"Although the W8LC is a fabulous sounding system, nothing had prepared me for the new MLA," stated RG Jones' head of sound, Simon Honywill, who was piloting the system. "This is the most revolutionary product in the audio industry that I have yet encountered, bar none."
The tour itself featured 36 members of the British Philharmonic Orchestra string section alongside a 10 piece ensemble, the narration of Richard Burton and various well known British singers (including original contributors Justin Hayward and Chris Thompson). Joining the performers onstage was a hydraulically driven 40ft tall Martian Fighting Machine equipped with flame throwers and a robotic camera.
The scalable MLA rig varied from 10 to 16 elements a side, with the PA hangs set high and extremely wide. As a result, additional flown in-fill arrays of eight Martin Audio W8LMs covered the centre section of the audience and W8LC arrays (up to 16 per side) provided 270° out-fill coverage.
Under the stage, 14 MLX subwoofers were deployed in two broadside arc/cardioid arrays - positioned around 7m apart - and giving 120° of coverage and around 20dB of rejection to the rear.
At the back of the venue three additional arrays of up to six W8LM's were flown as L/C/R surround enclosures (with four additional W8LM's concealed in the front edge, hitting the front rows).
(Jim Evans)
