For Triangle Entertainment Services, who won the contract to design and install the audio system, the demands were of the highest order, "Hard work in recent years means we have established a good reputation in Dubai," said Triangle's managing director Zahid R Elian. General manager of the Cavalli, Mr Khoury added, "We did not hesitate one second to go ahead with Triangle on this project; both their expertise and reliability are unrivalled. Personally I know that Zahid is a man of his word and can deliver."
The owners and operators of the Cavalli, Pragma Group, had specified "the best system money can buy". "A d&b audiotechnik system was the obvious answer," said Elian who oversaw the system design. "There exists, within the master design, a need for many zones, and even sub-zones within them," he explained. "Although the original plan was for a lounge restaurant environment, the desire was embedded that the Cavalli could become a nightclub capable of loud playback or even live performance. For these reasons I needed an integrated solution that could fulfil all these demands and still produce that special sound, 'the best' as Pragma defined it."
Situated within the Fairmount Hotel, the Cavalli comprises a lounge bar; wine bar; DJ bar; VIP lounge with integral sushi bar; and the main restaurant. At their highest the ceilings are six metres above floor level, all spaces are open spans without pillars or other supports. System design was never going to be easy. The restaurant area ceiling alone has literally hundreds of thousands of crystals hanging from it. For reasons of taste and aesthetics no-one wanted the sight of loudspeaker boxes to intrude.
Four Q-Series line arrays including Q-SUBs achieved the desired coverage here, avoiding any unwanted excitement of the crystal forest. Elsewhere Elian has drawn upon the E-Series, E12, and E15X-SUBs for the other rooms, with E0s for connecting areas such as corridors and lobby, "We even put loudspeakers in the elevators and bathrooms," said Elian. "Everywhere a guest of the club could visit we delivered precision audio and beautiful music."
System tuning was accomplished by Chadi, Triangle's d&b trained system engineer; installation was project managed by J Jabbour also of Triangle. Plans are already in train for further Cavalli clubs at prestigious locations around the globe.
(Jim Evans)
