Located in the central part of Shibata City, Niigata Prefecture, Shibata Civic Cultural Center was opened in 1980. Designed by architect Shozo Uchii, it has various facilities based on culture and art, including a large, 916-capacity hall, a practice room and conference room.
This Spring, the hall’s sound system was renovated, and Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision Mini (WPM), which recently won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation, was the system of choice. Mr. Ikeura from Niigata Shomei Giken, the electrical contracting company who undertook the management of the contract, explained the rationale.
L’Osteria is a branded gastronomy company founded in 1999 with over 130 locations in eight European countries. The operation is based on a three-pillar principle: company-owned restaurants managed by FR L’Osteria SE; joint ventures; and franchise restaurants. What guests can look forward to in every L’Osteria is friendly service, plenty of hospitality, the classics of Italian cuisine based around the core products of pizza and pasta, and an appealing, modern ambience.
According to their own statement, it is “a bit loud [and] lively” in the restaurants, which places high demands on the individual sound systems.
Audio installation company i:TECS from Dessau-Rosslau specialises in the gastronomy sector and undertakes all planning and design, based around high quality sound.
At L’Osteria they looked no further than the Martin Audio portfolio, distributed in Germany by Audio-Technica. “We were given the impression right from the start that special focus needed to be placed on premium quality sound,” says Thomas Neumann of i:TECS. “Great value is placed on the standard of restaurant design, and exceptional reproduction of the background music must also fit into that concept.” Each restaurant has access to a database with several hundred albums, which are are sorted according to time of day or season. “It was to meet this requirement that we decided on Martin Audio,” explains Neumann.
The decision was made in favour of the A40 and A55 wall speakers, as well as the ACS 40TS and 55TS in-ceiling speakers from Martin Audio’s ADORN series, which performed more favourably when compared with other speakers. In addition to the wall and ceiling speakers, the ACP-55T pendant speakers, which were released at the end of 2020, are also used in specific restaurants.
The new restaurant in Metzingen, with its special structural challenges, is the first location in which almost exclusively pendant speakers have been installed. “L’Osteria Metzingen is located in an old industrial building where we were not allowed to attach anything to the ceiling beams and wall surface,” says Neumann, outlining the set-up. “In order to provide even dispersion in the central area of the restaurant without having to drive the outer area too loudly, we decided on the ACP-55T. We were able to use the existing lighting tracks and distribute the pendant speakers discreetly and evenly throughout the restaurant. In this way, we ensured homogeneous sound coverage of the entire room.”
According to Neumann, the speakers sound perfectly balanced, with an even presence in all the areas and plenty of headroom. “In many restaurants we have laid additional cables so that bass speakers can also be retrofitted, for instance, when the system is upgraded,” he continues. “For example, the restaurant in Munich-Pasing already has a Martin Audio SX110 bass speaker integrated.”
Thomas Neumann describes the collaboration with Audio-Technica as having been “uncomplicated and smooth”. He explains, “The relationship is very symbiotic; our requirements were understood immediately. In fact we have always found the Audio-Technica team to be highly committed—often coming up with ideas for improvement, which are taken on board by the development department.”
Wavefront Precision Optimised Line Arrays Wins Innovation Award
Martin Audio has been honoured with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation for its Wavefront Precision optimised line arrays. Announced today (Thursday 29 April), Martin Audio has been recognised for its excellence in Innovation.
The Atomic Beer Project is a new microbrewery concept that debuted recently in the inner-Sydney suburb of Redfern.
With the tanks on site, brewing a range of hoppy beers for all to see, it is a perfect complement to the pan-Asian cuisine that the operation specialises in.
Stanley, a new Cantonese restaurant on the waterfront of Brisbane’s Howard Smith Wharves, has complemented head chef Louis Tikaram’s fine mix of locally sourced cuisine, with a top quality Martin Audio sound system.
The restaurant needed help with designing and implementing an audio system that delivered high quality and balanced audio across the two-storey venue, both indoors and out. It also needed a single touch point that would be simple to operate by any member of staff, depending on the atmosphere required, with automatic control to provide specific level adjustments to comply with their licence.
Martin Audio’s MLA Mini loudspeaker array has been specified at a new leisure development in Rosenthal Park, Lane Cove — a suburb of Sydney, Australia.
The award-winning technology was specified by integration company Xcite Audio Visual, who tendered the successful bid, with the system supplied and supported by the manufacturer’s Australian distributor, Technical Audio Group (TAG).
Lewis & Clark Library located in Helena, Montana, has commissioned a new public address paging system, opting for an elegant Martin Audio solution—designed and installed by locally based AV integration company, Montana Pro Audio.
They were awarded the contract after the Library, which was established in 1868 before Montana became a territory, received a higher-than-expected bid for the desired AV integration design. After receiving a request for proposal, and undertaking a number of revisions and redesigns, Montana Pro Audio specified the solution from Martin Audio’s ADORN catalogue.
“The original scope of contract was for a public address paging system throughout the library, as well as AV for their large community room that would double as a presentation space and small theatre and a small community room that would be used for meetings and presentations,” explained Aaron Fisher, who was responsible for the design and project management. “The Library is in the home stretch of a full-scale remodel project that started nearly three years ago. This will be the first AV installation in its history.”
Assisted by Ryan Johnston (and with support from Martin Audio North America’s Jim Sage), this was Montana Pro Audio’s first experience working with Martin Audio solutions. Twenty-four of the ADORN A55’s, run in 70V line mode, have been distributed discreetly through eight zones on two floors, in a combination of black and white finishes to suit the environment.
“I have always appreciated the quality of sound, construction and aesthetics of Martin Audio products,” Fisher reveals. “The ADORN A55 hit the mark in terms of design, size, sound quality and budget. Integration is a new focus for me, coming from the production side of the audio industry, I really appreciate that the ADORN A55 has the look of a professional production loudspeaker and not a ‘playful’ 70volt loudspeaker design!”
THE CDD8 AND SX210 ARE THE PERFECT SIZE AND WILL DELIVER PLENTY OF IMPACT
Surprisingly, the room acoustics of the library are excellent, he confirmed. “In fact it is a great sounding facility. Despite all of the hard surfaces and openness of the main atrium, the space is so broken up with different angles and multiple surface textures that it is hardly reverberant and there are minimal reflections. We used the available ADORN DSP presets, and with minimal EQ this system is well balanced, reproduces speech very well and sounds extremely natural.”
This ‘natural’ speech reproduction had been important. “It was important that this system did not sound like a ‘grocery store’ paging system. Because this is a library, and will generally be a quiet environment, it is vital that the PA is relatively quiet and doesn’t surprise anyone when an announcement is made. The intelligibility of dispersion of the ADORN A55 made it possible to achieve these goals.
Coverage is provided throughout a number of areas, including the Lobby/Cafe, the main Atrium, the Children’s Area, two zones in the Young Adult Section, the Teen Lounge, the Mezzanine, and the Mezzanine Lounge.
However, because of COVID, the client decided to split the contract into two separate phases and the next stage for Montana Pro Audio will be to provide the system for the Library’s large community room which can be routed into different configurations. The requirements include a single sound system that can be used in 7.1 surround mode for movies as well as a system for presentations, and this time the integrators have opted for Martin Audio’s CDD series.
Explaining the reason for preferring CDD, Aaron Fisher says, “The pattern control on this series, especially in the lower frequencies, make it an ideal choice.” Low end extension will be achieved with the addition of an SX210 subwoofer.
The room is relatively small with lower ceilings. “The CDD8 and SX210 are the perfect size and will deliver plenty of impact. Also, because the system needs to act as a presentation system as well, with use of wireless mics and video playback, we needed a speaker that was not just film-specific but could give us quality results for multiple types of use.”
The installer is confident that the fit-out has more than fulfilled the remit. “The Library requested a high-quality system that would allow for growth in the future. Our requirements were aesthetics, discreet footprint, HF dispersion, sound quality, ease of deployment/installation—and the ADORN A55 has delivered on all fronts. As such, we feel we have integrated a system that surpasses our client’s expectations and are proud of the product we have installed.”
As for discretion, he said, “We knew we accomplished this goal when our client was standing directly below one of the loudspeakers and asked where the speakers were located!”
With the success of this installation, he says, “Martin Audio will definitely now stay at the top of our list.
The theatre production of INSPIRE Onmyoji, starring famous Japanese actor Takao Osawa, ran at the 1300-capacity Nissei Theatre in Tokyo from December 31st 2020 to January 6th 2021. This number was reduced slightly to conform to the Government’s COVID regulations at that time.
A Umeda Arts Theater production, the show was scripted by Brazily Anne Yamada, Takaya Okamoto, NatsuTeranishi and directed by Junya Yamada. Takao Osawa performed the role of Japanese ancient wizard ’Onmyoji’, with next generation video, sound and lighting effects, making full use of latest technologies. This included Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision platform (WPM) and Sound Adventures immersive 3D, with all outputs controlled by the SARA II Premium Rendering Engine.
Martin Audio has unveiled two major developments: the company’s first constant curvature array, TORUS, and the introduction of new 3D prediction and optimisation software, DISPLAY 3. Both were formally showcased for the first time online at a recent ‘virtual’ launch event.
For applications that typically require a throw between 15-30m (50-100ft), a full-blown line array is not always practical, optimal or affordable. Conversely, a point source solution may not be sufficient in coverage and SPL.
Occupying a premium 3-4 hectare waterfront site, Howard Smith Wharves (HSW) in Brisbane is described by Anthony Russo at TAG, Martin Audio’s Australian distributor, as “world class”, “transformative” and “the most unique site in Australia.”
Developed by the HSW Nominees consortium led by Adam Flaskas, a wasteland of old disused heritage buildings, that had remained derelict for several decades, has been completely transformed into a multiplexed, family-oriented leisure village overlooking the Brisbane River. The development has taken five years and cost between 200m-250m AUD.
