MINISTRY'S MINIBAR OPENS WITH MARTIN AUDIO
Ministry of Sound has chosen the gentrified town of Harrogate for its first new bar concept - which is set to mark the beginning of a revolution for Britain's high streets and is planned to be the inauguration of a major bar chain.
The company has moved into Harrogate's Grade 1-listed original bath house (which also incorporates a Revolution Bar and JD Wetherspoon). Inside, there's a jacuzzi, hanging chairs, a massive chandelier, VIP areas, touch-screen computers replacing waiters … and a killer sound system, courtesy of Martin Audio.
The 700-capacity venue - exquisitely decorated with glass, metal, leather, and fur - will operate between 8pm and 3am, under the stewardship of GM, Andy Dempster.
The pure white 'Kandi Bar' downstairs, replete with giant leather beds, is in recognition of the fact that MoS recently purchased the major dance brand.
The Ministry of Sound's relationship with Martin Audio has been consolidating since they first put a 5.1 DJ monitor system into the original Ministry at the Elephant & Castle five years ago. Since then MoS's Dave Bradshaw and his technical team have rarely missed an opportunity to up-convert to the UK company's range of Blackline, Contractor and Wavefront Line Array products in various parts of the venue.
And last month, the largest, 3360-capacity Ministry to date opened in Singapore to reveal a Martin Audio Wavefront system reinforced with Blacklines.
DJ's themselves love Martin Audio's Blackline series for reference monitoring and so it was natural that Dave Bradshaw should turn to this high-power, cost-effective series when specifying the system for Harrogate.
In the corners of the main dancefloor the Ministry has flown four Blackline F15's, reinforced by four S218 subs, with a pair of F12 monitors, while in the main bar there is a total of eight F12's, with two S218's (and a pair of F8's providing the DJ's reference sound at the booth).
Elsewhere there are a total of 11 x F8's performing infill duties throughout the high profile areas, while down in the Kandi Bar, six F8's and two S15 subwoofers provide sound reinforcement.
The VIP rooms (which offer local control) see 20 of Martin Audio's C115 Contractor series, supported by five CS256 subs.
Dave Bradshaw explained that both DJ booths are fully featured, and that sound routing (and system control) is handled by BSS Soundweb components.
He estimates that the brand will eventually roll out to between 20 and 30 units. 'We are now firmly on the acquisition trail,' he confirms.
Further information from:
Maureen Hayes, Martin Audio
Tel: +44 (0)1494 535312
Fax: +44 (0)1494 438669
Jerry Gilbert, JGP Public Relations
Tel: +44 (0)1707 258525
Fax: +44 (0)1707 267140