Sound Division's Italian
Job at Baglioni Hotel, Kensington
Famed Italian hoteliers, the Baglioni Group
have created an exclusive London location as their
UK flagship. Baglioni's Simon Wright approached
the Sound Division Group to design and specify
the premier sound system for the recently launched
luxury 5-Star Baglioni Hotel in Kensington. The
hotel’s Brunello club and bar area, used
for private parties and functions and as a members
club, is London’s chic new evening haunt
for those in the know.
Fully aware that superior audio is a major contributor
to the ambience of bar and club areas, the Baglioni
Group naturally wanted the very best quality in
keeping with their brand identity. Having worked
with Sound Division on a number of previous occasions
at other top West London nightspots and restaurants,
Simon Wright had no hesitation in turning to Sound
Division for his latest venture. Sound Division's
managing director, David Graham, specified a system
based around JBL's Control Contractor Series loudspeakers
with Crown amplification and BSS processing along
with DJ equipment from Allen & Heath, Technics
and Denon.
Graham is a strong advocate of the JBL brand,
“primarily because of the breadth and flexibility
of their range, and its uniform quality and power,”
he explains. Bearing in mind Brunello's requirements
for background music, DJ evenings and occasional
live situations, Graham created a distributed
JBL speaker system based around Control 28Fs and
Control 29AVs, and JBL SB-210 subs. Chosen as
much for their aesthetics as for their sound quality,
the ergonomic shape and size of the Control Series
enclosures blend unobtrusively into the Brunello’s
plush, tactile interior design. The Control 28s
are ceiling-mounted discreetly round the room
while the Control 29AVs and the subs are concentrated
on the dancefloor area. The system has been designed
to incorporate plenty of headroom, so it will
cruise effortlessly from mellow background sound
levels to full-on club volume and power at the
nudge of a fader. Crown XS Series power amplifiers
have been specified to drive the system.
Front end processing and EQ comes courtesy of
a BSS 9088 Soundweb digital processor controlled
via two Soundweb "Shrimp" control panels.
“The new Soundweb DSP engine is an excellent
piece of equipment and provides even higher audio
performance," explains David Graham of his
preference for Soundweb as a standard for installation
projects. "The latest generation of 24-bit
converters give a dynamic range of better than
107 dB, which is great for rooms like this,”
he concluded.
Completing the installation is a state-of-the-art
DJ booth equipped with similarly high quality
industry-standard equipment including a pair of
Technics SL1210 Mk5 turntables, Ortofon cartridges,
a Denon DND4000 twin CD player and an Allen &
Heath Xone 62 professional DJ mixer. A JBL LSR25P
powered monitor enclosure serves as a DJ monitor
and a Shure SM58 handheld microphone is available
for announcements.
Baglioni Hotels' Simon Wright is very pleased
with the results. "I've worked with Sound
Division on a number of occasions now, and they
have never let me down. They understand the brief,
they work to time, budget and specification, and
they are always willing to put in the extra effort
required to make sure the client is happy and
has exactly what he wants. The installation they
have completed for us here at Brunellos is no
exception. I'd recommend their services to anyone."
November
2004 |
