Het Paard van Troje is a 20-year old club in Den Haag, desperately in need of a total make-over. The L-shape of the original structure was far from ideal and leading technician, Peter Kerkvliet — who started out as a DJ at Het Paard — was put in charge of refurbishing the venue.

Thus the club was closed for five years. And after some difficult moments during the reconstruction it was finally able to reopen its doors on September 3.

Owned by the city of Den Haag, the venue now houses two distinct zones. Whereas the old venue had only one stage, the main room now has a capacity of 1,100 people, while the smaller area holds 300.

Although the budget was not unlimited Het Paard managed to specify and install sufficient cutting-edge technology — including a Martin Audio Compact Line Array (W8LC) system — to place it among the top five venues in Holland.

Only the fasçia of the old building now remains — the rest is completely new. The new stages are formed from concrete boxes mounted on large shock absorbers — so they are not connected to any of the buildings surrounding it.

The impressive building is multi-purpose, hosting pop music (its primary function) as well as dance, theatre, ballet and conventions. The flexible venue contains two balconies with a moveable bridge — so that it can be set up for an ‘in the
round’ production.

The design of the loudspeakers was undertaken by TM Audio’s Jeroen van Keeken. “Looking at the drawings I initially wanted to use Martin Audio W8C enclosures because I know that system well. But when I visited the building for the first time I saw a few difficult areas which suggested I should change to the Martin W8LC, together with S218 subs.”

He decided to fly six W8LC’s per side — two stacked on an S218 — and four subs per side, which proved to be a perfect combination. In the small venue Jeroen specified two W8C’s and three WSX’s each side of the stage. Meanwhile, the original Martin F2 system, installed in the old venue, has been reassigned to side-fill duties.

“The club bought Martin Audio because they were impressed with my design, and also the system demo,” he says. “I had also known the lead technician, Peter Kerkvliet, for several years.”

The new set-up, he believes, will service the diverse needs of the wide variety of bands who will play Het Paard — not only smaller Dutch groups but also major international touring bands.

The TM Audio technician concludes that in the first two months of trading there has been nothing but positive remarks about the sound system, which even the sternest critics admit sounds great — if extremely loud during the dance events!