Sales and hire company Hawthorn Theatrical has made its first investment in line array technology, with Martin Audio. Hawthorn has consolidated a relationship with the High Wycombe company that extends over a decade by purchasing 16 W8LM Mini Line Array enclosures, matched with six WLX subs.

Martin Hawthorn's Leicestershire-based company has carved out an enviable share of the large-scale corporate event market since setting up the business 18 years ago as sound and lighting specialists.

Hawthorn's head of sound, Iain Reinhold, said the acquisition made perfect sense. "It creates compatibility with our already comprehensive inventory of Martin Wavefront systems and will allow us to expand our work portfolio by quoting for more outdoor work. As we were being asked to service more arena-style conferences we decided to demo the Martin system last October - and later compared it alongside an alternative system."

The criteria that had to be met had as much to do with the system's visual attributes as its sonic performance. Said Reinhold: "Aside from the compatibility issue, the Martin system was more compact - and able to be flown above the sightlines. The advantage with the Wavefront W8LM is that it cuts down a lot of rigging time with trussing, and dispenses with delays entirely."

Reinhold also commented that the ViewPoint predictive software is a major advanatage. "It means that someone who doesn't have Martin Line Array knowledge can get the system up in the air with the array measurements spot on. You can look at a room and predict exactly where the boxes will need to go."

The day after the system's arrival at Hawthorn, it went straight out on to a truck, bound for the island of Rhodes - as part of a complete production shipment for a major corporate conference and concert for a pharmaceutical company.

www.martin-audio.co.uk