With Sound Too trading further down the building, the new management team quickly realised that the inherited hybrid sound system was something of a mismatch.

One of the club’s experienced DJ’s, Southend-based Andy Smith, told marketing and promotions manager Arron Curtis that the seaside town was awash with high-octane KV2 systems, installed by local integrators, Essex Sound & Light — and soon ESL’s MD, Mike Glover, was up in Leicester Square measuring up.

The first stage of a phased upgrade has seen him install a KV2 ES system in the main sixth floor clubbing area and the lounge area above but this will eventually extend to the VIP/private hire area on the top floor, at which time Glover will also turn his attention to the lighting.

Arron Curtis sensed that taking over a venue used to hosting film premiere parties (the Empire Leicester Square is situated next door) they would have a lot to live up to. “The sound is the heart of a club,” he said. “We didn’t have a heart, only a whimper — and a couple of defibrillators! But Andy was jumping up and down about the KV2 system.”

Curtis himself DJ’d at some of London’s famous super clubs of the ‘90s, such as Club UK and the Leisure Lounge, and he commissioned Mike Glover’s company (and a KV2 rig) purely on reputation, without so much as an audition.

In fact they decided to go for an outright purchase rather than rent, notes Glover. “They needed a completely matched and integrated-controlled system that was sufficiently versatile to handle film premiere launch parties and full-on club nights, with R&B, pop and commercial hip hop.”

Working alongside ESL’s head of engineering, Darren Lambert, Mike Glover carried out a survey and quickly divided the three floors into a multi-zone configuration. He also realized they were in an inherently ‘live’ room, with a large amount of fenestration offering spectacular views over the city, but sonically presenting the potential for reflections in a hard-surfaced room, with an arced exterior wrapped around the rear of the bar. “Time aligning the EX10’s around the curve proved difficult, but we’ve done so very successfully, with the delay taps set in three pairs,” states Glover.

Six of the compact EX10 two-way speakers, with 10in woofer and 1in compression driver, form the perimeter system, wall-mounted on their own brackets and facing inwards. Mike Glover says the advantages of an inherently-optimized system are self-evident: on-board electronics ensure fast, easy set up and complete control with electronic crossovers, phase alignment, equalization and speaker protection integrated into the EX10’s amplifier module.

Each main dancefloor L/R stack comprises a pair of ES1.8 reflex horn-loaded, single 18in subs, under a 3-way, very high output, active-driven, ES1.0 mid-high/mid-bass enclosure, using EPAK 2500/R amp modules, All control and signal routing take place in a Soundweb London BLU-160 (configured 4-in/12-out) which routes sound sources between the different floors.

“Each floor can play out to the other — including the eighth, where we’ve integrated the existing 3088 Soundweb Lite DSP into the new network. It’s a complete matrix,” states Glover. Both the sixth and seventh floors are also equipped with a Soundweb London BLU-6 remote panel, for local source selection and volume control.

“We have kept this installation remarkably simple,” assesses Mike Glover. “The placement of KV2 enclosures is vital in order to get the best out of them. If you try and be too clever, or use indiscriminate equalization or other needless ‘correctional units’, it will backfire.”

The DJ booth is plugged with industry-standard Pioneer CDJ-1000 Mk3 CD players, existing Technics SL1210’s and an Allen & Heath XONE:62 mixer, while a KV2 EX6 gives the DJ superior reference monitoring from a very compact and small footprint.

Up on the seventh floor, Mike Glover has repeated the successful formula, wall mounting eight EX10’s, with a pair of EX2.2 (2 x 12in) subs providing bass extension. The DJ booth is configured identically to the set-up underneath. A similar approach to delay taps of the EX10 was again successfully applied.

For Arron Curtis and Jed Ward, who front the Vertigo operation, things could scarcely be better. They are pulling in the crowds, and with the aid of Moët & Chandon will start turning the eighth floor into a Champagne Bar after Christmas. “We get all kinds of DJ’s dropping in after hours — people like Tim Westwood — and they all love the sound system.”