Martin Audio has taken a further stranglehold in equipping premium concert venues in the Amsterdam region, in partnership with their Dutch distributors, TM Audio. 

Following landmark installations in the iconic Paradiso and Melkweg clubs in the past few years, a Martin Audio W8LCi compact line array system has now been installed in latest Amsterdam rock venue (and cultural centre), Duycker.

Owned by the local government, and situated near Schiphol Airport (in the affluent town of Hoofddorp), the complex comprises two live rooms and a café bar, where sound reinforcement is provided by Martin Audio’s stylish AQ architectural range.

The Martin Audio W8LCi solution was chosen for installation in the large, 850-capacity room after the line array approach had been compared with modular systems by highly experienced freelance sound engineer, Gerald Chermin, who was brought in as technical director to streamline the routing and optimise the system.

With a large balcony to contend with, affecting both sightlines and coverage patterns, Chermin used all the experience he had gained working with companies such as Ampco, to assemble some of the market leading systems in a competitive shoot-out.

“We assembled a panel of different sound engineers, with one person tuning all the systems. We realised the line array approach would overcome both balcony coverage sightline issues, whereas going modular would have required too many boxes.”

The system has been purposely designed to provide plenty of headroom, and is based around seven W8LCi enclosures per side, with one W8LCDi Downfill at the base. Six Martin Audio WS218X subs are stacked, three a side, to provide LF extension.

The main system is run three way but driven in four separate parts by a combination of Martin Audio MA6.8Q and Powersoft K8/K10 amplifiers, processed via XTA DC1048 4-in/8-out DSP. Three DiGiCo SD8’s have been provided for FOH, monitor (and portable) duties.

“We have definitely made the right choice with the Martin Audio system, which is proving popular with incoming production crews,” stated Gerald. “We chose the system not only because it represented excellent value for money but the fact that it could be divided up into four separate sections.

“We also knew we could depend on excellent back-up from TM Audio and [sister company] Lightco, who have provided the lighting.”

Meanwhile in the café bar, music sourced from a DJ or computer, mixed via an Allen & Heath GR2 9-input, 4-output analogue zone mixer, is played out through four Martin Audio AQ8, two AQ6 and an AQ210 (2 x 10) sub, managed by a dedicated AQX system controller.

The arrival of Vari-Lites in the near future will place the final piece in the lighting jigsaw — operating under the control of Lightco-supplied Avolites desks. But already the local population has a leading destination venue — with a cutting edge technical infrastructure and live entertainment package — to kick-start their weekends.