Handling work ranging from festivals to corporate events and one-off club gigs, Rubicon has purchased a rig comprising 20 MLA top boxes, 12 MLX subs and four MLD downfill enclosures from local distributor, em nordic. The set-up allows the company to divide the rig into two separate systems when required, having doubled power distribution and control.

Based in Oslo, Rubicon has been a regular customer of em nordic since the early 1990s, and was the first rental company in Norway to purchase a Martin Audio W8LC system. While considering a larger main system, the company had no immediate plans to supersede the W8LC – until MLA came along.

According to em nordic’s Øystein Wierli, the sale is the culmination of a long process starting after he witnessed the first demo at London’s Earls Court nearly a year ago: ‘I immediately informed Rubicon head of sound, Roar Ånestad that the MLA system broke new ground and then had many long discussions with him about upgrading their main PA system,’ he explains.

Ånestad himself later attended an MLA demo and presentation in Antwerp, Belgium and by September the remainder of Rubicon’s sound department were sold on the system after attending R&D director Jason Baird’s seminar at September’s Plasa Show. By early November, Wierli and Ånestad were at the Martin Audio factory working out the final technical details which would enable them to cater for smaller venues with the scaled-down rig, while maintaining the capability of handling large venues like the 9,000-seat Oslo Spektrum with a single system.

Martin Audio will support Rubicon with hands-on system training and tour support during the initial period, after which Øystein Wierli and his team at em nordic will take over.

The Scandianvian placement follows major MLA system purchases by launch customers Complete Audio of Germany and North Carolina-based Special Event Services (SES) – who last month added a second system to its existing arsenal.

More: www.martin-audio.com