Auckland’s newest destination, Morrisson, has catapulted onto the New Zealand club and dance scene. Owner Andrew Clelland’s vision of raising the stakes and bringing a truly international standard dance club to Auckland has set the stage for a phenomenal new venue.

From conception, Clelland wanted the best sound system available and past experience said that it had to be Martin Audio. With many Martin installations under his belt, Clelland had a clear idea of what was required. “We wanted to create an environment where people wanted to stay all night and high quality/non fatiguing sound is an integral part of that.”

The two-floor club features an upstairs bar/chill-out area combining the design elements of natural colours and leather with an open fire for winter nights. The upstairs bar sound system consists of an Allen & Heath Xone:62 DJ mixer feeding six Martin Blackline F15’s and two EM251 subs controlled by an Allen & Heath DR128. Power is provided by three MA1400’s and an MA2.8. Whilst capable of high levels of clean sound, the upstairs experience only whets the appetite for the main dancefloor system.

The basement dancefloor has arguably the best system in New Zealand. A custom designed semi-circular DJ booth gives plenty of room for multiple turntables and DJ mixers options. A great deal of care was taken over isolating the turntables and electronics from acoustic feedback. Pride of place is taken by an Allen & Heath Xone:V6 rotary valve DJ mixer, a secondary Xone:62 mixer and four turntables.

The dance floor specification was for four Martin Audio W8C compact enclosures positioned in a quad around the dancefloor, supported by two pairs of Martin Audio WSX sub bass units. The coupled WSX’s give an extra octave of bass response for real slam. The core of the original specification was for a no-compromise, fully-active system, offering truly amazing control and detail without fatigue. Control and power are supplied by a pair of Martin Audio DX1’s, four MA1.6’s, two MA2.8’s and an MA4.2.

The quality of the sound system was fundamental to the entire design process of the bar. Specialised acoustic paneling was installed in both the bar and dancefloor to substantially reduce reflections and resonances. The massive air conditioning system was treated to reduce vibrations, and specialised wall linings and doors were used to contain the music to the dancefloor. In reality the sound system needed precious little adjustment.

Martin Audio’s New Zealand distributor, Robert Judd, of Technical Audio Group, was delighted with the results. “A great deal of care was taken in the design stage to reduce room interaction and resonance. The ongoing acoustic consultation with the design and construction team has allowed us to use minimum EQ, giving clean, extremely transparent sound quality and improved headroom.”

“This setup is the cleanest, most dynamic sound I have heard in a dance club”, remarked owner, Clelland. “Even at the highest levels, there is an underlying feeling that the system is still just idling, that there is always more to come. “We spent a lot of time in the design stage making sure that the sound system was not compromised by the building process and I think we have achieved that.

“We’ve had a really great response from both clients and DJ’s. It doesn’t take long for word to get around, and Morrisson is the buzz on the streets … who could ask for more than that.”