Both the operating company and their audio contractors Complete Production Solutions Group (CPS) have a long history of working with proprietary Martin Audio dance systems, and as the new venue (to be named Crank) was taking shape, Future 3000 MD Richard Carr could already see the opportunity to replicate his epochal dance brand Slinky by again employing the Martin Audio principle to boost a new Friday night called Bedbug
.With Armand van Helden booked for the opening night, Martin Audio's national sales manager Simon Bull proposed a custom stack system, with raw aggression as its imprint.
CPS director Richard Colegate had already seen how effectively a perimeter of six carefully-optimised stacks had transformed the Ministry of Sound's dance experience and jumped at the opportunity to apply a similar treatment to the 1,100-capacity Bournemouth club, which now operates on three levels.
"As we have Martin Audio systems in a number of Future 3000 clubs - and the dance system benchmark is at the Ministry of Sound - we decided to adopt a similar model but for a different size and shape," he rationalised. "It was important to concentrate the sound onto the dancefloor and minimise the spill."
The solution proposed by Bull, and Martin Audio systems support engineer, Peter Child, was for four ground stacks, one in each corner, and like the Ministry, it would use elements of Martin Audio's Stadium series. Following discussions with CPS and interior designer Christine Johnson from Wicked Designs, Martin Audio produced these finished in custom white cabinets with silver grilles and silver horns.
A pair of S218 (twin 18in subs) support an AS118 folded horn, which handles the low-mids, while an AM906 mid-high sits at the top, fitted with a special Powerdrive bracket to steer the beam down towards the dancefloor, thereby avoiding primary and secondary reflections.
(Jim Evans)
