BlacklineQ Revives Dead Wax Norwich With Vintage-Modern Sound Overhaul

Penguin Media Solutions completed its second Dead Wax installation for Laine Pub Company, building on the Brighton success with a new project in Norwich.

The team transformed the temporarily closed Dog House Bar, leaning again on a proven Martin Audio recipe but blending heritage and cutting-edge kit for a venue aimed at vinyl purists and indie live acts. This latest fit-out paired Martin Audio's vintage Screen4, a classic three-way cinema design, with the brand-new BlacklineQ series in its first outing.

The city-centre site had been part of the Punch Pubs estate — Laine's parent company — and, according to Penguin’s Technical Project Manager Dylan Thompson, "was much loved, (with patrons) excited to see the venue back and operating," said Thompson.

Working alongside Laine's designer, Rob Hall, Thompson followed a brief to avoid the predictable "black box in each corner". On the ground floor, he chose Screen4 tops to evoke a bold, vintage listening-bar aesthetic. Blackline X8s were customised with tweed grilles, laser-engraved and colour-filled brass Martin Audio badges for a period touch. Low-frequency energy came from Optimal Audio Sub10s, while the DJ booth benefited from the very first Blackline Q8 as a reference monitor.

On the decision to specify BlacklineQ, Thompson said: "I first heard it at the Martin Audio Open Day and knew it would be perfect for this." He added that the range represented a clear evolution: "It's a marked step up from the BlacklineX, with a good coverage pattern. It looks great — like a premium product — sounds great, with loads of punch and a crystal-clear top, and is at an excellent price point. It lends itself to this location because it’s a tall, narrow cabinet so it’s nice and easy to place," said Thompson.

Upstairs, a mezzanine splits the space into two zones. The main live area runs left/right Blackline Q12s flown in landscape from the front bar, anchored by a mono centre Blackline Q218 sub and LE100 stage monitoring. The adjacent bar zone is served by Blackline X8s. On the sub choice, Thompson said, "As it is such a small room, I wanted uniform bass with no corner loading and no boominess. In fact, the Q218 sounds almost too good!" said Thompson.

For ancillary coverage, several of Optimal Audio’s compact Cuboid 3TX speakers deliver consistent sound throughout toilets, stairwell and the outdoor smoking area, the latter protected with IP kits. System power comes from Linea Research multichannel amplification, specifically 88C06 and 44C06 models.

Opening night brought queues around the block, confirming the redesign’s impact. "It is different from Brighton though still very music-centric and really fits what Norwich is about, with an arts college next door. I thoroughly enjoyed working on this … and it was great to work with a client that allowed us to flirt with it!" said Thompson.

Rob Hall praised the outcome’s breadth and nuance: "What the system has done is elevate the whole venue and given a flexibility that was not there before. It does lots of things at the same time in a warm and layered way. You can feel the quality at low volume, but at the same time the impact of the venue is epic. It delivers the flexibility and multipurpose solution, with the layers that we wanted," said Hall.

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