Set up by brothers Elliott and Jack Smith near Preston in the northwest of England, three-and-a-half years ago, Sound Stage Lighting Live (SSL Live) quickly found a sound partner in Martin Audio. ‘We liked the clarity of sound, functionality and ease of deployment. We also liked the reliability – we have since installed 500-600 installation speakers and there has never been a problem.’

While the company’s events subsidiary purchased a Martin Audio WPC scalable line array pre-lockdown, its installation division has used a combination of CDD and Adorn series speakers, BlacklineX and ceiling speakers in venues ranging from leisure and hospitality to fitness centres.

All four Martin Audio commercial ranges feature in Red Fox & Peacock Ltd’s new flagship Lytham House, a multi-zone bar/restaurant, occupying a prime position on the upmarket coastal resort of Lytham, on the Fylde coast. Run by Ross Robinson, the company’s other venues – The Eagle at Weeton, The Ship at Freckleton and The Queen’s Hotel, Lytham – are already equipped with Martin Audio from SSL Live.

‘From an audio perspective the owners trust us, and once again we have given them the best speakers for the purpose,’ the Smith brothers say. The site, a former Italian restaurant on a large plot, was left empty for two years as potential buyers waited for the price to drop. Eventually purchased by a local building contractor it was promptly leased back to Robinson’s company and the interior designers set to work in creating a multi-zonal, upmarket venue, incorporating restaurants (private and public), bars and a dancefloor area in the main restaurant.

SSL Live was again the technology contractor, using four CDD8 provide 360° dispersion, around the large steel tree that bores up through the centre, with four CDD5 providing dancefloor fill, and a pair of SX212 subs, situated left and right of the stage. The dining alcoves are served by three Adorn A55. There are DJ plug-in points, and DJs have the bonus of hearing their reference sound through a pair of Martin Audio Blackline X10.

Mounted in the top of the tree, in the upstairs dining area, are four Adorn A40 while four wall-mounted CDD6 maintain both consistency and coverage pattern.

Sound reinforcement in the front bar area is provided by six Adorn A55, with an SX110 sub discreetly sited under the seating, and the two private dining rooms are respectively served by a further four Adorn A55 in each.

An Adorn A40 links the sound on the stairs, with the photo booth likewise equipped, and in the ancillary areas and toilets are a selection of C4.8T ceiling speakers (with a pair of Adorn A55 allocated to the men’s toilets).

The sound is processed and routed through a BSS Soundweb digital environment, with local remote control at the bars, and to further ease operation of both sound and lighting (which SSL Live also provided) is a custom iPad lighting control and music playback system.

The journey continues, as two more Woolton-based operations are now earmarked for development, one of them a high-calibre unit that will mirror Lytham House in terms of quality, and use of Martin Audio sound reinforcement.

More: www.martin-audio.com