Located in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, Antiknock opened in 1985 and quickly established itself as a key venue for punk and hardcore bands. Recently, it has become the first venue in Japan to install Martin Audio’s new Torus constant curvature array.
According to Mr Sekikawa, CEO of Hardaway Corporation, which manages the venue, the renewal of the sound system is a gift to the many artists and patrons who volunteered to sell T-shirts and make donations to keep the venue alive during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The previously installed system featured long-throw cabinets whose size not only made the stage looked small, but the clarity of the low end during live performances left much to be desired. The replacement system had to meet several key criteria – these included being suitable for multi-genres, with a reasonable size footprint, and offering good stability.
‘Having had a relationship with Antiknock for ten years, I was able to determine several important factors,’ says Mr Hashimoto, CEO of Enter Sandman, who designed the new system. ‘One was the theme of the venue, bearing in mind the type of bands who perform there. Another was the physical shape of the venue and the construction of the building, as well as the size of the loudspeakers. And finally, of course, there was the capability of the loudspeaker itself.
‘A loudspeaker with medium-throw capability would fulfil the demands of this venue and match the concept perfectly – and Torus was the obvious solution.’
He specified a pair of T1215 onto two SXCF118 subwoofers per side, in a simple groundstacked configuration. He confirms that the height of the system had been carefully pre-arranged so that the size issue was resolved while achieving the optimum quality of sound. A further challenge was siting the PA, since since sightlines on the audience floor are compromised by columns and joists, and the floor level increases at the rear, the loudspeakers needed to be set inside the stage area.
Flying Torus from its T12Grid inverted allowed stereo arrays to be mirrored to maintain both the intelligibility and the wide left-right separation. The initial simulations used Martin Audio’s Display 3 –proprietary 3D prediction software to identify optimum results. ‘Torus has a unique feature in that we could easily change the waveguide’s dispersion between 30-45°. We could also change the dispersion, setting the horn asymmetrically to avoid unnecessary reflections from the wall.’
Due to Antiknock’s unique shape this solution worked well, as Display 3 can simulate different settings of the horn graphically,’ reports Takahisa Ota, from Martin Audio Japan.
The multi-genre mode is achieved using a Lake controller to tune the system, with presets easily able to change the tuning. ‘Antiknock is the venue where loud rock bands choose to perform, and this is reflected in the high SPL,’ says Mr Kunii, the venue’s operator. ‘However, the sound from the new system is always clear and transparent, and I have never felt tired. The audience also tell me that despite the volume, they feel comfortable and excited.’
Excitement and clarity are two features that don’t usually co-exist comfortably, he emphasises.
‘A live venue such as this cannot survive on reputation or culture alone,’ says venue manager, Mr Yanagisawa. ‘The sound system is a good additional solution and we believe Torus can adapt to the many demands placed on it. Consequently, we believe it will help us rebuild the live scene.’
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