Located below Melbourne’s Regent Theatre, the Plaza Ballroom is a multi-function venue which hosts gala dinners, receptions, weddings, corporate conferences and trade shows. Originally constructed in the late 1920s and the subject of a major refurbishment in the 1990s, this year Mark Allen, technical director of owning group Marriner Theatres, decided that a major upgrade of the ballroom’s audio system was due.
Moorabbin-based Parker Black Pro Audio was brought in to install an HK Audio line array system, powered by MC² amplifiers. T-3500s were chosen and have drawn unbridled praise from head consultant for the project, Parker Black’s Brad Parker.
“The T-3500s are one of the most amazing amps, I don’t think we could ever get them to clip,” he says. “The sonic capabilities make them one of the best amps on the planet – everything out the front is just flat, which is just the way it should be.”
As you would expect, Mark Allen is very pleased with the result. “Having the new system has been a fantastic experience. Anywhere you walk around the venue the audio is smooth and a pleasure to listen to,” he says. “I am rapt that the ballroom now has such a great sounding system.”
Another Parker Black installation, where MC² Audio amps have been key, is at Laruche, a glamorous Belle Époque-themed bar and supper club in Fortitude Valley, Queensland. Designed by Elie Moubarak, the venue covers two levels and is intended to be a place where, as the club itself says, ‘the artistic, astute and adventurous can leave the day-to-day behind and indulge in liquid and epicurean delights’!
Providing epicurean delights of the audio variety for Laruche’s clientele is another HK Audio system, driven by a pair of MC² Audio T-3500 amplifiers
Miro Grgic, Laruche sound technician, DJ and entertainment coordinator, is thrilled with the system. “It’s ideal for the club and very well priced for the quality it provides. I am very happy with it,” he says.
Meanwhile, live events in Tasmania are also benefitting from MC² Audio quality, with Hobart-based Professional Music & Lighting Systems adding to its inventory of E Series amplifiers, which now comprises ten E25s, eight E45s and four E15s.
“We have been using MC² Audio amplifiers for five years and have never had a single problem with them,” says PMLS director Nick Morse. “Even when we use them at dance parties, when they are being driven hard for 50+ hours straight, they don’t even get hot.
“We have tried most other big-name amp brands and have not come across a lightweight amp that sounds even close to MC² with the same reliability. What you put in really is what comes out. We have such confidence in the E series that we decided to standardise our entire FOH amplifier inventory with MC² Audio units.”
All MC² Audio amps for these projects were supplied by the company’s Australian distributor CMI, based in Brooklyn, Queensland.
“CMI is doing a great job of raising awareness of the MC² Audio brand in Australia,” says MC² Sales and Marketing Director Bill Woods. “Installation and rental companies throughout the country are rapidly becoming much more aware of the reliability and cost advantages of using our amplifiers. We look forward to working with them further to continue this very positive trend.”
