Martin Audio’s O-Line micro-line array has been used to upgrade the original installation of the company’s audio equipment in the year 2000 at the Heritage Baptist Church in Zebulon, North Carolina.
RMB Audio, a longstanding Martin Audio partners originally selected a Wavefront W0.5 miniature speaker solution 15 years ago. The splayed array was designed to provide coverage of a church seating 600 with a balcony, below a vaulted pentagonal roof. Audience seating on the floor in the sanctuary formed a 200° fan from the pulpit, which required some angle separation between the cabinet hangs to provide an overlap from the 100° horizontal pattern.
The church was satisfied with the sound for years, but when it came to refreshing the speakers, a cell defect was detected. Realising that components for this vintage system were no longer available, an alternative was required.
Cooper Cannady, RMB’s owner, turned to the O-Line micro-line array, with two eight-element hangs proposed after modelling in Martin Audio’s DISPLAY software, and making comparisons with existing room data. Suspended from the existing half-circle frame the new rig provides coverage for the floor and balcony seating to the point where the existing Martin Audio under-balcony C115 speakers are no longer required to reach the last four rows of rear seating.
Cannady said: “We have been able to run the system off their existing amplifiers and it went together really well, with all the angles fitting in very nicely.
“The quality has increased tremendously. Aside from its throw, we’re experiencing no wall reflections, lobing or low-end thrust to the stage; it’s evened out very nicely. The older generation have said they can hear much better – which is always the top goal we work towards. O-Line brings the spoken word up significantly.”
Each box could be run off a single amplifier channel without applying any resolution, although RMB will add Martin Audio’s dedicated DX4.0 system controller in due course – with FIR filter settings loaded in – largely for limiting and minor frequency adjustment.
