With Sound Too trading further down the building, the new management team quickly realised that the inherited hybrid sound system was something of a mismatch.
One of the club's experienced DJ's, Southend-based Andy Smith, told marketing and promotions manager Arron Curtis that the seaside town was awash with high-octane KV2 systems, installed by local integrators, Essex Sound & Light - and soon ESL's MD, Mike Glover, was up in Leicester Square measuring up.
The first stage of a phased upgrade has seen him install a KV2 ES system in the main sixth floor clubbing area and the lounge area above, but this will eventually extend to the VIP/private hire area on the top floor, at which time Glover will also turn his attention to the lighting.
Working alongside ESL's head of engineering, Darren Lambert, Mike Glover carried out a survey and divided the three floors into a multi-zone configuration. He also realised they were in an inherently 'live' room, with a large amount of fenestration offering spectacular views over the city, but sonically presenting the potential for reflections in a hard-surfaced room, with an arced exterior wrapped around the rear of the bar. "Time aligning the EX10s around the curve proved difficult, but we've done so very successfully, with the delay taps set in three pairs," reports Glover.
Six of the compact EX10 two-way speakers, with 10in woofer and 1in compression driver, form the perimeter system, wall-mounted on their own brackets and facing inwards.
Each main dancefloor L/R stack comprises a pair of ES1.8 reflex horn-loaded, single 18in subs, under a three-way, very high output, active-driven, ES1.0 mid-high/mid-bass enclosure, using EPAK 2500/R amp modules. All control and signal routing take place in a Soundweb London BLU-160 (configured 4-in/12-out) which routes sound sources between the different floors.
"Each floor can play out to the other - including the eighth, where we've integrated the existing 3088 Soundweb Lite DSP into the new network," states Glover. "It's a complete matrix." Both the sixth and seventh floors are also equipped with a Soundweb London BLU-6 remote panel, for local source selection and volume control.
(Jim Evans)
