Sound Division goes large at the Coach Makers
A popular Central London pub has turned back the
pages of history and reverted to its origins. The
imposing plaque on the fascia reveals that the hostelry
on the corner of Marylebone Lane and Bentinck Street
was christened The Coach Makers Arms back in Victorian
times, although it was latterly trading as The Conduit
of Tybourne and as Irish pub, O’Conor Don.
That was before gastropub specialists, Large Bars,
took it over, and following extensive refurbishment
of the three trading floors, reopened it as The Coach
Makers of Marylebone in April this year.
Large Bars directors, Lee Bradshaw and Sarj Chotai,
tasked Sound Division with specifying an audio infrastructure
as part of the design overhaul.
The technology specialists were contracted after
providing a similar solution for the company’s
Islington pub, The Angelic three and a half years
ago; but Large Bars’ operations manager, Tom
Dennis’s relationship with Sound Division MD,
David Graham, extends back a lot further. “When
I was working for Pitcher & Piano in the mid-90’s
Sound Division helped us with a New Year’s
Eve party,” he remembers.
The audio infrastructure in Marylebone needed to
match the new mood of the pub, which includes a basement
Speakeasy and a first floor Gin Palace. The emphasis
is on food and traditional ales, with a monthly changing
British menu, including fresh oysters and Sunday
roast.
Taking note of its flexible trading and multipurpose
usage (the pub is set up to host corporate events),
Sound Division has supplied plug-in points for feeding
in remote audio sources such as iPods, DJ’s
and musicians on all floors. At the same time the
company has serviced and reconditioned part of the
existing sound system, such as the BSS Soundweb 9088
DSP matrix router (and local remote) and the Turbosound
TXD loudspeakers down in the basement.
A new Soundweb file has been designed to facilitate
the various floor zones and audio sources, so that
any signal source can be routed to any destination.
Sound Division has complemented this by specifying
multiples of Martin Audio’s stylish AQ6 architectural
loudspeaker range, powered by a trio of Crown XLS
602 amplifiers, while JBL Control 24CM flush mounted
ceiling speakers are installed in the toilets, driven
from a Crown XLS 202. This is fed by a separate iPod-generated
comedy channel throughout The Coach Makers’ long
trading cycle.
Said David Graham “The key element was to
have a good infrastructure in place from the outset,
to give the client options for the future. It’s
much more cost-effective to do this at the design
stage.
“As for the AQ6’s these are a great
choice of speaker for background music applications
such as this. The client tells me that customers
have actually remarked on how good the sound is there
now.”
“We’re delighted with the work David’s
team has undertaken,” confirms Tom Dennis.
The new interior, which incorporates antique (and
reclaimed) furnishing, church chairs, refectory tables
and Seagrass flooring, is already making an enormous
impact on the well-to-do Marylebone business community.
For Large Bars this represents the third in their
expanding estate of London-based operation. Already
a fourth is on the way, and the plan is to have six
trading in the capital by March 2012. “Our
mission,” they say, “is for each and
every one of our gastro bars to be unique.” And
so far that ambition has been fulfilled.
May 2009 |
