AV Case Study: Dee Why Hotel & Belrose Hotel
Bayfield Hotels upgrades two of its pubs with a big sports AV offering.
19 December 2025
Text:/ Christopher Holder
Publicans know it. They’ve got to sharpen their pub offerings. The public bar, populated by ‘rain or shine’ regulars, is no longer the basis of a good business. In fact, the public bar is on notice. Even pokies aren’t the money printing machines they once were. Instead, pub operators are investing in televised sport, where they can, and diversifying with an emphasis on food and events.
The Dee Why Hotel has been around in its current incarnation since 1977. It’s owned and managed by Bayfield Hotels, with GM Nick Rush making the on-the-ground decisions. Everyone agreed: it needed a reno.
“We’ve invested in both the Dee Why and Belrose Hotels. Both have a strong focus on sports and both had pretty average audio visual systems from the original installations. We took our requirements to Xcite AV which helped us with the design and installation. Our requirements were for good sound quality for televised sport and, in Dee Why, a loudspeaker system that could support the live music we stage on the weekend – solo and duos, mainly.”
SCREEN TIME
Both hotels have enjoyed plenty of AV love. The Dee Why Hotel upgrade features a huge 9m Leyard LED wall. It’s effectively 3 x HD displays, side by side, and can accept eight independent tiled sources via its Novastar H5 video processor. The new Belrose Hotel LED screen have half the width and designed as 2 x HD displays. This multi-source capability is next level. If you’re a TAB punter, then you’d be familiar with the format of multiple simultaneous sports or perspectives on a sports event but Bayfield Hotels has taken a tucked-away TAB bar feature and offers it to all sports fans (who, admittedly, have all they need for a punt in their pockets).
AUDIO TRANSFORMATION
The audio upgrade is led by Renkus-Heinz CX82 eight-inch two-way loudspeakers as companions to the big screen and CX151 15-inch two-ways for the band position. Two 18-inch Renkus-Heinz subs, concealed up and out of the way, fill in the low end.
Sonance in-ceiling and pendant loudspeakers maintain coverage of the entire space. Xcite AV’s Dion Tilley explains the combo: “If there’s a duo playing in the corner, then staff can lift the level coming from the Renkus-Heinz front-of-house system for performance mode, while the rest of the time the Sonance speakers (PS-P63T pendant and PS-C63RT in-ceiling models) provide a very even musical coverage of the entire floor space. LEA Amplifiers power the entire system.
“The Renkus-Heinz loudspeakers have a nicely wide coverage pattern and in both cases catch most of the room, which brings focus to the LED screen or the musicians. They’re very capable loudspeakers – unobtrusive but with plenty of power – while the Sonance install speakers are widely regarded as a cut-above in quality and performance. I’ve been impressed by the LEA amps. They haven’t missed a beat. The fact they’re 1U was also an asset given we had limited rack space. Overall, the client is very happy with the results.”
Nick Rush: Probably one of the biggest factors for us has been the ability to offer live music in one area and a great sports bar in another. Dee Why Hotel is very open but the audio gives us that flexibility – live music at one end of the hotel and the multi-use screens at the other. It was a big thing for us to have high-quality sound throughout the venue, and we’ve achieved that for both the Dee Why and Belrose Hotels.”
“”
I’ve been impressed by the LEA amps. They haven’t missed a beat. The fact they’re 1U was also an asset given we had limited rack space
Renkus-Heinz CX151 15-inch two-ways powered loudspeakers (left) have plenty of oomph for the band position. Sonance pendant speakers (middle) take care of background music duties, powered by LEA amplification (right).
READY FOR PRIME TIME
Melbourne Cup Day provided the new AV installation with a solid hit out, as Nick Rush describes it.
“It was a big day for us. We had the big screen sliced and diced running Sky racing – TAB, Sky One, Sky Two – along with Channel Nine free to air. We had hosts using our new JTS wireless microphones, we had a DJ in the other room keeping us entertained between races… the venue split into different areas with the AV keeping up – everyone got what they wanted.”
Bayfield Hotels is already seeing the fruits of its investment, and it started with a recognition of its technical shortfalls and a willingness to do what it took to level up.
Dion: “Prior to the upgrade there were three or four different brands of speakers, cheap and cheerful, added over the years. It did just sound a bit tinny and horrible, to be honest, and Nick Rush acknowledged that. Once those speakers were all taken out and they were all upgraded to Sonance and Renkus-Heinz across the venue, it allowed us the scope to finesse the frequency tuning of the room, while increasing the speaker count vastly improved the evenness and coverage. It’s now fit for purpose.”
Xcite AV: xciteav.com.au
Amber Technology (Renkus-Heinz, Sonance, LEA, JTS): ambertech.com.au
RESPONSES