Applications
Sound Systems for Hospitality, Bars and Nightlife
Hospitality audio fails in two directions at once: too quiet to hear over the room, or too loud to hold a conversation in it.
What this application asks of a system
A hospitality room is a moving target. Empty at five, full and loud at nine, and the level guests accept rises with the occupancy. Even coverage at low level matters far more than peak output: if the system relies on a few loud sources, the tables underneath them get too much and the ones between them get nothing, and staff spend the evening changing the volume for the wrong reason.
Most venues are also several rooms wearing one roof. The bar, the dining room, the terrace and the private room all want different content at different levels, and paging has to reach all of them. That makes zoning, and the distribution scheme behind it, the first design decision rather than an afterthought.
In a club the problem inverts. Now the requirement is sustained level for hours rather than intelligibility over cutlery, the dancefloor needs even coverage from the DJ booth to the back wall, and the low end has to hold up all night without the system protecting itself into a limiter. And it all has to happen inside a noise limit at the property line, in a room chosen for its atmosphere rather than its acoustics.
What we look at first
- Even coverage at low level, which decides whether a room sounds good before it decides how loud it gets
- Zoning: bar, dining, terrace, private rooms and paging, each on its own level and source
- 70/100 V distribution for long runs and many speakers, or low impedance for the dancefloor zone
- Speech intelligibility for paging over a full room, which is a life-safety issue as well as a service one
- Sustained output for a club night, including the low-frequency load over several hours
- Discreet mounting and finishes in a room designed by someone who did not plan for loudspeakers
Recommended SSOUNDS products
Grouped by the job each product does in this kind of system. Specifications live on the product pages and in the data sheets, so nothing is restated here.
Dancefloor and foreground
The main system for a club, a late bar or a live room, where the audience is in front of it rather than around it.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS LS208
Compact dual-8″ line-array element, 141 dB peak, 55 Hz reach and 100° coverage from a 26 kg box.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-15
15″ two-way point source, 55 Hz – 20 kHz, 137 dB peak, passive or bi-amplified.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS P15
Two-way dual-15″ point source, high-output mains and fill with a rotatable constant-directivity horn.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-12
12″ full-range point source, mains or floor wedge, the all-rounder of the M-series.
Background music and zoned areas
Even, low-level coverage for dining, bars, lobbies, terraces and back of house, plus paging.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS CL6
6.5″ two-way ceiling speaker, discreet, even distributed audio with 70/100 V tapping.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS CL8
8″ two-way ceiling speaker, full-range background and foreground audio with 70/100 V tapping.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-4
Ultra-compact 4″ full-range, discreet fill and foreground audio with M-rigging.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-6
Compact 6.5″ full-range, versatile install and portable speaker with M8 rigging.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-8
8″ full-range, high-output multipurpose box for portable PA, fill and install.
Subwoofers
Discreet low end for a lounge, or a touring-grade single 18 where the dancefloor has to hold up all night.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-12SUB
Ultra-compact 12″ subwoofer, discreet low-frequency support for small rooms and AV.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-15SUB
Compact 15″ subwoofer, fast, musical low-end for portable and install systems.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS XTO S18
Single-18″ subwoofer module of the XTO System, flyable on the shared track for arrays that hang with the tops.
Amplification and processing
Zone processing, limiting that protects the system after closing time, and presets a duty manager cannot break.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS D14X
4-channel DSP amplifier with FIR, line-array power plus full system processing and presets.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS A14X
4-channel touring amplifier for line arrays, 4 × 2,000 W @ 4 Ω, analog input.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS DSP 4×8
4-in / 8-out loudspeaker processor, 96 kHz, 1/36-octave filters and full system alignment.
LED video
Dancefloor tiles, retail and storefront walls, and mobile displays for lobbies and pop-ups.
AIXCEL
AIXCEL Floor Interactive LED Tile
High-load interactive LED floor, 2 t/m², anti-slip, sensor-ready for dance floors and runways.
Unilumin
Unilumin Uslim III
Ultra-slim fixed-install LED. P0.9–P3.9 retail and storefront walls, 180° viewing.
AIXCEL
AIXCEL Poster Mobile LED Display
Slim mobile LED poster, wheel it in, plug it in, play. Retail, lobbies, events.
Why these products. The CL8 names retail, hospitality and architectural install, the M-4 names retail and hospitality, the M-12SUB names hospitality, and the LS208 names club installs. The AIXCEL Floor names club floors, the AIXCEL Poster names hotel lobbies and retail windows, and the Uslim III names retail and showrooms. The XTO S18 is listed for high-output dancefloors on the strength of its format rather than a named hospitality reference.
Guides for this application
Get this specced for your room
Send us the drawings, the seat count and what the room has to do. Our engineers model the coverage and come back with a product list, a rigging plan and a budget.