New Install Serves Up Sweet Sounding Treats
Practical AV installation creates ambiance for Indian street food restaurant.
18 May 2022
Not many AV companies would have street food vendors high on the client list. Inspired by the vibe of Mumbai’s streets, Mumbaiwala presents Indian street cuisine and ambience in a comfortable sit-down setting, perfect for some background sounds.
Commercial Audio Visual Supply Co.’s primary business is in displays — installing screens in large hotels. In 2021, director Richard Sextone received “a call out of the blue” from Mumbaiwala owner Aneri to say: “They were building a brand new restaurant in Ponsonby, Auckland.” This was an expansion to their already successful restaurant in Christchurch.
Comfortable with the background music system there, Aneri’s team wanted to do similar in Ponsonby with a local provider and liked Richard’s no-fuss approach.
BEST LAID PLANS
The job itself was fairly straight forward. Four zones of BGM, with control plates for each zone at the bar. In a normal world, it would be installed and commissioned in mere days. As fate had it, Auckland went into lockdown just at the wrong time for Richard and his team. “So, we couldn’t get back to site for another month or more later. That whole project was held up by six weeks.” Initially approached in August, they ended up “finally finishing in January (this year).”
A tight budget was another constraint, so gear selection was crucial for optimal output in key areas. Part of the brief was that “in the function area we needed the best quality sound.” Different speakers were selected for here.
GEARING UP
As a video guy, Richard knows to lean on audio specialists when needed. Contractor Josh took care of the onsite work of cabling and mounting. The real genius move was involving Kelvin Colling at NAS. “Kelvin was instrumental in this project. He came down and we met on site, met with the party, we worked through the brief, then designed a good quality system within budget.”
The zones are split into function, dining, toilets and outside. The function area got the best treatment, using four SoundTube CM62-BGM-II loudspeakers with ceiling space for mounting cans and the highest audio requirement. This zone also features a Cloud LM-2A plate with local input and volume control for function customers.
A total of 13 inDESIGN EZ P-6020 pendants were deployed for the main dining area, which incorporates the bar and corridor in its zone. In black, these are a perfect fit for the décor and available overhead structure. A solitary SoundTube CM62-BGM-II was added for the corridor where the ceiling dropped.
Four inDESIGN EZ 5-10 in-ceiling loudspeakers cover the toilet zone, and two IP46-rated inDESIGN ID-BGM6 cabinets provide music for the outdoor area.
Speakers are powered by two inDESIGN amps, one each of BA2240 and BA4120, and routed through a Cloud four-zone mixer. Cloud RL-1A plates are placed for easy access to staff. An inDESIGN rack keeps it all neat and tidy and all source music comes from an iPad.
A SOUND DESIGN
The proof is in the pudding they say. The mithai (Indian sweets) here are matched by the sounds. For Richard, “The quality is excellent. People coming in have been over the moon about it. We’ve had great feedback from everyone.” Kelvin reports NAS employees have visited for dinner recently – they thoroughly enjoyed the quality of both the food and sound.
Not all install jobs are high profile, high dollar concerns. Nor are all restaurants 5-star Michelin. But finding a sweet spot and doing it well is good business. Mumbaiwala added dining sophistication to simple street fair. Commercial Audio Visual Supply Co. and NAS then helped them enhance the setting with a fit for purpose audio system that didn’t break the bank.
NAS Solutions: nas.solutions
Mumbaiwala: mumbaiwala.co.nz
Commercial Audio Visual Supply Co: commercialavsupply.co.nz
SoundTube: soundtube-int.mseaudio.com
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