Pawn & Co. Booms with d&b
28 April 2017
Located just off Chapel Street in Melbourne’s South Yarra, Pawn & Co. is a pawnshop crossed with a bar. Everything is for sale — be it the chair you’re sitting on, to the glass you’re sipping from. It’s also a fully functioning bar that can host your corporate dinner, bucks party, or cocktail night.
“It’s a novel concept,” says Josh Lefers, one of Pawn & Co.’s directors. “If you want to interact with the pawn shop aspect of the venue then you’re more than welcome. It’s 2am, you’re there with your date and you spot a trumpet. Buy it; play it. That’s fun. But you don’t have to interact. Fundamentally, Pawn & Co. is a bar and a really good one at that. Our mission is to help you have a fun time in our venue. So it’s not enough to have a cool idea or a strong concept, you have to back it up with great execution, and we have the team to pull that off.”
I’LL TAKE IT
Some five years ago Pawn & Co. launched nearby on Chapel St. South Yarra. It got done over by a developer deal that kicked them out of the tenancy. The venue ran a ‘Save Pawn’ petition that revealed just how much it had inveigled its way into the culture of the area. There was unstinting support from the hospitality venue community.
Version 2 of Pawn came with five years of extra experience and resources. Josh was pleased to see his concepts fully fleshed out. This included a new sound system. Eventcraft was engaged as the AV consultant and installer, headed by Jason Rooney.
Eventcraft: 0408 475 964 or www.eventcraft.com.au
NAS (d&b, dB Technologies, Ashly): 1800 441 440 or sales@nationalaudio.com.au
PAWN PA
The PA design is a cracker. Downstairs a pair of full range dB Technologies DVX D12 HP 15-inch loudspeakers cover the main area. They’re inverted to allow the HF horn to shoot under the steampunk creative fixed to the lowish ceiling. Two d&b 27A passive cardioid subs fill out the bottom end. The subs back on to the foyer and the cardioid design means the front entrance is spared most of the sub output. A d&b 30D amplifier powers the PA.
The foyer has a couple of dB Technologies LVX 8 eight-inch two-way loudspeakers addressed as its own zone and independently delayed to be in sync with the ground door DJ output or upstairs if the headline DJ is taking over the venue’s sound.
All the zoning and processing is managed by an Ashly DSP which was existing – about $3000 worth of processing sitting the cupboard from the previous tenant which was welcome.
The upstairs main room boasts a top spec d&b rig. Y7P full-range loudspeakers do most of the work. Four d&b 18-S subs provide all the low-end grunt you could ever want. They’re flanked by another pair of dB Technologies DVX D12 HPs facing the DJ.
With the help of ArrayCalc wizardry, Chris Braun and Dave Jacques from the NAS Projects Team commissioned the d&b system for optimal sound in every spot throughout the space.
The previous upgrade saw Pawn & Co. move to d&b but the team still did their due diligence and auditioned a handful of other premium alternatives. They came back to d&b. Josh sees the benefits in investing in high-quality audio: “There’s a level of quality you need to provide when you’re attracting ‘name’ DJs. Admittedly we’re a bar, not a festival or a nightclub, but great audio is still non-negotiable.”
GEAR LIST
d&b Y-Series Y7P
Power: 400W RMS
Max. SPL: 132dB
Freq. Response: 59Hz – 18kHz
Directivity: 75° x 40°
Impedance: 8Ω
Weight: 18kg
d&b T-Series T10P
Power: 200W RMS
Max. SPL: 132dB
Freq. Response: 68Hz – 18kHz
Directivity: 90° x 35°
Impedance: 16Ω
Weight: 11kg
d&b 18S
Power: 400W
Max. SPL: 129dB
Freq. Response: 37Hz – 140Hz
Impedance: 8Ω
Weight: 32kg
d&b 27A
Power: 500W
Max. SPL: 131dB (with D20 amp)
Freq. Response: 40Hz – 140Hz
Impedance: 6Ω
Weight: 41kg
dB Technologies DVX D12 HP
Power: 700W RMS
Max. SPL: 131dB
Freq. Response: 68Hz – 19kHz
Directivity: 60° x 40°
Weight: 27.5kg
dB Technologies LVX 8
Power: 400W RMS
Max. SPL: 121dB
Freq. Response: 80Hz – 19kHz
Directivity: 90° x 70°
Weight: 10.1kg
d&b 30D
Four-channel amplifier
1000W per channel (4Ω)
User-definable EQ/channel delay
Weight: 10.6kg
Ashly Protea ne24.24m
Expandable up to 24 channels
Mic/Line inputs
24-bit A/D-D/A conversion
31 preset locations
Multi-level security
Intuitive user interface
RESPONSES