Sound Division delivers Turbo-charged audio to Lonsdale House
The newly opened Lonsdale House in Notting Hill is destined to make its mark very quickly as one of London's most glamorous new high profile nightspots. With sumptuous yet modern design from Fusion architects and a management team handpicked from the cream of the business - Henry Besant and Dick Bradsell are both key members of the team - Lonsdale House is a stunning creation.
When it came to supplying the audio, owner Charles Breeden was equally clear about what he wanted. "I'm a huge fan of the restaurant Momo," he stated. "I love everything about it. Indeed, I chose the architects partly on the basis of the work they had done there, and the same goes for the audio visual contractor. The Sound Division Group was responsible for the installation at Momo, which I greatly admire, so they seemed to be the natural choice to supply the audio for Lonsdale House."
The specification was for a high-class, sophisticated audio system capable of delivering top quality background music throughout the venue with the ability to zone to specific areas. The system also needed to be powerful enough to make a seamless transition from an unobtrusive background music system to a much more up-front club-style system as the situation demands.
To that end, the Sound Division Group's David Graham specified a Crown-powered Turbosound system throughout based on the Turbosound QLight range of compact loudspeakers with TSC compact sub-woofers controlled via two BSS Soundweb devices. "The venue is spread over three floors," explained David. "We've treated each area as a separate entity and have designed the system utilising CAT5 cabling throughout so that any music source can be routed to any area. It's extremely flexible, yet works very well as a whole if that is what is required. Most of the time the system is just purring, but we've made sure that there is plenty of headroom, so it can roar with the best of them!" The DJ area is also extremely well equipped with an Allen & Heath Xone 62 mixer, Technics turntables and Pioneer CD players. The Sound Division Group has also supplied a large video screen and Sanyo projector to complete the AV package in the upstairs lounge bar area.
"Charles (Breeden) wanted a powerful yet discreet sound system for Lonsdale House in keeping with the quality of the brand and the image he has created," concluded David. "I think we've achieved that very successfully, and the client is delighted."
January 2003