One of the world's most celebrated cultural institutions, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, has transformed the sonic experience of its historic Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium with a Martin Audio upgrade.
This modular installation overcomes the venue's long-standing acoustic challenges while providing a high-fidelity portable system for performances across the museum’s iconic gallery spaces.
Opened in 1954 as a purely acoustic hall—designed primarily to showcase instruments from the Met's own collection with no amplification intended—the 700-capacity Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium has remained largely unchanged in appearance. Yet, as the auditorium's programming evolved, so too did its audio demands. The legacy sound system previously installed - early-generation powered column speakers positioned only on the left and right sides of the room - delivered severely uneven coverage, with significant gaps across both the floor and balcony. It was barely adequate for lectures and simply unsuitable for contemporary musical performances.
Sebastian Hurtado joined The Met as senior technical manager AVMS Production, in 2024. As a seasoned audio engineer who has worked across multiple countries and throughout the US, the sound in the auditorium became an immediate focus. “I think I identified the need for an upgrade within three days of arriving,” he recalls.
The brief was to replace the legacy system with a single, unified solution capable of handling everything from intimate lectures to full live bands - all while preserving the visual and architectural integrity of the historic space.
The final installed system is anchored by three Martin Audio TORUS Series T1230 and one T1215 constant curvature array elements, configured as a centre cluster and rigged from a truss at the front of the stage. “We didn't want to change the essence of the space, and with no positions possible to hang a Left-Right line array, we realised a centre cluster was the way to go,” describes Hurtado. “It covers the lower and upper centre of the house incredibly well. Even without subwoofers, the low end from the TORUS 12s is substantial for video playback and presentations."
Four Martin Audio FlexPoint FP12 12-in premium point-source speakers are positioned on the sides to fill outer coverage gaps, while four FP6 6-in models - precisely time-delayed - address the notoriously difficult under-balcony zone. "The FP6s have provided one of the biggest improvements. They sound fantastic and are delayed so well that it almost seems like they’re not doing anything, which is perfect," he notes.
For larger performances, a ground-stacked system comprising three per side TORUS T820 8-in tops and two per side SXC115 15-in cardioid subwoofers, is designed to handle any production required in the space. Ten Martin Audio LE100 stage monitors round out the rig.