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UK – Richhill Methodist Church in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, has recently undergone a major extension, complete with a comprehensive AV upgrade featuring a new Martin Audio sound system supplied and installed by Rea Sound.

The project began in the summer of 2025 following a conversation with Rea Sound Director, Roger McMullan, a contact established through the integrator’s extensive previous work with houses of worship. “They were planning to extend the church and wanted to coincide with a complete audio-visual fit-out, both for the new extension and the church itself,” he recalls.

While the main body of the church remained unchanged, the new extension added a kitchen, a foyer area, and upstairs meeting rooms. With the existing audio equipment around 15 years old, and the church becoming more active with events and a live praise band, the timing was perfect for a unified upgrade.

Following on-site visits and careful development of design proposals, Rea Sound put forward a comprehensive solution centred on the Martin Audio portfolio.

MARTIN AUDIO IS A GO-TO FOR CHURCHES

“Martin Audio is a go-to for churches,” states McMullan. “In a church environment speech intelligibility is the key – the minister, the announcements, the sermon. Martin Audio is great at that. And once you get into live praise with a live band, Martin Audio just handles it all so easily.”

The elegant and simple solution in the church comprises a pair of Martin Audio CDD15 15” Coaxial Differential Dispersion loudspeakers mounted left and right. They are supplemented by a pair of SX210 subwoofers, whose compact design and high output provided the perfect solution for the specific layout of the space.

Aesthetics and visual integration were considered alongside audio performance throughout. “I worked very closely with the architect,” McMullan says. “He loved the design and look of the CDD, and that slimline profile worked well with his plan for aesthetics in that space. Crucially, the sound quality is there right from the front to the back of the church.”

Martin Audio’s DISPLAY software was used to verify the coverage. “I knew the solution would work, it was more of a reassurance,” McMullan notes.

Amplification is provided by Linea Research, a Martin Audio sister brand. Taking advantage of the factory presets supplied for all Martin Audio speaker models, McMullan confirms that “it just works.”

The new foyer also benefits from a Martin Audio solution, comprising ACS-40TS ceiling speakers. The new infrastructure facilitates the seamless relay of main services from the church to different areas around the site, providing the technical team far greater control over the entire building.

“We can relay sound from the church, and they also can conduct meetings independently in the foyer, plus we’ve added Bluetooth connectivity for background music in there,” he explains.

Summing up the successful installation, McMullan concludes: “Everybody loves it. Martin Audio provided a perfect audio solution and it’s a project that has delivered exactly what the church needs now and into the future.”

US – To support dynamic, full-production modern worship services and ensure absolute clarity for spoken-word sermons, Apex Baptist Church in North Carolina has recently undertaken a huge audio upgrade. Thanks to AV integrators, S&L Integrated, the sanctuary has been completely transformed by a Martin Audio WPS Wavefront Precision line array system, delivering a “night and day” upgrade in both audio fidelity and coverage.

“We’ve had a long-standing relationship with Shawn Walden, the Worship Pastor at Apex Baptist,” says Gage Helton, Director of Operations at S&L Integrated. “When they realised their previous audio infrastructure was holding back their worship experience, he reached out to us to design a complete, top-to-bottom system redesign.”

The primary driver for the upgrade was to enhance overall intelligibility and worship engagement. “While the church had grown significantly, the old system just couldn’t keep up,” Helton continues. “Speech clarity was lost due to a lack of coverage, particularly in and under the balcony sections. The upgrade was also designed to remove previous technical barriers to elevate their Sunday morning experience, building a scalable platform that could support future growth and higher-production events.”

Sunday morning worship is the heartbeat of the space, but outside of these services, the sanctuary also hosts special musical events, holiday productions, youth gatherings, and conferences.

“They needed a system that could seamlessly transition between subtle, high-intelligibility spoken word and high-energy, full-spectrum concert-level reinforcement without distortion or fatigue,” notes Helton.

IT IS ONE OF THE EASIEST PA MODELLING PRODUCTS I HAVE USED.

The sanctuary features a large main floor with a deep balcony and highly reflective side walls. “Acoustically, it was a classic house-of-worship puzzle,” Helton describes. “High RT60 reverb times, flutter echo off the side walls and balcony face, and severe acoustic shadowing under and above the balcony.”

UK – The Rex Rooms at 151 on King’s Road marks the return of a legendary nightlife destination in London’s Chelsea. Set on the site of the famous 151 club – celebrated as an exclusive celebrity haunt throughout the 1990s and 2000s – the reimagined venue is the creation of designer and nightlife innovator Marc Jacques Burton.

To complement the venue’s refined avant-garde aesthetic with uncompromising audio performance, specialist integrator Evolve Install designed and installed a premium Martin Audio distributed system.

The venue is split into two distinct spaces: a vibrant main lounge and, concealed behind a secret door, The King’s 1942 Room private venue. Martin Audio’s CDD (Coaxial Differential Dispersion) Series loudspeakers were specified throughout to provide an upmarket, discrete sound solution that delivers exceptional coverage.

THE CDD ENCLOSURES ARE COMPACT YET REMARKABLY POWERFUL

“The CDD enclosures are compact yet remarkably powerful,” explains Elliot Patterson of Evolve Install. “It’s a club environment where guests on the perimeter of the lounge often want the same energy and impact as those on the dancefloor. With the loudspeakers properly time-aligned, the CDD series delivers consistent audio quality, punch, and clarity across the entire space.”

In the main lounge, the primary dancefloor area is served by four Martin Audio CDD8 loudspeakers, supplemented by a pair of Martin Audio SX210 subwoofers to provide tight, powerful low-frequency extension. The DJ booth is equipped with CDD6 models as monitors, while the perimeter seating is covered by a combination of CDD5 compact loudspeakers and ADORN A55 models.

Behind its secret entrance, The King’s 1942 Room features a dedicated system comprising six CDD6s paired with an SX210 subwoofer, with additional CDD5 models providing seamless coverage for the perimeter seating.

The venue operates across two separate audio zones, allowing independent DJ programming in each room.

“The combination of Martin Audio loudspeakers delivers a beautifully balanced, warm audio quality throughout both spaces – it’s high impact, but never intrusive,” Patterson notes. “With careful tuning and speaker placement, The Rex Rooms at 151 has a sound system that caters effortlessly to every guest, every night, and Martin Audio was the perfect solution for this project.”

CAN – This June and July, two of Montreal’s flagship festivals took place back-to-back in the heart of the Canadian city: Les Francos de Montréal, celebrating French-language artists, and the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, renowned for its diverse jazz-focused programme. As a partner of both festivals, L’Équipe Spectra equipped the outdoor stage at each event this year with a Martin Audio WPS Wavefront Precision sound system, optimized by TiMax spatial audio processing.

The popular free-admission stage, which regularly attracts audiences of thousands of people, is known as the Desjardins Stage during Les Francos de Montréal and the Loto-Quebec Club Montréal Stage during the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. It is located at Terrain 66 in the Quartier des Spectacles, at the centre of downtown Montreal.

Given the stage’s proximity to residential and commercial buildings, along with the corresponding strict noise regulations governing the site, Martin Audio’s renowned optimisation capabilities have proven essential.

“One of the key reasons the production team for the festivals were keen on the Wavefront Precision system is because the stages are right in downtown Montreal,” explained Claus Frostell of Canadian distributor, Erikson Pro. “With the optimisation that WPS provides, and also particularly with Martin Audio subwoofers, we’re able to localise the sound very specifically to the audience area.”

“One of the big concerns we have is noise management,” confirms Dan Meier, Senior Technical Coordinator for both festivals. “The city rules are very strict, and we need to keep good relationships with our neighbours. Good coverage, clarity and punch at medium to low volumes is crucial. The Martin Audio PA delivered very well, maximising the audience’s experience within the noise control constraints.”

I REALLY ENJOYED THE TONE OF THE WPS SYSTEM. I FOUND IT VERY MUSICAL COMPARED TO OTHER SYSTEMS.

The deployed PA comprised eight Martin Audio WPS line array elements per side, supplemented with four TORUS T820 constant curvature arrays as front fills and two TORUS T1230 models serving as delays. Low-frequency reinforcement was provided by three SX218 dual 18in subwoofers and six SX118 single 18in subwoofers, all powered by Martin Audio iKON amplifiers.

“We had the three dual 18” subs positioned across the front of the stage in cardioid mode, with one facing backwards and two facing forwards, while three of the single 18” cardioid subs positioned on each side,” Frostell explains. “With this cardioid set-up we were able to reduce SPL to the rear of the stage by around 30dB, and were also able to narrow the coverage so that it is focused primarily on the audience area.”

The entire system was modelled and optimised using Martin Audio DISPLAY 3 software. “For the WPS arrays, we used the Hard Avoid feature for the stage area and optimised the system to concentrate coverage on the audience,” he notes.

Frostell also highlights the consistent sonic performance across the system: “Both WPS and TORUS are extremely clear and well defined, and we’re able to maintain consistent frequency response and level from the front of the audience area right through to the back.”

For the first time, the festivals’ audiences will also experience the benefits of TiMax spatial audio processing, extending the stereo image across a much larger listening area.

“This is the first use of spatial audio at the festivals, but with the reputation of Martin Audio and our own experience, the organisers were happy to explore it,” says Frostell. “Their main concern was that, because they host a lot of guest engineers, they didn’t want excessive spatial movement or localisation that could detract from the engineers’ mixes. We explained that we’re simply enhancing the stereo image across the audience area, and once they understood that, they became very excited about the possibilities.

“Traditionally, a left-right loudspeaker configuration creates a relatively small stereo sweet spot in the centre of the audience,” Frostell continues. “Using TiMax with the WPS system and TORUS front fills, we’re able to expand that stereo image significantly, allowing more of the audience to experience the mix as it was intended. The engineer doesn’t need to do anything differently – they mix as normal, and we simply extend what they are already doing.”

Hugues Bourque is the head Front of House engineer for the Martin Audio-equipped stage at both the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and Francos de Montréal.

“I really enjoyed the tone of the WPS system,” Bourque comments. “I found it very musical compared to other systems. This year the stage featured a wide variety of bands, from standard jazz ensembles requiring a more intricate mix with a grand piano, to really loud and bassy hip-hop artists, all of which sounded great on the Martin Audio system.”

The engineer particularly praises the vocal tone and sub performance, noting the positive feedback from guest engineers. “The mid-range is rich and makes mixing vocals easy,” he says. “That was actually the first comment I had from other engineers: ‘Vocals sounded really great in the Martin Audio PA’. I also found the subs to be articulate and precise – I loved them – and they received plenty of favourable comments from guest engineers.”

Bourque concludes, “We have had bad weather with lots of rain followed by scorching heat, but I never felt it affected the PA. It was a tricky area, but the system provided great coverage and performed very well for the duration of the two festivals.”

Martin Audio has announced the full commercial release of DISPLAY 3, its next-generation 3D audio prediction and optimisation software, following an extensive beta programme.

Built for speed and precision, DISPLAY 3 delivers substantially faster prediction and optimisation processing than previous versions, allowing system designers to iterate rapidly across complex venue models without compromising measured accuracy, verified to within ±1dB of real-world performance.

For Wavefront Precision line array systems, DISPLAY 3 combines mechanical angle optimisation with advanced DSP filtering to configure arrays automatically against user-defined SPL and frequency response targets. This is now delivered at high speed so users can easily design, optimise, redesign and re-optimise to compare and contrast and ensure the ultimate performance for a venue or space.

Enhanced voicing consistency across the Wavefront Precision series maintains a uniform tonal signature throughout a system, whatever its configuration, scale or optimisation settings. The handling of natural sound rejection behind and below the array has also been improved.Martin Audio’s Hard Avoid® feature can further extend this effect by up to 30dB or apply the same control more strategically elsewhere in the venue, such as a hard back wall, a sensitive boundary or any zone where the system needs to actively reduce sound levels.

THE VOICING GAINS IN DISPLAY 3… WILL KEEP WAVEFRONT PRECISION AT THE FRONT OF THE LINE ARRAY MARKET FOR YEARS TO COME.

DISPLAY 3 also introduces a new “Don’t Care” designation, which lets users mark areas of a model where coverage and SPL targets do not apply. The optimisation engine leaves those areas out of the DSP calculation and works only on the areas that matter. Users can also create and store multiple optimisation snapshots, so a single model can hold separate settings for different audience or environmental conditions.

Beyond optimisation, DISPLAY 3 continues to offer full system prediction across the wider Martin Audio portfolio with seamless SketchUp integration for venue modelling. Configurations generated in the software upload directly to iKON amplifiers via VU-NET™, which has itself benefited from a recent upgrade. The dedicated subwoofer array design tool is also retained, gaining additional configuration options while following the existing workflow.

VU-NET™ 2.3.5 targets reliability in large-scale deployments, adding two tools for verifying a system in the field before doors open. LED Mode illuminates Wavefront Precision cabinet LEDs in sequence or individually, confirming the physical order of an array at a glance, while Mute Mode steps through each cabinet in turn to verify audio routing.

Engineers can also save a diagnostic file directly from any iKON amplifier on the network, capturing the unit’s stored internal state across fault and protection counters, configuration and performance history, which shortens the time spent tracing a fault. Performance improves significantly across ganging, metering, snapshot recall and large project trees.

Dom Harter, Managing Director, commented, “The voicing gains in DISPLAY 3, alongside the speed improvements and the enhanced optimisation tools, will keep Wavefront Precision at the front of the line array market for years to come, across both live sound and permanent installation, and the VU-NET™ release gives users smooth, reliable control of those systems.”

DISPLAY 3 is available now as a free download for Mac and PC.

For more information, visit martin-audio.com/products/software/display3

UK – The Rebellion Festival is the largest independently run punk festival in the UK. Hosted inside Blackpool’s historic Winter Gardens, the festival features more than 300 live acts spread across six stages. Held over four days, it brings together tens of thousands of punk fans, musicians, and artists from across the globe.

For the year’s event, multiple Martin Audio Wavefront Precision line array solutions delivered the necessary power and dynamics, including in the Winter Gardens’ magnificent main Ballroom, the Olympia Room (known as Club Casbah for the event), and the Conference Room.

The festival rigs were supplied by Liverpool-based dBS Solutions. “In the main Ballroom, we deployed an all–Martin Audio system centred on WPL large-format line arrays,” explains James Roberts of dBS Solutions. “Club Casbah featured a WPC system, and we worked with the Winter Gardens team to manage and supplement their existing WPS system installed in the Conference Room.”

THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME RUNNING MARTIN AUDIO WPL IN HERE. IT SOUNDED GREAT AND WE HAD HEADROOM FOR DAYS!

The complete Ballroom setup comprised 10 Martin Audio WPL line array elements per side, supplemented by 12 Martin Audio SXH218 subwoofers deployed in a cardioid castle wall configuration. Eight Martin Audio WPS sub-compact line array elements, arranged in four pairs of two, provided front-fill coverage, while a pair of Martin Audio FlexPoint FP12s served as outfills. The Martin Audio coverage continued on stage with XE500 floor monitors, alongside a pair of TORUS constant curvature arrays ground-stacked on a pair of SXC118 subwoofers on each side as side fills.

“The Ballroom is a large space; it’s stunning, but it has a lot of reflective surfaces,” notes Roberts. “We were able to use Martin Audio’s Hard Avoid® feature via the iKON amplifiers – particularly targeting the huge curved ceiling – to help bring down the natural reverberation in the room. That helped immensely. The castellated sub array also worked very well in providing substantial rejection back onto the stage.”

In Club Casbah, the system comprised 10 Martin Audio WPC elements per side, paired with eight SXH218 subwoofers in a cardioid configuration, while six Martin Audio XE300 wedges provided stage monitoring.

Finally, in the Conference Room, the Winter Gardens’ house system of 12 WPS sub-compact line array elements per side was supplemented by dBS-supplied Martin Audio FlexPoint FP12 cabinets as stage monitors.

“This festival is a very fast-paced environment,” Roberts adds. “We have over 120 bands across our stages during the four days of the festival. The Martin Audio systems have been fantastic – exceptionally quick and easy to deploy. We have a crew that knows the systems inside and out, which helps us achieve the sound quality and consistency we need across every room.”

The final word comes from front-of-house engineer Arran Azz Culpan, who has mixed the Ballroom stage at Rebellion for many years. “It’s a fantastic gig,” he concludes. “Rebellion is like a big family, the whole punk scene is amazing. I know this room very well, and this was my first time running Martin Audio WPL in here. It sounded great and we had headroom for days!”