SPL SPEAKERS OVERCOME INTELLIGIBILITY ISSUES AT COLLEGE BAR

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SOUND PHYSICS LABS LOUDSPEAKERS OVERCOME INTELLIGIBILITY ISSUES IN A COLLEGE BAR

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN: College bars are one place where louder is almost always better. Unless, that is, you're on the other side of the bar - the business side. That was the essence of the dilemma facing Ann Arbor Audio when it came to putting a sound system into a new bar in the town that's home to the University of Michigan.

While the bar, Charley's Upstairs, wanted a sound system that could pack a punch for patrons, it needed one that could allow bartenders and servers behind the bar to converse over the music. With that in mind, the systems integrator selected loudspeakers from Sound Physics Labs that could direct the sound away from the bar area and also cope with acoustics challenges created by a lively space.

"With a 21-and-up crowd, it's a little quieter than other 18-and-up bars in the town, but the back bar staff still needed a system that would allow them to communicate," says John Malek, president of the company.

Malek's solution entailed flying an SPL B-DEAP subwoofer at one end of the bar, and two SPL-td1 loudspeakers at each end. "We chose these speakers because of their ability to produce very good sound pressure on the 25-foot-by-55-foot dance floor. These are hot on-axis speakers. And the cardioid pattern that the B-DEAP generates is nice in that the null side faces the bar and the on-axis side faces the dance floor. Those working behind the bar are in back of the sub where it's quieter, while on the other side it's pretty loud."

Challenging angles, lots of glass and other highly reflective materials also pointed to Malek's SPL-based solution. One entire wall, he says, is glass, and many of the sloping angles coming off the ceiling are glass as well. "There are some huge reflections coming off of surfaces, creating an environment where there's virtually no sound absorption or diffusion, just reflection. The ability to get the cardioid pattern from the speakers is the main reason we chose the SPLs."

To counter some of the sound coming from the speakers, Malek used specially designed mounts and frames to suspend the boxes. "We used a series of kinetic spring-loaded isolation fittings to decouple the sub from the building, because diners on the floor below complained about the pulsations they were feeling. We also wrapped the sub in unistrut steel to provide hanging points for the suspension mount."

Malek began designing a sound system for the second-floor nightclub/first-floor restaurant several months before it opened. Even before the layout was set, he demo'd an SPL system based on the expected design and layout of the facility. All it took to get the owners on board for the SPL solution was one demo, he says.

"We needed to accomplish pattern control at low frequencies, which is a difficult challenge," he says. "But the SPLs' design is a key ingredient in achieving the directional pattern control we needed. Other speakers don't offer that. Plus, they don't have a big footprint for the amount of SPL they produce."

Since opening, the sound system has won praise from clients, and pseudo praise from those living in the vicinity. In a testimony to the power of the speakers, someone filed a noise complaint from a block away. "The owner was surprised."

Sound Physics Labs is the parent company of ServoDrive, Inc. ServoDrive manufactures the industry benchmark BassTech7 and ContraBass subwoofers. Sound Physics Labs is responsible for the complete line of Unity loudspeakers.

ServoDrive: www.servodrive.com
Sound Physics Labs: www.soundphysics.com