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Meyer Sound CQ-1 Pleases Knowledgeable Ears at Nyack Restaurant Hideaway
As a haven for rock stars, movie icons, and successful artists of every stripe in need of a change from hectic Manhattan, the upstate New York town of Nyack takes its nightspots seriously. For evidence, step inside the towering art nouveau chic of Vertigo, a restaurant and club where the casual crowd has extremely discerning ears.
According to veteran audio system/acoustic designer Bradley Stuart Berlin of Berlin Acoustics, the owners’ primary objective was very clear. “They wanted it to sound incredible — beyond anything in the area,” reports Berlin, whose award-winning, tightly integrated designs have been implemented worldwide. “The criterion given me was to achieve a very high level of sound that would work for an upscale restaurant, as well as for DJs and rock bands.
Berlin informed the team of experienced restaurateurs that founded Vertigo that the way to achieve the best possible sound with the power to cover all of their applications was to put in Meyer Sound CQ-1 wide coverage main loudspeakers. The owners agreed in short order and Berlin installed six CQ-1 cabinets and two 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofers. The result is that, whether the music served up is a jazzy backdrop for dinner, live performances, or DJ sets, the audio quality has helped make the three-story establishment an undisputed success.
“I needed a speaker that would work exceptionally well at very low volumes for a dinner crowd, but also excel at high volumes for the live artists and DJs that play there,” Berlin says. “I’ve been using Meyer Sound for years, and I knew that the CQ-1 was the most appropriate speaker for this venue. It provides high articulation and extremely even coverage throughout the house, which adds to the sense of quality that you feel when you’re in the venue.”
“The best sound systems are when the speakers become invisible and there’s just music,” he continues. Originally designed for installation in San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, the CQ-1 has an extremely smooth horizontal pattern, ultra-low distortion and flat response, so the two CQ-1 cabinets on each of Vertigo’s three levels disappear sonically, ensuring that diners are comfortable hearing the music and communicating with each other at the same time. “The most important thing,” points out Berlin, “is that the CQ-1 sounds great at low and high volumes: the distortion levels are so low that it articulates extremely well even at diminished sound pressure levels.”
However, there are reasons beyond fidelity that made the CQ-1 the right choice for the venue. “Vertigo’s design challenges included many large glass windows and open floors that required vertical separation. The tight pattern control on the CQ-1 horn greatly increased my odds for success, allowing me to get the vertical dispersion just right,” says Berlin.
In pursuit of a completely consistent listening experience for every seat in the house, Berlin placed both of the powerful and extremely efficient 700-HP subwoofers together on the left side of the second-floor floating thrust stage. “This way the bass is always in time — the subs aren’t fighting a time delay with each other, because they come from one point source in the room,” he explains. “The sound of the Meyer 700-HP subs is deep, full and percussive. They really articulate the punch of rock, pop and dance music for an extremely satisfying sound.”
Throughout the design phase, Berlin made extensive use of Meyer Sound’s MAPP Online Pro acoustical prediction software, a powerful, cross-platform, Java-based application for accurately predicting a system’s coverage pattern, frequency response, impulse response and maximum SPL output. “MAPP is a very simple program to use, and the predictions are highly accurate,” says Berlin. “You’re able to change speaker models on the fly and look at the different bandwidths. With the visual representations that MAPP creates you can almost hear in your head what the system will sound like.”
Berlin also appreciates the additional peace of mind that comes with the Meyer Sound loudspeakers’ self-powered design. “The consistency and reliability you get by having the exact same manufacturer’s amplifier and crossover inside is invaluable,” he notes. “Almost all of my designs employ self-powered speakers for aesthetic, tonal consistency, and ease-of-maintenance reasons.”
Vertigo’s clientele, low-key with high standards, is satisfied by the versatile musicality of the club’s Meyer Sound system. “The feedback Vertigo gets from its customers is only positive — it’s an extraordinary-sounding venue,” says Berlin. “There’s a lot of artists and musicians living in this community, and they really appreciate the performance of this Meyer Sound system. There’s nothing like it.”
16th February 2007
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