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After years of searching, Antwerp’s Café d’Anvers, has found a sound system worthy of the club’s reputation as an iconic house music venue.
For 26 years, owner Pim de Rhoodes struggled to find a system that could deliver a deep bass on the dancefloor yet enable customers to talk comfortably at the bar – and, importantly, not upset the venue’s neighbours.
Now, thanks to Powersoft and Pioneer Pro Audio, his dream has come true.
His Majesty the mighty GS-Wave comprising of a Wav-Sub sub and a Wav-Horn extension unit, two Wav-Bass low units and a Wav-Lens mid to high frequency box. Some extra high end is delivered by the Wav-TwPod featuring bullet tweeters and “flying” over clubbers heads. As a matter of fact, the hyperbolic’s folded horn sub Wav-Sub generates 108 dB with a single watt. Add 5 dB of gain for a pair of subs around 50Hz thanks to the Wav-Horn, and you have everything you need to make a clubber happy.
Having galvanised clubbers at Booom! Ibiza, the partnership between Powersoft and Pioneer Pro Audio has been reprised in Belgium. The intelligent DSP and powerful switch mode technology of Powersoft’s flagship K series (http://www.powersoft-audio.com/en/touring/k-series#series-), with custom EQ settings, and Pioneer Pro Audio’s powerful dancefloor stacks, is providing a perfect platform for regular DJ’s Luciano, Nic Fanciulli and veteran Sven Vath. Plus the club’s clientele and local residents alike couldn’t be happier.
Occupying a 16th century church in the heart of Antwerp’s built-up red light district, the 1,000 capacity club — boasting a main room and a balcony dancefloor — has been attracting serious dance music fans since 1989. But the ability to deliver a true club sound without disturbing the venue’s many neighbours had always eluded de Rhoodes.
The Powersoft’s main room “power plant” featuring three K2 and two K3 among other slim beasts. Because the subs have been linked to save amplifier channels, they deliver the full power, something easy to handle for the Italian manufacturer, around 2,5 times more at 2 ohm compared to 8.
“We had to limit the volume and bass, which wasn’t great for the atmosphere. We couldn’t do too much soundproofing because these old walls are part of the special character of the place,” he said. Over the years, the venue trialled many recognised audio brands, but the problem persisted.
Pim de Rhoodes and the technical team flew to Ibiza to hear Powersoft-Pioneer Pro Audio system in action at Booom! Remaining sceptical, de Rhoodes comments: “I thought: it’s an amazing sound system, but we can’t make that much bass here, with our neighbours. Or can we?”
However, by driving the entire speaker set up with Powersoft’s compact, high-performance amps with optimised Pioneer presets, the problem was finally solved.
Another shot of the 3 meters high GS-Wav. The Wav-Lens mid to high frequency box standing on the top of it, is equipped with two neodymium 2-Inchs coaxial compression drivers taking care of the 1 to 6 kHz and the 6 to 16 kHz and loaded by a horn attached to the lens to deliver wide and even coverage. A lens in club…that makes me feel young ;0)
Both Wav-Low units each equipped with a pair of 15 inches into a load leaving them all the punch required for connection with the fan below. Capable of up to 2kHz, they are cut at 1kHz.
The main room comprises two 3-metre GS-WAVE stacks at the front, four GS-WAVE tweeter pods overhead and four XY-122 PA speakers, with four XY-215S subwoofers at the rear.
A real nice wiew of the Café d’Anvers showing both the painted old walls and the rear system comprising of four XY-122 PA speakers, with four XY-215S subwoofers. The 122PA features a 12-Inchs LF driver and a 1,4-Inchs compression driver loaded by an elliptical and rotatable waveguide offering both 90°H x 60°V and 60°H x 90°V dispersion. This is driven by three Powersoft K6s, two K2s and one M30.
A detailed view of the XY-81 thanks to the light shows the 8 inchs woofer and the 1-inch compression driver and his elliptical and rotatable waveguide offering both 90°H x 60°V and 60°H x 90°V dispersion.
The two XY-215S « small » subs placed at the end of the main room and contributing to the feeling that you’ve got all the sounds surrounding you. Two 15-inchs LF drivers placed face to face in a quasi-bandpass configuration powers each sub offering gain and energy right where it’s needed. The sensitivity reachs 102 dB and the power handling 800 watt RMS.
Infill is provided by four XY-81s in dual array clusters, and the bar area has two XY-101s, driven by three K2s for the infills.
Finally, the DJ booth is equipped with two XY-122s and an XY-115S reflex loaded subwoofer, all powered by a K2 and an M30D.
This configuration ensures a warm, powerful sound on the dancefloor and a clear line of sight from the bar.
This is driven by :
- Three Powersoft K6s, (http://www.powersoft-audio.com/en/touring/k-series#K6),
- Two K2s
- And one M30 (http://www.powersoft-audio.com/en/touring/m-series#M30D).
Installed in the balcony room are four XY-122s and two XY-118S subwoofers, and two XY-81s in the booth. Assigned to this system are a Powersoft K3, a K2 and an M30D.
A nice view of the balcony room where, as a huge headphone, stands a pair of XY-81 powered by a M30D. Quite enough !
The amps use Powersoft’s pioneering switch mode technology to provide incredible power with the highest efficiency – intelligently managing the power supply to work at very low impedance and deliver a natural, crystal clear sound.
“We linked the subs and needed to save amplifier channels – but have the confidence to be able to drive it down to 2 ohms and have it remain stable. The ability to deliver a massive amount of power down at that low impedance is something Powersoft is extremely good at,” explains Alex Barrand, Pioneer Pro Audio Manager.
“Compared to the old 4U amplifiers, which took up a whole rack, these amps occupy much less rack space but the power is equally impressive. Plus Powersoft is able to regulate any ‘dips’ in power. The system is easily accessible and they have invested in a platform that will be here for the next ten years.”
But the real genius is contained in Powersoft’s Armonía Pro Audio software, which was used to define EQ settings for the room and prevent problem frequencies from leaving the building. The software also enables the technical team to wirelessly control the whole system and easily adjust the sound; for example, turning it up when there are more people to absorb the sound, and gradually turning it down as people leave the venue.
A shot of three widespread models able to deliver 3600 watt at 2 ohm (K6) and above all peak output voltage of 153V and peak output current of 125A. Thanks to the Powersoft’s legendary PFC and slim capacitors squadron.
Alex Barrand explains how this works in practice, “Sometimes different music styles are programmed and so configuration was key, and using the Armonía platform made that very easy.
Aside from the presets we made the workspace a bit more intuitive for the management to control elements of the system, to restrict noise pollution around the neighbours.
“Using Powersoft’s DSP amplifiers has resulted in a really seamless change for the venue; they can now monitor the system throughout the night and get the best from it. And Armonía is user friendly, which is great in case users aren’t super-technical.”
All amplifiers in the main room are connected to a switch and this in turn has a wireless router. “So we can access the system from a tablet or if we VPN into the laptop or access the system from any enabled PC laptop from the dancefloor to make the configurations.
“The workspace is shared by the amplifiers upstairs in Room 2,” adds Barrand. “The Powersoft M Series and K Series are sitting on the same network which means the technical team can access them simultaneously, which makes things a lot easier.”
Café d’Anvers’s owner Pim de Rhoodes, proudly and happily posing inside his nightclub with a smile on his face. It’s the end of 26 years search !!
The result is an immersive sound with a deep bass concentrated on the dancefloor while the energy continues into the bar area to draw clubbers into the main floor, but lets them hold a comfortable conversation too.
And Pim de Rhoodes’ concerns about installing such a powerful system have now disappeared. “The sound is 100 per cent better. It’s like you’re inside the music. It’s not just the deep bass; you’ve got all the sounds surrounding you. And at the bar, you can talk yet still be in the music, still be tempted to dance.
At last, after 26 years, we can finally say we have the best sound system and no complaints from the neighbours … everyone is happy.”
More informations : www.powersoft-audio.com And www.pioneerproaudio.com
