With the existing Vienna headquarters of sound, lighting and musical instrument dealer Klangfarbe literally bursting at the seams, the company's owners knew that a radical solution was required. They found it in a former, brick built gasometer, which provides 3500m2 of office and retail space.
The extra space in the circular, four-storey building has allowed many more products to be displayed and be available for demonstration. Taking advantage of this, project engineer Martin Plötzeneder was determined to find a high quality solution to the old problem of helping prospective buyers to A/B test different loudspeakers.
The answer came in the form of a Yamaha DME24N digital mixing engine, with MY16-CII Cobranet interface card and five DME8o-C terminal processors.
The Cobranet audio matrix allows the straightforward demonstration of many different systems, with one DME8o-C located at each 'wall' of speakers, receiving audio from the DME24N.
"The system allows us to change audio sources, volume levels and playback outputs. Within seconds a customer can listen to the same audio, from the same source, through a wide range of different loudspeakers. They can also listen to many different styles of audio, from a range of different sources, simply at the touch of the screen. This allows them to make a much more informed choice and buy the loudspeakers that best suit their needs," says Plötzeneder.
"At Klangfarbe we pride ourselves in offering the very best customer service, with personal attention from very knowledgeable staff. The Yamaha system has helped us to make what was previously a difficult sales operation very easy."
(Jim Evans)
