Neuron AV Revamps Manchester’s Satan’s Hollow With Martin Audio BlacklineQ

Satan's Hollow, one of Manchester's longest-serving alternative venues, has undergone a major audio refit by Neuron AV, which selected Martin Audio's BlacklineQ Series to meet the demands of the club's distinctive circular main room and central stage while supporting both club and live use.

"Having been open for 25 years, the ageing sound system was long overdue an upgrade," says Alex Morgan of Neuron AV, "but the venue operators also had a growing ambition to expand their live programming."

Morgan says the legacy installation had evolved into a patchwork of loudspeakers aimed inward at the stage, which made hosting bands cumbersome. "For the venue, this meant setting up an entirely separate PA to host bands, finding somewhere to store it between events, then clearing everything away before returning to club operation," he explains. "The process was time-consuming and made dual operation in a single day a real challenge, creating a practical barrier to putting on more live shows."

The brief extended beyond simple replacement to enabling swift changeovers and improving nightly sound. "The question was: could we make live events easier to deliver, while creating a better club system at the same time?" says Morgan. "I thought about how we could do this. You'd need more speakers to cover the different areas, but presets could turn speaker zones on or off, removing that rigging headache every time."

A regular specifier of Martin Audio, Morgan sourced BlacklineQ through partner Penguin Media Solutions, citing the range's flexibility for hybrid operation and the venue's unusual layout.

BlacklineQ's Differential Dispersion pattern—wider close to the cabinet and narrower at distance—was matched to the room geometry. The final loudspeaker count comprises 2 x 15", 8 x 12" and 6 x 10" enclosures.

Neuron AV programmed three operating presets: Club, which centres the dancefloor around the stage with four Q10s driving the high-energy area and the wider system covering the circular space; Live, which reconfigures to a traditional left/right PA with subs and front fill; and Large Live, which brings additional cabinets into play for 360-degree coverage radiating from the stage for bigger shows.

"BlacklineQ is equally good for club nights and live audio," Morgan says. "My view is that speakers should just be good for everything. If it's a well-designed speaker, it should put out what you put into it. BlacklineQ was absolutely the right choice for this."

Low-end comes from four dual-18" Martin Audio Q218 subwoofers, stacked in pairs on custom dollies to speed reconfiguration. "The venue simply unplugs the subs from their club position, wheels them over to the stage, plugs them back in, and changes the preset," he says. "I'm really impressed with them too; they're a fantastic sub for the money."

Amplification is via Martin Audio's iKON series. "I went for those specific Martin Audio iKON amplifiers to ensure they're on manufacturer presets, keeping everything under warranty as a complete system."

The system was modelled in advance using Martin Audio's DISPLAY software to verify coverage. "Because the venue is such an unusual shape, I needed to see how the coverage behaved," Morgan notes. "DISPLAY was very easy to use. I had the venue plans, built a SketchUp model from them, and imported that in. It did exactly what it said it would."

Installation was scheduled around the club's dark days. "They're generally shut Monday to Wednesday, and they took Thursday as well for the changeover," Morgan says. "We went in and got all the cabling in place beforehand, then stripped out the old system, got the new one in, configured it, and had it ready for doors."

Morgan also credits the supply chain support. "I've known Dylan and Charlie at Penguin for quite a few years. They've been great with support, checking stock, and ensuring on-time delivery."

The outcome has been welcomed by the venue. Dom Hirst, General Manager, Satan's Hollow, concludes: "Satan's Hollow now has incredible sound quality and a much easier to manage live mode thanks to the unique 360-degree Martin Audio BlacklineQ system design by Neuron AV. Their team went above and beyond to ensure the sound was tuned perfectly and all corners of the Hollow sound incredible!"

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