The Broadberry, a popular 550-capcity live music venue in Richmond, VA, recently took delivery of new Martin Audio TORUS constant curvature arrays supplied by locally based rental partner Soundworks of Virginia.
Venue co-owners Lucas Fritz and Matt McDonald note that they’d been making do with the old system that was in in place when they took over in 2014. “We were well overdue for a PA overhaul, especially given the caliber of artists we were continuously bringing to the market,” Fritz says. “We had been working with Soundworks and knew they wouldn’t lead us astray.”
The venue’s production manager Justin Lewis confirms that the previous system had been poorly deployed, and he had a firm idea in mind for its replacement: “Due to the shape of our room I wanted a box with a relatively narrow horizontal pattern. All the line arrays I looked at were too wide and point source didn’t provide the flexibility we wanted in vertical coverage.”
He looked at a number of systems and consulted his crew, ultimately deciding constant curvature would probably be the best in meeting the coverage needs of the room. “We chose TORUS mainly due to Soundworks’ existing relationship with Martin Audio, and the cardioid feature of the SXC118 was also a positive influence on our decision,” he says.
Soundworks CEO Steve Payne adds, “Their trust in the Martin Audio name, and belief that anything with that badge on it would be a quality solution, was reinforced by the [Wavefront Precision] WPL and WPC systems Soundworks had been routinely providing for their outdoor concerts.”
He says that the Wavefront Precision series remains his “hands down favorite” but notes, “I think this system, with its variable horizontal coverage and choice between 30- and 15- vertical angle, is a better solution than a short hang of WPS.”
The pair of three-box hangs comprise two T1215 and a single T1230 at the base to eliminate the need for frontfills. The arrays are supported by TORUS fly bars hung from Unitruss, which spans the structural roof girders. Four SXC118, ground stacked in a central cluster under the stage, provide the low end, and all processing is via the onboard DSP in the Martin Audio iKon multi-channel amplifiers.
Soundworks project manager Bryan Hargrave headed up the installation in conjunction with Martin Audio U.S. technical support engineer Joe Lima.
