K-Array Achieves Slim Fit at Perth’s Westin Hotel

THE VENUE

Westin Hotel is one of Perth’s new luxury accomodation spots located in the heart of the CBD. The 368-room five-star hotel is the perfect place from which to experience Perth culture with a number of city attractions only a short walk away.

On the ground floor of Westin Hotel sits Garum Restaurant, owned by celebrity chef Guy Grossi. The restaurant’s facade is markedly retro against the modern design of the rest of the hotel — this is because Garum occupies what used to be a fire station whose heritage listing meant its exterior had to stay relatively untouched.

The front outdoor area of Garum Restaurant seats a number of patrons and the same brief for audio coverage applied here.

THE CHALLENGE

As part of the $2m AV fitout of Westin Hotel, two outdoor areas within the venue — the hotel terrace, and the alfresco outside Garum Restaurant — required an audio solution for providing background music. The brief was threefold: the solution had to sufficiently cover the area with a ±1.5dB SPL variance, it had to be IP-rated to withstand the weather, and it had to look good. In addition, there was a limit on how much spill could be tolerated as a the Garum’s front entrance faces an apartment block.

THE FIX

The entire audiovisual and background music system was installed by Stokes Technologies.

To an integrator, a flat roof surface is the easiest to work with. However the beam-slatted roofing in Westin Hotel is a key design element throughout the venue which restricted the type of speaker Stokes Technologies could install. The narrow width of the K-Array Python KP52 loudspeaker, along with its precise dispersion, made it fit the brief (and the roof slats) like a glove.

Aaron Mitchell, Engineer at Stokes Technologies: “Once we added all the requirements together — the sound variance, the IP rating, the shape and coverage of the area, as well as the physical dimensions of what would fit — the K-Array’s were pretty much the only thing we could put in there.”

The K-Array KP52 is a passive array loudspeaker comprised of six 3.15-inch drivers housed in a stainless steel chassis. The KP52 has two dispersion options — flood (45°) or spot (10°).

Due to the architectural restraints, there were limited positions in the roof that would support the installation of the K-Array loudspeakers. Prior to installation, Stokes Technologies modelled the environment in EASE Focus to make sure the K-Array’s could achieve the correct coverage from those points.

Four KP52 loudspeakers were mounted at a height of 6m above the hotel terrace, with the Spot setting providing a dispersion of 10° to fill a 20m-wide area with a ±1.5db variance in coverage. For Garum Restaurant’s outdoor space, two KP52 loudspeakers were mounted at a similar height under the eaves.

THE RESULT

Thanks to the slim profile and smooth coverage of the K Array KP52, both the hotel terrace and Garum Restaurant alfresco outdoor areas are effortlessly supplied with high quality sound with a minimal number of loudspeakers. And as the client requested, the IP-rated loudspeakers withstand all seasons of Perth’s climate while integrating neatly with the architecture.

Most importantly, the KP52 sounds the business. “The sound quality of the KP52 is really excellent,” comments Aaron. “The first time I heard it was with a sung track with female vocals. It sounded really special, a lot better than just a background music speaker.”

K-Array: www.k-array.com
Australian Distributor: www.nas.solutions

GEAR LIST

K-Array Python KP52

Power: 360W RMS
Max. SPL: 128dB
Freq. Response: 100Hz – 20kHz
Impedance: Selectable 8Ω/32Ω
Weight: 5.8kg