LEA amplification powers LA’s Hotel Figueroa
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However, its legacy audio systems were encountering issues and needed an upgrade from the systems integration team at Drp, who relied on audio amplifiers from LEA Professional to power the historic venue, its restaurants, and other spaces.
With 268 rooms and suites spread over 14 floors and a pool nestled within a botanical oasis, Hotel Figueroa, part of the Hyatt group, is renowned for its style and close proximity to the Crypto.com Arena and LA Live, formerly known as Staples Centre.
When the hotel decided they needed to upgrade the entire audio system, Drp was brought in to create a system that met their new standards. Drp is a low-voltage cabling contractor based in Los Angeles, California. For over 10 years the company has been a leader in providing fast, professional, cost-effective solutions from cabling to security to audio and video systems.
“This was a challenging big project; when we arrived on site we quickly realised it wouldn’t just be about installing a new system. We needed to re-do the infrastructure already in place,” opens Dan Potvin, founder and owner at Drp.inc. “When we first inspected the old system and pulled out the rack it looked like a spider’s web back there. There was no signal wire but data infrastructure wire, so the system was not secure. We had to fix that first before we could even think about installing the LEA amps.”
Potvin focused on a few main areas of the hotel including two prominent restaurants, Sparrow and La Casita as well as the pool area. Initially the team came up against supply chain issues with some manufacturers not having amplifiers in stock. This led them to try LEA Professional which had amplifiers in stock and ready to ship.
Ultimately Potvin specified four Connect Series 704 amplifiers to power a majority of the hotel. The Connect Series 704 is a four-channel amplifier with 700W per channel.
“Going in with these amps and being able to program one channel to be 70V and one channel to be low impedance, that is huge,” continues Potvin. “These have so many useful features, they are very unique within the industry, and that really makes my job easier.”
Adding to the legacy infrastructure at the hotel was the equipment racks, which were not typical audio system racks but instead IT racks that could not hold much equipment. For Potvin, the Connect Series and its 1U space saving design meant they were the perfect fit. One challenge the team usually faces when installing amplifiers in a hotel is ensuring that they are not accidentally powered off, especially when they need to run 24/7.
“I’m so glad the on/off button is hidden on the Connect Series, we have had so many issues before where the power button is right on the front of an amp and people accidentally hit the amps off,” says Potvin. “It seems simple, but that can be a real nightmare scenario for us.”
Some areas of the hotel, particularly Sparrow restaurant, were acoustically challenging in terms of their configuration but Potvin was impressed with the power LEA Professional provided.
“Four LEA amps are powering the majority of the hotel and it's mind boggling, especially when you see how much audio is in there - it can get very loud,” concludes Potvin. “The result was crisp, clear, non-distorted sound quality, even at high levels. It's very protective of the speakers in the system, and easy on an audience.”
