Two leading British rental companies have expanded their rental stock by investing heavily in Martin Audio line array technology.

London-based FX Music have remained at the forefront of public address technology since brothers Dave and Alan Beck set up the business 20 years ago.
Back then, they adopted the legendary Dave Martin-designed Philishaves — and have continued to run the classic Martin Audio LE series floor monitors throughout the two decades.

Three years ago they returned to Martin Audio as their preferred FOH speaker, buying 20 of the Wavefront W8C and 24 WSX subs. And delighted with the signature sound of the Wavefront, have now celebrated their 20th year by making a substantial investment in Martin Audio’s Line Array technology, with 18 x W8LC and 12 x W8LM.

Commented Dave Beck, “I think you have to be able to offer a Line Array system these days — and for us, Martin was the obvious choice. We demo’d the system at a classical show back in the summer, and it came through with flying colours.” FX Music also have a close relationship with Capital Sound Hire, and the fact that the latter has a large inventory of W8L’s was also a deciding factor, says Beck.
He added that the right combination of W8LC and W8LM enclosures was an important factor in FX Music’s decision. Since both are stand-alone systems in their own right, FX increased the number of W8LM’s to provide more versatility on shows where they would be able to supplement the larger footprint boxes with W8LM’s as underhangs, to increase nearfield coverage.

Dave and Alan Beck are delighted with their new purchase. “While we wouldn’t normally have upgraded our rental fleet this quickly — it was purely a technology issue, and the investment has already proved well justified.”

Meanwhile, up in the Midlands, sales and hire company, Hawthorn Theatrical, have made their first investment in line array technology, consolidating a relationship with Martin Audio that extends over a decade by purchasing 16 x W8LM Mini Line Array enclosures and six WLX subs.

Hawthorn’s head of sound, Iain Reinhold, said the acquisition made perfect sense. “It creates compatibility with our already comprehensive inventory of Martin Wavefront systems and will allow us to expand our work portfolio by quoting for more outdoor work.”

This portfolio is already substantial, as Martin Hawthorn’s Leicestershire-based company has carved out an enviable share of the large-scale corporate event market since setting up the business 18 years ago as sound and lighting specialists.
“As we were being asked to service more arena-style conferences we decided to demo the Martin system last October — and later compared it alongside an alternative system.”

The criteria that had to be met, continues Iain, had as much to do with the system’s physical attributes as its sonic performance. “Aside from the compatibility issue, the Martin system was more compact — and able to be flown above the sightlines. The advantage with the Wavefront W8LM is that it cuts down a lot of rigging time with trussing, and dispenses with delays entirely.”

Further to that, he says, the ViewPoint™ predictive software is a major advantage. “It means that someone who doesn’t have Martin Line Array knowledge can get the system up in the air with the array measurements spot on. You can look at a room and predict exactly where the boxes will need to go.”

Iain Reinhold believes that the presence of the W8LM in their hire fleet will enable Hawthorn to service more large-scale events in the future.