Although it is common practice to fix lighting equipment to DIN rails, few audio pieces are designed to take advantage of this standard, even though DIN-standard protection boxes and fixings are readily available for almost any application and the equipment can be placed almost anywhere, giving great flexibility to the architect and interior designer.
An example of Vieta's adaptability can be seen in a new installation at the restaurant Les Banderes near Barcelona. Located in the centre of Badalona, the new centre for upwardly-mobile Barca bohemians, Les Banderes is the life-time passion of brothers Juan Roanes, Carmelo Roanes and Manel Roanes Campos. The heart of the operation, the kitchen, separates the traditional-style bar from the informal restaurant and serves both. As with many restaurants of this type, space is at a premium and ambience is all important.
For Les Banderes, the objective was to install a background music system without an intrusive display of audio equipment. Typically, the sound system for a room like this entails a stack of hi-fi components underneath the optics, or 19" rack units taking up space underneath the till counter. Using Vieta's amplifier and loudspeaker products, a discrete cabinet full of amplifiers could be fitted flush to the wall in the kitchen, behind the saloon-style doors, completely out of view of diners.
An easy-to-clean DIN rail box with a transparent hinged front cover was assembled, containing three of the new Ti Line amplifiers from Vieta - two Ti-2101 two-channel units and a single mono Ti-2102. For the restaurant, the output of the mixer fed one Ti-2101 which in turn powered four compact Vieta Do-2 satellite speakers in crossed stereo and two attenuated Vieta Mi-6 ceiling speakers, one in each washroom. The Ti-2102, which features an on-board low pass filter, powered an ultra-compact Do-80S sub. The Chef's needs were supplied by four Mi-6 ceiling speakers in the kitchen powered by the second Ti-2101 and controlled by an on-wall volume control.
All system tuning was performed using the EQ on the amplifiers and the result is an amplifier system that is invisible to the customers, very easy to use and, importantly, very easily cleaned, says the company
(Jim Evans)
