One of London’s most beautiful buildings, No. 5 Cavendish Square, has long been a landmark for upscale dining and clubbing.

Formerly the Spanish Embassy, the membership venue, which includes an eight-room boutique hotel, recently underwent a complete sound system upgrade in its basement VIP lounge, main dance floor, expansive ground floor Drawing Room bar and lounge.

Installer Bernard Mani of Systems Etc. recommended a Martin Audio solution, something he’s done in the past for premier venues such as Pacha London.

No.5’s Strategic & Creative Manager David Carvalho and Bar Manager Suresh Gurung lent their support to Mani’s recommendation. “All the DJ’s we asked recommended that we go with Martin Audio,� they said. “We also requested several other quotes and without exception everyone specified Martin Audio. It’s the best British made system on the market and has a great power to weight ratio.�

The installer chose Martin Audio’s AQ and Blackline systems for the upgrade. Upstairs, the front bar is served by four AQ8s, with a floor-mounted AQ212 sub, and the adjacent room beefs up the sound with four AQ10s and an AQ215 sub, neatly situated in the ornate fireplace.

Downstairs, Mani has turned to the dedicated punch of Blackline+, with four F10s, mounted on standard yokes and flown around the VIP bar, with a custom black AQ215 to provide the low frequency extension. Two Blackline F10s are positioned over the main bar, which leads to the dance area. Here, he has taken the unusual step of complementing the four Blackline F10s with a Martin Audio concert grade WS218X sub, floor-mounted next to the booth.

A pair of Martin Audio Engineer 818 DSPs is used to access the venue’s six zones. With DJs playing both downstairs and upstairs six nights a week, and background music providing the atmosphere at other times during the long trading cycle, the Engineer 818’s unique algorithms are vital to balance the input sources in terms of level and tonality. Music is pumped into the different spaces either from an 8-Track Music Solutions server via the resident laptop, or by other MP3 formats and CD.

With a high-profile mix of hip hop, house and electro it was vital that both the DJ booth and loudspeaker specifications in this zone were high, and David Carvalho couldn’t be happier with the result. Not only have Systems Etc delivered the quality, but thanks to the Engineer 818, they have given the venue ultimate routing flexibility.

For more about Martin Audio, please call 519.747.5853, email infona@martinaudio.com, or click to www.martin-audio.com.