Dyer's company has enjoyed a long association with Style in the City - and in addition to Babushka, has included other Style brands, such as Bed and Nylon in its work portfolio. The company adopted a Nexo/Crown model as their preferred sound system when they were building the Bed Bar in Smithfield nearly two years ago, they have raised the stakes at Babushka, Manchester - having been asked to upspec the Nexo/Crown system.
"It was obvious they were serious about their sound," remembers Dyer, "and with a growing emphasis on the musical element they asked what system we would we put into Smithfield if there were no budget restrictions? We came up with a Nexo solution - and Fuzion [Nexo's UK distributors] helped us specify the system based around, PS10s, PS8s and LS500 subs. It became an immediate success financially and was much appreciated for the sound."
The principle advantages of Nexo, Dyer maintains, extend beyond the sheer quality of the sound to the cleverness of the speaker management. "It just seems to do that bit more to prevent damage and distortion," he says. "And as for the Crown amps, they speak for themselves."
Obviously liking what they heard in Smithfield, Style in the City asked Tarsin to follow the same formula when it came to designing what would become their flagship venue - the £1 million-plus Nylon development in the City of London. Nylon kick-started a rapid development programme over the past 12 months which has seen Style in the City standardize on Nexo through other Babushka units in Croydon, Glasgow, Nottingham and Islington.
But it was in Manchester this month - where the music policy is entirely DJ-led - that Style has asked for the system to be ratcheted up a gear. Tarsin have upgraded from PS10s to PS15s, with eight enclosures flown in pairs around the main room, supported by eight ground-stacked LS1200 subs. In the elevated upstairs bar they have fitted 12 mostly-flown PS10s as satellite speakers, underpinned by three LS500s (the system respectively tuned by the dedicated PS10TD and PS15TD system controllers). Eight Crown MA2400s comfortably run the bulk of the system with three higher-rated Crown 3600VZ amplifiers assigned to the sub bass units.
The DJ station is equipped with Technics SL1200 MkV turntables and Pioneer CDJ-1000 for playback, mixed through an Allen & Heath XONE:62. The entire audio installation is digitally controlled from a SymNet 8x8, also supplied by distributors Fuzion plc. The 8-in/8-out matrix stores EQ, compression and volume control settings, as well as fire alarm override, and acts as a router. It is supported by an ARC remote control panel - a single-gang wall plate - which stores the complete menu and offers local source selection capabilities.
Tarsin have also designed the lighting, supplying a suite of eight Martin Professional MAC 250 Krypton moving heads. They feature a new optical system for brighter output and improved image quality - as well as new gobo patterns - and are run off a Martin Pro Light Jockey. It all adds up to an inspired package which will make Babushka the hottest place in Manchester. Opening from 7pm to 4am, Wednesday to Sunday, and offering a variety of music throughout the week, guests at Babushka will now able to enjoy great music - delivered from a great sound system.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
