Finding a loudspeaker system that would blend seamlessly into the glacial interior of the Swedish concept provided a challenge that was met by Martin Audio. The UK manufacturer had already produced 'invisible' customized perspex floor monitors for the Eurovision Song Contest in Latvia several years ago, and now they turned their attention to their classic EM26 - which formed the centrepiece of a complete audio fit-out of the four-zone, £1.5m development.
Icehotel partners, Below Zero London, had originally been looking at two loudspeaker options for the overall sound reinforcement via their contracting company, Willowmead. "Although our name kept coming up, the Icebar itself became a completely separate enquiry," explains Martin Audio sales manager Simon Bull. "Our managing director David Bissett-Powell was having a meeting at the Icehotel with Tomas Lilja, from our Swedish commercial partner Lab Gruppen, and from that everything dovetailed together. We wanted to do something special, and having produced the perspex monitors for Eurovision, we knew we could replicate the EM26. These have been a proven industry standard over 12 years, with an ability to operate at both high and low level."
As a result five glacial EM26s are now set back into the ice fabric of the bar in Heddon Street, with special adaptations of their Blackline S12 providing the subwoofers. "When Icehotel's artistic director Arne Bergh first saw them as they were delivered to site he couldn't believe it," said Bull.
Producing the perspex loudspeakers is an elaborate process. The material takes three times as long to cut and is more complicated to work with than conventional timber because of the variance in thickness. Production then culminates in a week-and-a-half of polishing and finishing. The special EM26s are supplied to Icebar with an open mesh grille to allow the internal components to be fully visible.
Elsewhere in the downstairs Moose and Reindeer Rooms - which will be available for corporate functions - as well as the main upstairs bar/restaurant, a combination of Martin Audio's new AQ5 and AQ8 architectural speakers reproduce the sound, reinforced by AQ212 and AQ112 subs, the music feed sourced from a hard disk. Swedish company Lab Gruppen provided all the amplification - either in their own right or via their OEM agreement with Martin Audio (under the badged MA series).
Icebar international director, Agnetha Lund, said: "The speakers fit like an ice block into our ice walls and make a great final touch . . . The sound is an important part of the total experience and with these speakers we have a perfect match of great sound in a designed shape to fit the ice design."
Loudspeaker design support and installation were provided by Martin Audio's Simon Bull, and UK contractors, Marquee Installations.
(Lee Baldock)
