Powersoft upgrade for Rixos Dubai

Florence, Italy 9 May 2019  – Products from Italian amplifier specialist, Powersoft, have been chosen as the one constant in a wide-ranging install at Rixos Premium Hotel, which is located in Dubai’s bustling Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) community.

The project was specified, managed and integrated by Pulse Middle East, and saw Powersoft amplifiers installed in five of the hotel’s outlets, including the lavish Azure Beach Club, Black Tap Craft Burgers and Shakes and Luigia Italian restaurant, which is all operated by Sunset Hospitality. The remaining venues, Lock, Stock and Barrell (LSB) and STK Steakhouse, are operated by Solutions Leisure.

Finding A Solution

With bands performing live at LSB on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and DJs the other evenings, the audio system was configured to cater to both. The TW Audio system is powered by Powersoft Quattrocanali and X Series amplifier platforms – seven Quattrocanali 4804 DSP+D serve the smaller 8-inch M8 and 10-inch M10 speakers distributed in the areas further from the stage, in addition to ceiling speakers in the toilets.

The three X8s drive the main band PA consisting of a pair of T24 with four B18 subwoofers, additional B18 and B15 subs dotted around the venue, and T20s for outfills. A further five C15 stage monitors with a B15 sub are powered by a portable rack of two Dante enabled Quattrocanali 4804 DSP+D.

Pulse Middle East’s head of audio, Andrew Morris, explained: “There were some quite long cable runs in the end at LSB, so the damping control on the Powersoft amps really helped to ensure that the subs were sounding consistent all around the venue, by compensating for these.”

Pulse opted to install a redundant Dante infrastructure at LSB with processing and control from BSS BLU-100 processors with BSS Blu-DANs, so even if one of the devices were to fail the system would automatically switch over to the second set of devices.

It took a total of 4 Ottocanali 12K4 DSP+D to drive the TW Audio M8s, B17s and B10s installed at STK, while a wall-mounted controller at the DJ position provides zone control.

Solutions Leisure’s Bengan Hovgard commented: “Pulse has always maintained a very high level of service and it was nothing but perfect throughout the whole process. We are very satisfied with the systems in our venues, they are all perfectly tuned and no need whatsoever for any input from us.”

Ultimate Hospitality

To ensure the background music at popular food spot Luigia was up to the high standard set by the venue’s chefs, Pulse fitted the restaurant with a Quattrocanali 4804 and a Duecanali 1604 to drive the Turbosound TCI52 and TCS110B loudspeakers installed there. An identical setup was specified for Black Tap.

Morris said: “Black Tap and Luigia both use an external DSP, the DM8000 from Klark Teknik, for their signal processing, and have few zones, so in order to meet the budget, non-DSP amplifiers were specified and all the speaker processing was done inside the DM8000.”

Azure Beach Club required 5 Quattrocanali 2404 DSP+D, with BSS Blu-100 and Blu-Dan audio processing, to support more than 30 Turbosound TCI52 cabinets distributed around the pool and beach area, while four Martin Audio CDD12-WR and two Martin Audio CDD8-WR were installed for extra volume and low-end support around the pool and pool bar.

“I’m really happy with the quality of the sound we have here, and it’s very easy to manage the system for different types of events we host,” said Azure operations manager, Raphael Cardoso. “We can also split the audio, so I can play music in the lounge, but something different in the restaurant and we do this a lot for events, and it’s really simple to tailor this to our needs.”

Pulse Middle East said that the use of Dante and Powersoft amplification was essential for all of the venues on this project for several reasons. “Primarily the power-to-size ratio, as we were severely limited in the amount of rack space available at all five of the outlets,” said Morris. “The ability to fit so much power and so many channels in such a small space was a huge advantage.”

He continued: “Furthermore, in STK, the simplicity of the Dante redundancy on the Ottocanali meant that this system could be used confidently without regular monitoring. In LSB, power-sharing allowed us to put different types of the speaker on the same amplifier, ensuring that power and channels were not wasted and that the entire system is being used to its full potential.

“Lastly, Powersoft ArmoníaPlus System Manager was used extensively during the setting up and tuning phases. Interactive tuning was very helpful in this stage, as we had lots of work going on around us, so the ability to take a few measurements then makes calculated adjustments based on those without having to keep re-measuring was invaluable and saved a lot of time and headaches from the other contractors on-site.”

“Both clients have been very happy with the end result of our projects, which is why we keep getting invited back for more installations,” added Morris. ‘We are already back at the hotel outfitting a new lounge bar opening shortly.”