d&b solution for Beirut's Bar National

8 October 2012

Lebanon - Brothers Rami and Joe Keyrouz opened the Bar National in Beirut early 2012, yet within a few months were having to look at replacing their installed audio system. "This is a roof top bar with live DJ and music playback," said Youssef Aoun from sound specialists Seebeck Audio. "In the winter the bar keeps the glass walls to the balcony closed, but as soon as the warm weather arrived and they opened up the neighbours began complaining about the noise."

Music manager for Bar National, Gunther Sabbagh asked Aoun to take a cold hard look at the bar's physical orientation and surrounding neighbourhood. "He came up with a tricky but effective solution," said Sabbagh. "Beyond removing the existing system I could see two immediate problems," said Aoun. "The only way to contain low end at moderate levels to the surrounding buildings was to keep it inside and use a proper cardioid sub that didn't spray low end all over the place. For the rest of the frequency range I used EASE to model a system design that faced backwards into the bars' interior."

While the DJ area was simple, "A pair of MAX12s powered by a D6 proved ideal," Aoun selected elements from the d&b audiotechnik White range for main system; specifically 27A-SUBs and 10AL from the arrayable xA-Series. "The 10AL is a great full frequency deliverer, and in the arrays I devised had the ideal pattern control for a twin stereo solution. Being an installer system it is also available in weatherproof version; ideal for the balcony."

A small array of 10AL was hung at extreme left and right against the sliding glass walls within the bars' interior, and an identical array was mounted outside on the balcony, also facing back within. "This meant two timing settings; summer, where point zero was from the balcony system when in use, with the room system delayed to it: and winter when the inside system could be run at zero. The room is not so big, and the distance between balcony and room system is just eleven metres, but that's no reason not to make the alignment perfect."

Joe Keyrouz adds, "I understand from Youssef that the subs are cardioid, who knows what this means? I'm a successful business man not a sound technician, but certainly the leakage to surrounding buildings has been greatly reduced, which has made my neighbours very happy. The sound from the main system is also contained, but of even more importance to my customers, it sounds ten times better than what I had before. Seebeck has done a wonderful job and Bar National is well on its way to becoming the most popular bar of this type in Beirut."

(Jim Evans)