Once again Metropolis has chosen hard wearing good quality brands including HK and JBL audio, Robe moving lights, LightProcessor lighting control and Alcon McBride and Kramer video switching. Project manager Shane Winterbourne says: "Although there are specific elements common to all Sorts Cafes, each building and installation is completely different, and each has its own set of challenges"
Metropolis's Sports Café projects are always technology driven. Immediately guests walk in the entrance doors, eyes are drawn to the wall of twelve 15 inch TFT screens behind the reception desk. Two HK Audio IL 8.2 full range speakers are tucked discreetly into the roof to ensuring that the first impressions of good sound start here.
Upstairs is the Horseshoe Bar and restaurant/diner area which feature fourteen 28 inch TVs, two 32" TVs and 5 plasma screens, plus seven 15" TFT screens for the seating booth areas. The latter have individual screen control for the seating positions. The other screens in this area are rigged on the ends of poles, a method used to deal with the hanging restrictions of the vaulted ceiling.
Towards the back of the restaurant is a team room with three plasmas and a projector, used for private hires and presentations. Sound distribution in here is four IL 8.2s and two HK IL112 subs.
Metropolis rigged thee Robe Spot 150 moving light fixtures around the bar to introduce colour and movement at night.
Sound is for the front bar area is catered for by eight HK IL8.2 speakers, plus another four in the dining area, and two IL112 subs cover the whole space. One is secreted behind the metal staircase leading up to the first floor and the other beside the waitress station.
Upstairs is a very long pool room and a smaller lounge area, both with a low ceiling and large windows. The lounge has 6 Panasonic 28" TVs and 3 plasmas, while the pool area features twelve 42 inch plasmas, strategically placed around the room to ensure good sight lines from everywhere across the room.
Sound on the top floor is a combination of JBL and HK. Winterbourne selected six JBL Control 26's for the lounge area because he wanted something that sounded rounded, rich and slightly softer. The system for the pool area on the other hand, needed to be raw, edgy and more guttural, so once again the IL 8.2 was the choice - 14 of them in there to cover the voluminous space, "It's hard to beat for a real ballsy system ideal for this environment" explains Winterbourne.
It's back to JBL for the toilets - with a pair of Control 26s in both sets of WCs, complete with three TFT screens in the men's, and a single 15 inch screen in the women's. "Our research shows that women spend more time chatting and fixing their make up and less looking at the TV when they're in the loo" says Winterbourne, "Whereas men like to ensure they don't miss any vital sporting action!"
The basement areas is traditionally the large screen and dancefloor area. This gets regularly packed in Newcastle. The large screen is 12ft wide and on an electric roll up/down motor system, and fed by a Sanyo SL15 projector rigged in the ceiling. There's also twelve 28" TVs here and five 42" plasmas around the walls for good viewing form all over the space.
Sound is delivered via eight HK IL 12.1 full range speakers, accompanied by two 115 subs - 15 inch drivers for extra oomph. "We needed it to kick down here," states Winterbourne, "and not just when there's a DJ playing. It also gets incredibly busy and boisterous at other times, so the background music system needs some headroom to get above the hubbub."
Dancefloor lighting was required here as well, so Winterbourne specified 12 Robe Spo
