AtlasIED merges historic with modern
- Details
Owners Teresa and Alan Ponder purchased Haywood House in 2020 and have been updating and renovating the building's infrastructure, including the installation of a new state-of-the-art, facility-wide sound system from AtlasIED, featuring the company's Strategically Hidden Speakers and Atmosphere audio control platform.
Michael Chism, account manager at Visual Techniques (VTI-TX), was the point person for the historical Haywood House sound system project. Based in Longview, Texas, VTI-TX is an AV systems integration firm providing a range of products and solutions, including high-quality audio and control systems, visual presentation and video wall solutions, and other interactive technologies. VTI-TX has been an AtlasIED reseller and installer for more than 15 years.
Chism noted that the charming, historic nature of the building presented unique sound system challenges. First and foremost, any installed speaker system had to be as discreet as possible and not detract from the restaurant's classic ambiance. Haywood House also required high-quality sound for each space, with easy control to accommodate different guest events, often at different volumes with different web streaming or Bluetooth-connected content, so flexibility was vital.
“This was a fun project because we were helping bring a very historic building into the 21st century,” said Chism. “The aesthetics had to be just right, the sound quality had to be excellent, and because it’s a fairly small staff for a facility of this scope, the system had to be easy and efficient to use. The AtlasIED Strategically Hidden Speakers and their Atmosphere control system were perfect for this project.”
Haywood House is a two-story brick building with highly-detailed period furnishings and architectural elements throughout. The downstairs area features the main restaurant and a large bar area with an overlooking mezzanine that can accommodate additional diners. Upstairs areas include the Haywood House’s famous cigar bar and private banquet room. The restaurant’s new sound system includes audio coverage split into four zones for all indoor spaces and the outdoor balcony and porch areas on two sides of the building.
The restaurant’s cigar bar features an elegantly ornate, tiled ceiling that needed to be preserved. It's an elegant 1860s-style space, and the hanging or wall mounting of speakers within the room was not an option. But at the same time, it's a popular destination and quality background music was needed. Doug Hall, director of technology at Mizzen Marketing, assisted the VTI-TX team with product recommendations, system design and setup.
“The system needed to blend with the environment, and the architectural ceiling tiles were to be disturbed as little as possible,” explained Hall. “A set of AtlasIED SHS-6T2 Strategically Hidden Speakers were specified and installed. After the sound lenses were color-matched, they disappeared within the room, and the depth of sound for such a small speaker is very impressive.”
For restaurant-wide audio signal distribution and control, the team turned to the Atmosphere signal processing platform from AtlasIED. The platform’s modularity, scalability, and versatility are suited for multi-zone restaurants such as Haywood House, as well as churches, school campuses, and larger commercial environments.
