His pet peeves? Patrons were shouting over each other, and leaving with ears ringing after only a few hours, and DJs were commenting that the system "could be better." These may be just minor complaints to some club owners, but they stood out to Karpaty.
San Francisco-based JK Sound's Mike Lacina already knew exactly what had to change when he was called in to help design a new sound system for the club. First, the system needed bass that would viscerally envelop the crowd from all points of the room, yet stay free of the distortion that was causing ear fatigue. Next, it had to be durable enough to serve the needs of world-class DJs - who frequently pulse high energy through the system for a dozen hours or more. Finally, Lacina wanted to deliver a more crystalline punch throughout the space - from the dance floor all the way up to the mezzanine.
Lacina already loved EAW's Avalon Series, which are specifically designed to handle the high-energy requirements of nightclubs. "I had recently installed Avalons at a nightclub in L.A., Circus Disco, and the result was a physical concussion of low-frequency sound energy hitting you on the dance floor without being too loud. Meanwhile, even the highest highs were strong and clear."In order to further enhance the already impressive output of the Avalon system, EAW worked with Lacina to customize Ruby Sky's Avalon DC1 boxes with components found in some of their higher output touring systems. As such, the DC1's standard 3" titanium driver was replaced with the larger 4" titanium driver used in the KF750, and for greater punch in the low/mid frequencies, the DC1's standard woofers were replaced with those found in the KF650.
"Knowing how much energy these guys pump through the system, I wanted to make sure we erred on the side of more power-handling capacity than we expect the DJs will need. EAW worked with us to make sure the replacement drivers physically fit inside the cabinet, and to tune the cabinet accordingly," Lacina remembers.
On the main level, Lacina installed four EAW Avalon DC1 speakers, each customized with 15" KF Series woofers, and a 4" titanium diaphragm high frequency KF series driver. Four DCT2 supertweeter arrays and 16 DCS2 horn loaded subwoofers rounded out the main floor. The mezzanine was treated to two additional customized DC1s, two DCT2 supertweeters and four additional DCS2 subs, assuring an even sound from top to bottom in the 15,000 sq. ft. space. Lake Technologies provided four Contour 26s for precise speaker control.
For amplification, Lacina designed a mix of three Lab Gruppen FP2400 Quad amps, three Crest Pro Series 7001s for the mids, three Crest 9001s for the lows, and 5 QSC PL6.0s for the subs, for a total speaker system power handling capacity of 40,700 watts, with available amplifier power of 61,520 watts - delivering headroom greater than the old system's entire power handling capacity.Lacina completed the installation and system fine-tuning just in time for Ruby Skye's New Year's Eve 2004 event. While Badboy Bill drove the system hard, the real test came a week later, when DJ Danny Tenaglia took over the booth at midnight and stayed there until 1:30 p.m. the next day, playing what some have
