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 used by integration company Xcite Audio Visual with the system supplied by Technical Audio Group (TAG).

“There was a performance specification written but no brands specified,” TAG system sales manager Ewan McDonald says.

“Xcite came to us at tender stage wanting to look at a Martin Audio solution and TAG’s SSE (System Solutions & Engineering) team assisted them in providing a proof of concept based around the MLA Mini system.”

MLA Mini provides premium sound reinforcement on a bandstand stage, which is the centrepiece of the new development, known as The Canopy.

Lane Cove Council earmarked the development on the site of a former car park which was no longer fit for purpose. They decided to convert this into a new 500-space underground car park and construct the community precinct on top. This new feature includes a park with village green and children’s playground, a pedestrian concourse, the performance stage, a restaurant/café precinct and retail (including supermarkets).

TAG first supported the acoustic design with EASE measurements and later produced the DISPLAY optimisation files in the proprietary Martin Audio software to mitigate the problem.

“The main challenge was that with the apartments around the park on one side, and retail on the other side, we needed to get the SPL to fall off as quickly as possible at the end of the speaker zone,” Ewan adds.

The PA itself consists of a Left/Right hang, with eight MLA Mini per side, and two MSX subs each side flown behind the arrays: “The PA is set back so we can hit the front row without  any fills, plus it keeps the hangs protected. It was a perfect scenario for MLA,” Ewan says.

The PA itself effortlessly threw the 40m distance required (on a site measuring 140m long by 50m wide).