A recent renovation of the Armory, which was originally constructed in 1938 in the Midtown neighborhood of St. Louis for the Missouri National Guard and later transitioned to a concert venue in the 1960s and 70s (featuring Ike & Tina Turner and the Grateful Dead among others), is highlighted by the recent opening of The Commons, an 85,000-square-foot concert hall with a new sound reinforcement system headed by Martin Audio WPL arrays.
Several times in the process, the 250,000-square-foot complex went back to the drawing board before Jake Miller and Chris Honstain of hospitality specialists Brick + Bev, an affiliate of local developers Green Street Real Estate Ventures, took it over. Honstain and Green Street’s Phil Hulse collaborated and the project then progressed.
The Commons, with a 60-foot by 32-foot stage and a capacity of 5,200, is the first of three spaces that will utiilize Martin Audio components over a phased opening. Integration firm AVI Systems, which had worked with some of the facility’s operational staff over the previous six years, was awarded the contract on the project.
The venue’s production manager Rek Mohr explains, “I had never worked with Martin Audio before, but I just love the sound—and the quality you get is incredible. All the different boxes we have in here sound fantastic in their own right and I’m very impressed.” By this he is also referring to TORUS, CDD and ADORN series, which feature elsewhere.
The system was designed by AVI’s John VanStipdonk and comprises 20 WPL elements (10 per side), with 12 of the smaller footprint WPS as outfills (six per side). There are also a dozen SXCF118 subwoofers, with a further four SXH218 subs on the ground. Audio power and processing is supplied by Martin Audio iKON iK42 and iK81 multichannel amplifiers.
“We decided to use the cardioid subs for rejection on the stage,” says VanStipdonk. There are two hangs of six-deep behind each main array. Additional SXH ground stack subs are brought in for national artists and most larger shows.”
He adds, “The main room is basically a long concrete box, with a 300-foot-plus foot throw from the main stage to the rear coverage areas — the rear wall is a concrete elevator shaft. Optimization with Martin Audio’s DISPLAY software was key in taming the space, and while some acoustic treatment was done in that area, it was the Hard Avoid function that really brought it all home.”
DISPLAY software was deployed for design and preset creation, with the manufacturer’s proprietary VU-NET used to upload configs, tune and commission the rig. Using VU-NET software for the amplifier control and monitoring cut down system optimization and calibration time, he notes.
The integrator was assisted in system setup and tuning by Martin Audio’s Joe Lima, with project support provided by the company’s Brad Stephens. Attention now turns to finalizing the two other key spaces, an EDM dance hall and a nightclub.
The 3,200-square-foot basement EDM space will be more of a challenge, Mohr states. “The ceiling clearance is 15 feet instead of 80 feet and there are more highly reflective surfaces, so control is even more important.”
AVI Systems has four TORUS arrays destined for the EDM room and eight CDD15 and four SX218 subs to be flown in the other space. ADORN loudspeakers will serve ancillary areas.
Mohr concludes: “John [VanStipdonk] didn’t know whether we’d like the [Wavefront Precision] when he first brought it in. But I absolutely love it!”
