Overlooking St. George’s Bay lie Hugo’s Lounge and Hugo’s Terrace & Rooftop, part of the Maltese bar hotspot of St Julian’s. Established by late leisure entrepreneur Hugo Chetcuti, their operation today falls to his son, Luke, who is CEO of the Hugo’s Group.

It is more than a decade since Stefan Farrugia, MD of Martin Audio distributor Futuretech Pro, installed Martin Audio CDD5 loudspeakers in the Hugo’s Lounge venue and – while CDD5 remains a firm favourite with the installer – when he was called in to upgrade the sound system that he had installed on the Terrace, he only had a replacement in mind: Martin Audio’s BlacklineX passive point-source speakers.

‘The venue needed a more powerful sound system, because although in the beginning the style had more of a lounge feel, with a DJ and live music they now needed something more powerful to retain customers through until 4am. I knew exactly what was needed – more power and better coverage.

‘I already knew the place very well, and chose Blackline because it’s extremely good value for money.’

The music is played out in two zones, indoor and outdoor. Four Blackline X12 and a pair of Blackline X218 subs have been installed around the indoor dancefloor, a further pair of X12 as DJ monitors. Delivering sound to the outdoor terrace are six Blackline X10 boxes and a pair of X118 subwoofers. To this, Futuretech added industry standard amplification, matrix control, an FOH mixer and Pioneer CDJs.

Chetcuti Jr is happy with the quality of the new system: ‘The improvement to the sound is remarkable, and a number of our customers have commented, as well as our bands and DJs,’ he reports. ‘The Martin Audio Blackline series will see us well into the future.’