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43 South Molton Street - Installed in a Day!
As tight timescales go, it was a real test of spirit and ingenuity for Environ Audio, working closely with its supplier Harman Pro UK. The two companies collaborated to supply and install 43 South Molton Street – a new, exclusive private members club – with a top quality audio system in time to open for a party the next night!
The venue - designed by the award winning Russell Stage - features an event/party space in the basement, a restaurant on the ground floor and a lounge on the top two floors. It’s independently owned by three young entrepreneurs who understand the importance of a good sound for great night out.
They chose Environ’s sound design – created by classical musician and acoustic engineer Dan Eades - based on a package of Harman products including JBL, dbx and Crown - above others, even though it wasn’t the cheapest. However quality-wise, it came closest to what they wanted to achieve with their brand, located in one of London’s classiest streets and destined to become one of the capital’s hippest hang-outs.
43 South Molton Street’s owners decided to hit the go button for their event space sound system as phase one of a staggered installation.
When it happened, the decision came late in the day . . . and the installation had to be completed in lightening quick time for their opening party.
The project was confirmed on the Friday with Environ, who immediately placed their order with Harman, who delivered the kit to site on the Monday morning. Environ’s A Team then worked quickly and stealthily to get everything completed in time for doors that evening.
The system consists of four JBL Control 30 speakers and six JBL Control 25 AVs, dotted around the intimate interior, plus an SRX 718 sub, concealed in a scenic surround. Eades chose JBL because of its silky, rich sound and the uniform continuity between products across the range. “They wanted it loud and assertive” he explains, “But erring on the side of a powerful hi fi system rather than a speed metal rig!”
Eades loves the Control 30s for their smooth mid range and their superlative hi fi quality, making them the ideal enclosure for close range listening.
The event space is divided into three zones – main dinning/dance floor, bar and alcoves, with the alcove levels linked to that of the dancefloor, and the bar having a separate volume control.
While Eades had already completed the design in his head and on paper, there were a few surprises in store when they got to site – like the fact that no speakers could be attached to the ceiling as part of the license agreement. This made it a bit more challenging to get precisely the right dancefloor coverage, but nothing that couldn’t be solved by lateral thinking.
The system is driven by Crown amps – a combination of XLS602s, XLS402s and XS500’s. “Crown is robust, reliable and great value” says Eades. For system processing he chose dbx 260 for all the same reasons, and its huge flexibility.
“Harman were absolutely brilliant,” he says, “Without them we could not have pulled it off – they bent over backwards to get us exactly the right gear on site for first thing on the Monday morning”. Harman’s project manager was Andy Duffield, who says: “This is another top notch project to add to our recent run of West End installations. It’s great working with a company like Environ where quality always comes first.”
Environ also kitted out the DJ booth. The other music source is a C-Burn hard disk music system, which also supplies music to the whole building, and there are two stage inputs ready for use for live acts.
Ameet Mehta, one of 43’s owners, comments: “The sound system really rocks our space, and we look forward to working with Environ again as we grow the venue.”
2nd March 2005
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