Martin Audio appeals to the masses with MLA Mini

Having first pioneered its MLA technology in 2009, Martin Audio has now made it available to the mass market on a reduced footprint. The newest offering from the manufacturer is the MLA Mini: a compact and lightweight cabinet designed for a far wider range of smaller-scale portable and installed sound applications. Described by the manufacturer as ‘scalable and versatile’, a 12-box MLA Mini array will reportedly throw 35m and cater for audiences of approximately 750 to 1000 people.

Key to the MLA Mini’s design is the MSX mini-sub power plant, which complements the main system and houses the amplification, networking and DSP necessary to power and control both itself and four MLA Mini enclosures.

The system can be flown, ground-stacked or pole mounted. In its simplest configuration, four MLA Minis can be pole-mounted above the MSX with precisely adjustable tilt angles, thereby functioning as a plug-and-play system, with the user able to recall onboard presets rather than more complex computer control. At the other end of the scale, up to 16 MLA Minis can be flown in an array and powered by four ground-stacked MSX enclosures.

Each MLA Mini enclosure houses two 6.5-inch voice coil LF drivers and a vertical column of three 1.4-inch aluminium dome HF drivers on a 100-degree horizontal dispersion horn. The 15-inch reflex loaded MSX can be integrated into flown arrays or ground-stacked separately.

MSX also contains nine channels of Class-D amplification to provide cellular drive while the onboard DSP interacts with proprietary DISPLAY2.1 intelligent software for accurate array optimisation.

With each individual cell under software control, ‘hard-avoid’ areas can also be programmed in to reduce sound spill, and vertical coverage can be fine-tuned electronically in-situ without the need to re-rig the array. Arrays and MSX’s can be remotely controlled from a laptop or wireless tablet running VU-NET control software thus eliminating trial and error tuning.

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Web: www.martin-audio.com