hotspots
  4. eliminate echoes
  5. eliminate flutter echoes
  6. bass build-up,
  7. speech intelligibility,
  8. increases the signal to noise ratio up to 25dB throughout the room
  9. eliminate or less floor monitor spill,
  10. less sound system distortion
  11. less bass distortion
  12. helps to equalize the bass and mid frequencies
  13. gain before feedback,
  14. even distribution of sound,
  15. elimination of delayed speakers in most cases,
  16. better stereo imaging for stereo sounds (when the right equipment is used)
  17. higher attention span,
  18. makes the room easier for the musicians to perform
  19. improved sound for people with hearing aids
  20. better congregational singing
  21. easier for the sound-person to get an excellent mix
  22. it can reduce or eliminate the need for drum shields or both
  23. makes the room less fatiguing for the minister to preach
  24. fewer to no complaints if the sound system is louder
  25. improves the sonic quality of the sound system
  26. can add up to an octave of clear bass from the sound system
  27. better bass from musical instruments both acoustic and amplified
  28. it helps to make the room more relaxing to hear speech and music.
  29. lowers the sound levels from HVAC systems

If your church has a pipe organ, you will want to know this. One of the most interesting characteristics we have learned with using this method is that for some churches that want to maintain a longer reverberation time, plus have all of the benefits of better speech quality, the half-round tubes can increase speech intelligibility without changing the reverberation time. No other acoustical system can do that. For churches that have a pipe or electronic organ and want better speech quality, this method allows a church to balance the need for music and speech.

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When diffusers are installed horizontally, the list of benefits is much shorter.

  1. standing waves,
  2. bass build-up,
  3. Helps to equalize the bass and mid frequencies
  4. It can add up to an octave of clear bass from the sound system and musical instruments.
  5. Can only reduce echoes, not eliminate them

There is more to these differences.  Because we have ears on the sides of our heads, the rate of control is exponential when the diffusers are mounted vertically.  One of the principals of how these diffusers work is by phase cancellation, which is the same technique as in noise-canceling headsets.  The more random the sounds are scattered, the more the overall energy is canceled from the physics principle of phase cancellation.  As a result, when mounted vertically, the diffusers can get up to 40dB of energy reductions or absorption by air friction.  When you mount the diffusers horizontally, you will only get about 10dB of the overall reduction.

The reason horizontally mounted tubes are less effective is because you are creating large reflective surfaces on the horizontal plane that reflects enough energy back into the room, which it is adding noise back to the listener that in turn, reduces the signal to noise ratio. This cancels almost all of the benefits of using half round diffusers horizontally.

Here is a simple experiment you can do yourself. Find a round container that is at least 7 to 8 inches round.  You can every use a large cooking pot, planter, or roll up some cardboard.  Now say a bunch of words into the side of the container vertically.  After talking for about 15 seconds, turn the container sideways, and talk for another 15 seconds.

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What just happened? Like most people, they notice that when the container was horizontal or sideways, there is a distinct reflection. When you turn the container vertically, the reflection goes away.

This simple experiment demonstrates how powerful the half-round shape is.  In the vertical position, when the half rounds are placed on a wall in groups, you can adjust the spacing between the tubes to determine how much reflection you want, plus shape and equalize the sound at the same time.  This is a compelling way to manage church sound once you understand how effective and simple this system works.

Just as a reminder, for all churches, you have to have a balance between absorption and reflection. The half-round tubes are not always a one and done solution. It has to be part of an integrated system. Typically, for most churches, if you have carpeted floors and padded seating, that is often all the absorption needed. If your church doesn’t have carpet and padded seating, then you will have to add enough absorption to the walls to match what would be on the floor. That is a narrow window to get it just right.

For churches that play their music loud, some people wait in the foyer until the sermon starts or they wear hearing protection during the music portion of the worship service. With the half round system, it allows the sound system to perform 10 to 20dB louder with fewer people needing hearing protection. People turn to hearing protection when there is too much distortion in the sound. A distorted sound is irritating and painful to many. People turn to hearing protection, even when the sound levels are well below 85dBa. When a room is diffused properly with half rounds, it reduces or eliminates bass and mid-range distortion. With distortion out of the way, the sound at 85dBa becomes pleasant and easy to listen to. That pleasantness remains constant over 100dBc. Consider this – in a church with this kind of acoustical system with the right room shape and height, it is common for un-amplified congregational singing to be around 100dBc. When that happens almost no one complains. Why? Because there is no distortion. Half-round diffusers prevent distortion. This transforms any worship space into a music-friendly space at any sound level.

Church acoustics and amplified sound play a significant roll in the health of a church. When sound is good, it helps to grow the congregation. When sound is bad, it gets in the way of providing a clear message, that leads to less attendance which means fewer people tithing. In the end, there is nothing more important than preaching the Gospel in the best clarity possible.

To ultimately answer the question of Aesthetics vs performance, the smart answer is this. When an acoustical system works, people don’t mind how it looks.  If anything, they grow to like it.  When other acoustical systems are used, they often fall short on the expected and promised performance.  As a result, those systems become more like wall furniture and in some cases, artwork.  This drives up the cost of those systems.  Here is the truth most experts and salespeople will never share or admit.  To get the equivalent performance of the half-round tubes as a Do It Yourself project compared to ready-made products, the cost difference is 35 to 1.  A church that fixes their acoustics with cardboard tubes as a DIY including paint and hardware for a 400 seat church may spend $2,000.00 installed.  A ready-made system of equal performance will cost a minimum of 75,000.00 installed.  That is equal to fixing 35 churches of the same size.  Even if the same church buys custom made half-round diffusers, they may spend $20,000.  When compared to other acoustical system costs, that is enough money to fix 3 churches.

There is something to be said about how people react to anything put on the walls.  When people see cloth-covered panels, there is an expectation of good sound.  When that doesn’t happen, people often resign to the notion that the problem is too complicated and too expensive to be properly fixed or that the problem is impossible to fix.  Most people just put up with the problem and accept it as normal and don’t bother with complaining.  That is a lie created by bad information and myths that keep churches from getting the sound they deserve.  Sound excellence is a necessity, not an option.

When an acoustical system works, people don’t mind how it looks.  When it doesn’t work as promised, it has to look amazing.  Do you want a church that looks good and has fewer people attending or a church that is full all the time regardless of how it looks?

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What happens when Church Architecture, Technology, Science, and meets up with the Bible.

Posted by jdbsound on April 24, 2020


The Bible has a lot to say about how a modern church should be designed.  Solomon’s Temple was not just a house for God to dwell in, it was also meant to be a tool to help preach and spread the Gospel in the present.

After reading this article, please pass it on and make comments below.

***  Article: Gods Authority in Church Design ***

This article is the most comprehensive study of King Solomon’s Temple I have ever written.  If you believe John 1:3, then you know who really designed Solomon’s Temple.  King David only penned the details of the new temple.  King David told his son Solomon that it was the hand of God that guided his hand.  What was so important for God to design the temple rather than letting a man design in with whatever came into his thought?

This article gives a stronger case for what the “Inspired Word of God” means.

Winning people to Christ is not a game or something given to chance.  We need all the tools possible to have an impact on this world.  Jesus is Lord, and if your church is dedicated to God, Jesus is Lord over your church building too.

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What are your Church Priorities about sound when it comes to preaching the Gospel?

Posted by jdbsound on February 25, 2020


Is the performance of your worship space a priority?  Is the message always crystal clear in every seating position, and over 60% of the congregation is singing all the time?  If you say no to either or both questions, and you want your church to sound right for speech and music, the biggest obstacle is often the acoustics.  The second is money.  The third is aesthetics.

Fix the room!  How?  Follow what the Bible says, and you will not be disappointed.  After all, it is God’s plan, not man’s idea.  Do you think that the results will be less than perfect if you follow His plan completely? Isn’t the Bible the Living Bible?  Since when did the Bible stop teaching us new things about science?  Check out Solomon’s Temple, and the answers are there.  They always have been. It’s just taken a while to join the dots.

But it costs too much!  Oh, you mean the cost of a few floor monitors or a couple of wireless microphones considered too much?  That is often the cost of the Bible’s way of fixing the acoustics or about $3.50USD per seat for a 300 seat church. (Not including the price for the knowledge of knowing what to do.)  Replacing a mixer costs about $15.00-21.00 per seat.  Replacing pews for chairs cost about $75.00 per seat.  Buying 10 Shure SM58 mics with cables and mic stands – costs about $1,500.00.  Fixing the acoustics of a church is cheaper than you think.

If the look of any acoustical treatment is a concern, ask yourself this.  Are you there to worship God or the building?  Fixing the acoustics is like saying you are more interested in hearing what God has to say through your minister.  Putting up with acoustical problems, poor quality congregational singing, and accepting a sound system with limited performance is like saying the building is more important than the message and having fellowship with other believers.

It all comes down to priorities.  The primary purpose of any building that is a dedicated House of God is the preaching of the Gospel.  A place where the Gospel message can be spoken without distortion or interface.  That includes making the room behave as God would want us to have it.  The second priority is the breaking of bread and drinking of wine in remembrance of what Jesus did for all of us.  The worship space has to support this event as often as each church chooses to remember.  The next priority is congregational singing.  There isn’t any other experience that can replace the joy and excitement of a room where more than 75% of the audience is singing.  Songs that tell stories of Jesus, his atonement of our sins, and of people who follow Jesus are powerful in bringing people together.  It takes the same quality of acoustics to hear clear speech as well as great congregational singing.  These are the things that matter when you are a part of the Kingdom of God.

While I do have a business about church acoustics and sound, there is no possible way for one person or one company to fix all of the churches out there that need help.  By making this public, it means that no one can patent it and force churches to pay a license fee. It means that no one can control it and inflate the cost of fixing existing and new churches.  Churches should use the Bible’s methods with confidence, to apply in faith what God teaches, even without expert help.  When churches take such a leap of faith, in most cases, the results are outstanding.

This information is being shared because I care more about winning people for Christ through better sound than creating a business empire.  By revealing what the Bible teaches, by showing that science backs it up, that it is affordable for every church to have excellent acoustics, this is all part of the Great Commission.  If more people with a passion and skills like mine, were to apply what the Bible teaches about sound, we could make a difference.  Mat-7:15.  Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (KJV)  If you have the chance, read the rest of what Jesus said in Mathews 7:15-20. Don’t trust me.  Trust the Bible.

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