Washington, D.C. (February 11, 2013)—MHA Audio recently installed a new Martin Audio MLA Compact sound system at the historic George Washington University Lisner Auditorium, which has hosted a variety of performers, from Ingrid Bergman to Pink Floyd, since World War II.
“We don’t normally do much installation work, but we have an outstanding relationship with Lisner and George Washington University based on doing live shows there for over 20 years, so this project made a lot of sense,” said MHA owner Mike Scarfe.
“It was also a perfect opportunity in terms of timing to bring Martin Audio’s new MLA Compact system into play and it all came together really well. The 1,500-seat venue was the perfect size for the system. We put eight MLA Compacts per side with a center array of six DSX subs under the stage. The system was a natural choice, because we’d had such a great experience with Martin Audio’s MLA touring system and this technology is definitely state-of-the-art.”
“We haven’t had a significant upgrade since the early forties and we needed to make the venue more competitive in terms of attracting high-profile talent,” commented Maryann Lombardi, Executive Director of Lisner Auditorium and Partnership Development at GWU. “The environment for entertainment venues in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia has changed dramatically in the last 20 years with more venues offering increasingly sophisticated capabilities. Our job is to become more competitive within that market. We’ve held a very prominent place in the past, but we really wanted to branch into other genres and better support our world artists.”
The interior, seats, painting, carpet, stage floor, hanging points for lighting and sound and the heating and cooling system were also upgraded in the auditorium.
Since the upgrade, Lisner has presented a series of popular and well-attended world music concerts by artists such as the Brazilian singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil and Acoustic Africa, as well as the sold-out, pay-per-view debate between Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart.
Martin Audio
www.martin-audio.com
