DOUBLE DUTCH: MARTIN AUDIO CDD EQUIPS HYBRID COUNCIL CHAMBER AND WEDDING HALL

One of the more unusual venues that has recently been installed with a Martin Audio CDD sound solutions, is a hybrid wedding venue and town hall council chamber, situated in the Dutch municipality of Borsele.

Martin Audio partners and audio-visual specialists, FvL Audio, carried out the installation at the venue, known as ‘De Boerderij’—a traditional style, 100-year-old farmhouse.

Over the years, FvL owner Frank van Loenhout says his company has carried out multiple touchscreen installations in Borsele, which is located on a central location in the province of Zeeland. He has also undertaken numerous other upgrades in the neighbouring municipalities in the region “although mostly the audio systems were not as old as here!”

At De Boerderij, FvL Audio were tasked with replacing a 20-year-old ancient 100V line system. “Although the system still worked, it sounded terrible,” he says. “We were asked to install a system suitable for weddings in the Wedding Hall, Council Meetings in the Council Chamber, as well as other events.”

Frank van Loenhout had fallen in love with Martin Audio’s coaxial technology after acquiring FlexPoint FP8 for their rental fleet (*) And so when it came to the De Boerderij installation, he approached Martijn de Jong at Ampco Flashlight Group, Martin Audio’s Dutch distributor, for advice, and promptly received a pair of the hugely popular CDD6, using similar coaxial differential dispersion technology, for testing. “The sound quality was great, and so we decided to use them in our design for De Boerderij,” he explained. “It was a great match for this venue—placement was easy, and coverage fits the venue very well.”

The mayor can speak wirelessly to every room in the building, and be assured of great sound quality,

At the main entrance, a pair of CDD 6 are set in the roof and delayed—tapped to the distance between the entrance and the Wedding Hall (to the left) and the Council Chamber (to the right) so that walking through the various rooms no annoying delay is audible.

The Council Chamber is served by a conference system. Here FvL have installed four CDD6 overhead, and a further pair above the audience (at balcony level). Meanwhile, under the balcony is a Martin Audio ADORN A55 fill speaker in white, appropriately delayed.

In the Wedding Hall, upgraded sound reinforcement was required for speeches and music playback from USB or computer. In this location are four further CDD 6 speakers, with a pair of CDD 5 speakers as infill, and a concealed SX112 (1 x 12in) subwoofer for the low frequencies. “It was forbidden to have the subwoofer visible,” notes van Loenhout.

The entire system is on a digital routing matrix, so that for other meetings, they can send any source to any room, he explains. “In other words, the mayor can speak wirelessly to every room in the building, and be assured of great sound quality.”

The client is also delighted with the upgraded sound—which ensures both council proceedings and wedding celebrations can be heard with greater clarity and intelligibility. Administrators at the venue described the sound upgrade as “a major step forward”.

(*) Footnote: FvL Audio’s move into the Martin Audio family had begun when, in December last year, they were looking to replace some of their hire system speakers. They auditioned several brands “but the clear winner was the [FlexPoint] FP8,” said the FvL owner. “So we immediately bought eight of them.

“Dcase provided nice flight cases, K&M the round-base speaker stands, and it’s powered by a Martin Audio iK42. And so we are not only providing superb sound quality but also great looks.”

These have rarely been in the warehouse, he says. “We use them for all our corporate events, mostly at Van Der Valk Hotel Middelburg, but also recently in the VIP area at our local football club and in October at the Oyster Festival in Yerseke.

“So you can say that first test drive started our love affair with Martin Audio. In fact we’ve just received our newly ordered FP4 for use as frontfills and as a mini-sound system.“