The newly-completed Silt complex in Middelkerke, Belgium, an architecturally sophisticated multipurpose event venue set within an artificial dune overlooking the North Sea, has been equipped with a sound reinforcement system utilizing Martin Audio Wavefront Precision WPM arrays and supporting components.
The venue is operated by Middelkerke’s municipality as part of a restoration program for the area, with the city council bringing in Stephan Bohez of SBE, a partner of Martin Audio for the past 25 years who also co-owns StarTechnics with partner Danny Debock, to develop the system.
Bohez, who has staged events for the client over a number of years, explains, “They already knew the quality of our service and the fact we are always ready to solve any kind of program. I was asked what they would need for an event hall that could perform a number of functions — not merely operate as a concert hall, but something that would work in 90 percent of cases.”
Awarded the contract, StarTechnics reports that the design went through many iterations “as they were initially unsure in what direction they would be going with the venue, whether concerts, seminars, conferences, awards shows or banquets.”
The plan was to equip what’s an essentially empty white box with a modular set-up that could be brought in and reconfigured at will. The only items permanently rigged would be eight elements of scalable Wavefront Precision WPM a side, with four SXP218 (2 x 18-inch active subwoofers) that can be deployed as required.
Complementing this is a delay of four TORUS T820 8-inch constant curvature loudspeakers, providing defined 100 by 20-degree coverage pattern in the meeting areas at the mezzanine level, while four auxiliary CDD-LIVE 12 loudspeakers can be used as in fills or out fills as required. ADORN 5.25-inch ACS-55T loudceiling speakers are set underneath the mezzanine to provide main system delays or for independent use when this space is separated from the main hall.
The mezzanine area space can also become a dedicated single room hall, whose orientation is then rotated through 90 degrees. In this set up two further delayed TORUS T820 are rigged under which is an SX115 subwoofer. This small, dedicated area has already hosted DJ-run events and a live concert.
The entire set-up is run by a pair of Martin Audio iKON iK81 DSP amplifiers supporting VU-NET in two-box resolution. These take care of all the processing other than the CDD-LIVE 12, which is under the management of a dedicated DX4.0 processor.
Bohez was assisted in the installation by Jimmy Koninckx, audio solutions advisor at FACE, Martin Audio’s Belgian distributor who supplied the equipment. He ensured the order was fulfilled and later provided technical support, including optimization and programming. “Most of the work was in getting the delays set correctly,” he notes, “but we are fortunate in that TORUS sounds similar to the WPM.”
