Powersoft DMD at heart of Kent sports bar
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With Dynamic Music Distribution, Powersoft offers SIs the ability to scale inputs and zones conveniently and efficiently with dynamic routing capabilities embedded on its amplifier platforms. This makes it simple to dynamically route music and other signal sources along with control signals between different zones and across multiple amplifiers – all independently of source location and without the need for a centralised DSP.
Two Mezzo 604 ADs – Powersoft's four-channel, 600W compact amplifier – are powering the entirety of the 250-capacity Matches Sports Bar, Grill & Social, forming the core of a hospitality venue incorporating multiple distinct audio zones and spaces. Tucked away behind the counter, a single 4.3” wall-mounted Powersoft WM Touch screen, gives complete control of the entire DMD system, including Mezzo's embedded dynamic routing capabilities.
“By using Powersoft’s Dynamic Music Distribution solution, we were able to keep our design simple all the way through, from designing the project to handing it over to the client,” explains Ashley Bond, managing director of system designer and installer MADE Worldwide. “The client is then left with a powerful start-to-finish solution from a single industry leading manufacturer, providing them with a safe and secure audio system that’s really going to push through.”
Matches Sports Bar – located at Elwick Place in Ashford, around 95km south of London – opened in June and has been doing roaring business ever since, its food and drink, live sports and evening entertainment proving popular with both locals and Eurostar passengers.
Jon Shephard, Matches’ owner, says the concept for the venue is to combine “all the best bits of the bars I've been to throughout my life, all into one place” to create the “ultimate sports bar experience”.
With a single four-channel Mezzo amplifier now able to drive up to four independent zones of audio, thanks to Powersoft’s new ArmoníaPlus 2.2 software release, the DMD ecosystem was the natural choice to bring to life Shephard’s vision for the venue, with a “tailored sound experience in each individual area”, he explains: “For example, we have three semi-private self-pour beer areas. In those areas, whilst customers want to be able to hear the experience, the volume still allows them to have a conversation with others across the table. We also have other semi-private areas, such as the snug area and in the private room, where customers are all-encapsulated in high-quality, 3D surround sound.
“In the main bar area, we wanted a system where customers could really feel like they're in the stadium watching the match live. However, once that match is finished and we turn the [TV] sound off, we want to get the music pumping – to turn it up loud and have no loss in quality with regards to the audio. And believe me, if you come here on a Friday and Saturday night, you'll definitely experience that.”
The two Powersoft Mezzo amplifiers are responsible for managing the audio throughout Matches, including in the corridor and washrooms.
Powersoft's UK distributor, CUK Audio, supplied MADE with the Mezzos and WM Touch, as well as the Audac loudspeakers (ATEO wall-mounted speakers, CIRA ceiling speakers, and BASO10 and NOBA8 subwoofers) the amplifiers power. Its installed AV channel manager, Steve Barton, says multiple output options like those on the Mezzo 604 AD were essential for a venue like Matches, where a single amplifier is able to power both Lo- and Hi-Z loudspeakers.
“DMD was key here,” comments Barton, “because it provides a really cost-effective and stylish way of routing audio around venues like this. Here, we need small amounts of power going to smaller zones, like the toilets or corridors, and a large amount of power to provide high-quality, pumping audio to get the atmosphere going in the bar area. This is where the Mezzo amplifier running the Dynamic Music Distribution system really shines.
“The Powersoft amps have up to four channels running 600W, with full Power Sharing across all the channels. And the key here is that they can do low impedance and a 100V line on the same amplifier, all using the integral DSP – in a half RU space – so you can fit a heck of a lot of processing power in a really, really tiny space.”
