KV2 brings musical focus to Play

‘The project started with the desire, first of all, for a pure and 100 per cent restaurant – a very high-level restaurant,’ stated Pablo Nofri, of AVS Arabia, who took care of the the complete audio installation. ‘The idea was to have a fully covered area of sound that was very clear. This is what KV2 puts forward: it’s loud and clear. They wanted to have total clarity at low volume as well as the option for high volume to increase the atmosphere.’

One of the most notable elements of the design of Play is the flown 15-inch subwoofers, installed onto the beams above the dining area. Joining the two ESD1.15 subwoofers sitting overhead are a total of 22 ESD12 cabinets hung from the walls. The raised dining area is covered by smaller ESD10 boxes hung discreetly from the wooden panels, with low frequency extension added from a further ESD1.15 integrated into one of servers’ stations. Power for the all of the speakers comes from a rack of eight ESP2000 amps and three VHD3200s for the subs tucked away under the raised dining area where you can also find a KV2 SAC2 super analogue controller serving as the crossover and a Compex Dynamic Harmonics control to ‘regenerate’ the lost sound in MP3s. Added to this, the VIP area upstairs has a small ESD36 system and with separate volume adjustment. The system is processed via BSS and connected with Van Damme cables.

In the DJ booth there are two ESM26 monitors from KV2, tucked away out of sight and joined by a rotary mixer from Alpha Recording. ‘We chose Alpha Recording which is extremely different, it’s an old style mixer,’ said Mr Nofri. ‘It has a main unit where the mixer section is as well as a five-band and three-band equaliser to create some effects.’ As well as the DJ equipment, the booth houses a Shure wireless microphone system connected to small analogue Soundcraft mixer that can be used as needed for private parties.

The lighting side of the restaurant comprises six Jack moving head fixtures from DTS. These are managed by CueLux Pro software from Visual Production running on a touchscreen controller so users can adjust the intensity and movement of the lights.

With the project complete, Mr Nofri as well as the customer is pleased with the results. ‘The sound is very clear in here and that was the primary goal. This is what KV2 speakers do best,’ he reflected. ‘Everything was simulated beforehand and we worked very closely with the main office in the Czech Republic to create the design and settle the best solutions for the various spaces.'