UK - Tateside has installed ultra-discreet K-array line array speakers at the Savoy on The Strand; Vyper and Lyzard form factors complement the restaurant’s elegant interior.
Frequented by celebrated diners such as Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde, Frank Sinatra and HM Queen Elizabeth, the Savoy offers a British and French-inspired menu alongside an exceptional wine list.
Installed by London-based AV technology provider Tateside, the Savoy now benefits from a distributed K-array speaker system from the Vyper, Lyzard and Tornado ranges providing discreet coverage of all three of its dining spaces.
Having acted as AV integrator to the Savoy Grill for many years, Tateside was well placed to offer a new sound system design when the Savoy recently underwent a complete refurbishment.
“The previous audio system consisted of point source speakers in opposite corners of the main dining room,” said Tateside’s project manager Joby Morris, “If you were close to a speaker you had it really loud in your ear, and in the centre of the restaurant you couldn’t hear a thing. They came to us and asked what we could do to improve things on the audio front.
“They wanted a high performance, high fidelity, distributed audio system that was very discreet – the word ‘invisible’ was mentioned – installed to a really rapid project turnaround time because with such a strong revenue stream they were keen to avoid disruption due to unnecessary closure of the restaurant.”
The striking interior décor of painted slab walls and bold wallpapers prompted an equally stylish solution and led Morris down the K-array route with their RAL colour options as an ideal choice, working with interior designers Afroditi to blend the speakers into the overall design.
Initially Morris worked alongside Dave Wooster from K-array’s UK distributor 2B Heard to develop SPL heat maps of the three rooms that would give optimal coverage while remaining discreet. Having determined the ideal speaker locations and precise aiming angles, 2B Heard then produced slim profile fixed angle 3D printed brackets in matching RAL colours to ensure unobtrusiveness.
A total of 10 Vyper-KV25 line arrays are distributed on the custom wall brackets around the main restaurant area finished in a custom RAL with Rumble-KU44 subs built into the banquette seating. The intimate Wine Room has correspondingly smaller Lyzard-KZ14s finished in black with a Truffle-KTR24 sub again under the seating, while the luxurious Chef’s Table that overlooks the famous Savoy Grill hosts a pair of ceiling mounted Tornado-KT2 speakers in a custom RAL finish to match the woodwork. Power for the speaker system is provided by two Kommander-KA18 Class D DSP amplifiers.
The project ran smoothly and on time over a six-month time frame, with thorough planning taking a key role in its success. “Dave’s pre-determined fixed angle brackets meant that we could be confident about dispersion and coverage, but any time you’re integrating subwoofers into banquette seating there is an element of unpredictability as you’re relying on carpenters and other trades to be accurate, so there’s always a logistical and planning discussion to have,” Morris pointed out.
“Even when we fired up the audio for the first time, bearing in mind none of the soft furnishings were in place and people were still running around a building site with jigsaws, it sounded pretty good out of the box. We were impressed,” he commented. “It sounded distributed, it sounded equally balanced. We gave the KZ14s a little love just to tame the initial brightness.”
