Fabric London expands long-standing collaboration with Martin Audio
United Kingdom – Fabric London has extended its nearly quarter-century relationship with Martin Audio by announcing a major upgrade to its flagship Room One.
Since installing Martin Audio W8C, Blacklines and WSX subwoofers at the start of the new millennium, the club has never looked back, going through several generations of Martin Audio systems while continuing to rely on the state-of-the-art sound systems it offers its world-class DJs.
But for the latest refresh, technical director Matt Smith decided to go a different route. Nervous about the prospect of losing what he describes as the “distinctive Room 1 sound”, he asked Martin Audio if they would refurbish the existing 20-year-old W8L line array and fit it with new drivers. And given the close relationship between these two top brands, the High Wycombe-based manufacturer was happy to oblige.
But it was a long road to that decision, and several different brands had to be tested. “Although they all sounded fantastic, it just changed the character of the room,” Smith admits. He was also aware that it was Fabric founder Keith Reilly who had advocated the original switch to Martin Audio, “and that there was something romantic about that system.”
Finally, he consulted with the club’s promoters, DJs and sound engineers, as well as his internal team: “They agreed that we should renovate to maintain the typical Martin Audio sound and preserve this historic installation.”
Matt Smith has particularly adeptly supported the revitalised mid-tops with a complete end-to-end infrastructure from Martin Audio, including SHX218 2 x 18-inch subwoofers, iKON multi-channel DSP amplifiers, new FlexPoint loudspeakers and XE300, whilst also repurposing the classic and practical Blackline F12s that have provided the DJs’ reference sound in the booth.
The new layout of Room 1 offers the familiar sight of four newly powder-coated W8Ls, two left and right on the stage, paired with converted W8Cs, two left and right at the back.
The eight SHX218 subwoofers arranged in a broadside array under the front of the stage are a masterpiece of engineering after the club decided to revert to a horn hybrid. Because these are much larger, we had to remove the wheels and enlarge the voids under the stage. Now you can barely fit a Rizla between the bass cabinets and the wall,” jokes Smith! Martin Audio’s technical support team of Dan Orton, Ben Tucker and Paul Connaughton provided design assistance for the time alignment of the sub arrays.
But to use Matt Smith’s words, the magic happens “under the hood”: with ten Martin Audio iKON amplifiers (nine iK42s power the bulk of the system, while a single iK81 drives the MF/HF systems for the main enclosures).
The club’s original DSP and networking were entrusted to the Soundweb environment, but the DSP for the sub-array, along with delay times and all presets, have now been transferred to the process-controlled iKONs. “The amplifiers are enormously powerful,” notes Smith, “and I think we would do structural damage if we cranked them up to the maximum.”
“It’s nice because we can just keep running with our outputs on the amplifiers, whereas before we would have had to constantly physically check (our amplifiers) just before they peaked. The nice thing about the iKONs is that they monitor themselves, and since the processing is now done in the iKONs, we can monitor them remotely via (Martin Audio’s) VU-NET software.”
Meanwhile, four of the recently introduced FlexPoint FP12s have replaced the original, custom-built Blackline F12s in the DJ booth, with the latter being used as downfill speakers to the rear “to extend the dance floor a little”. New X15s distribute the sound on the mezzanine level along with two more repurposed Blackline F15s. And finally, four more XE300s are available for evenings with live bands or MCs.”
Although the installation is being done in phases, the verdict so far from Fabric’s technical director is already 100% positive. “The new system delivers much more power and with the power availability of the amplifiers we will never get close to the peak levels. It is very clean, tight and punchy but for us it is not about volume, we want it to sound good, not loud.”
And of course, alongside the romance of preserving Martin Audio’s old system, there’s also an emotional attachment to the bespoke F12s. “The many DJs they’ve seen in Room 1, those F12s: you just can’t get rid of them,” concludes Matt Smith. “Fortunately, we’ve found a really good use for them and they’re doing a great job in their new home.”
Photos: Benedict Priddy
