Sound Division's Italian Job at Baglioni Hotel, Kensington
Famed Italian hoteliers, the Baglioni Group have created an exclusive London location as their UK flagship. Baglioni's Simon Wright approached the Sound Division Group to design and specify the premier sound system for the recently launched luxury 5-Star Baglioni Hotel in Kensington. The hotel’s Brunello club and bar area, used for private parties and functions and as a members club, is London’s chic new evening haunt for those in the know.
Fully aware that superior audio is a major contributor to the ambience of bar and club areas, the Baglioni Group naturally wanted the very best quality in keeping with their brand identity. Having worked with Sound Division on a number of previous occasions at other top West London nightspots and restaurants, Simon Wright had no hesitation in turning to Sound Division for his latest venture. Sound Division's managing director, David Graham, specified a system based around JBL's Control Contractor Series loudspeakers with Crown amplification and BSS processing along with DJ equipment from Allen & Heath, Technics and Denon.
Graham is a strong advocate of the JBL brand, “primarily because of the breadth and flexibility of their range, and its uniform quality and power,” he explains. Bearing in mind Brunello's requirements for background music, DJ evenings and occasional live situations, Graham created a distributed JBL speaker system based around Control 28Fs and Control 29AVs, and JBL SB-210 subs. Chosen as much for their aesthetics as for their sound quality, the ergonomic shape and size of the Control Series enclosures blend unobtrusively into the Brunello’s plush, tactile interior design. The Control 28s are ceiling-mounted discreetly round the room while the Control 29AVs and the subs are concentrated on the dancefloor area. The system has been designed to incorporate plenty of headroom, so it will cruise effortlessly from mellow background sound levels to full-on club volume and power at the nudge of a fader. Crown XS Series power amplifiers have been specified to drive the system.
Front end processing and EQ comes courtesy of a BSS 9088 Soundweb digital processor controlled via two Soundweb "Shrimp" control panels. “The new Soundweb DSP engine is an excellent piece of equipment and provides even higher audio performance," explains David Graham of his preference for Soundweb as a standard for installation projects. "The latest generation of 24-bit converters give a dynamic range of better than 107 dB, which is great for rooms like this,” he concluded.
Completing the installation is a state-of-the-art DJ booth equipped with similarly high quality industry-standard equipment including a pair of Technics SL1210 Mk5 turntables, Ortofon cartridges, a Denon DND4000 twin CD player and an Allen & Heath Xone 62 professional DJ mixer. A JBL LSR25P powered monitor enclosure serves as a DJ monitor and a Shure SM58 handheld microphone is available for announcements.
Baglioni Hotels' Simon Wright is very pleased with the results. "I've worked with Sound Division on a number of occasions now, and they have never let me down. They understand the brief, they work to time, budget and specification, and they are always willing to put in the extra effort required to make sure the client is happy and has exactly what he wants. The installation they have completed for us here at Brunellos is no exception. I'd recommend their services to anyone."
November 2004