Ashly Audio's KLR Amps at Club Marigny, Charlotte, North Carolina

Club Marigny in Charlotte, North Carolina styles itself after the raucous district in New Orleans of the same name. Marigny opened near the end of 2010 under the banner, "Laissez le bon temps rouler!" (Let the good times roll!) featuring red brocade wallpaper, a Swarovski crystal chandelier, and an elaborate light show. Myron Surber, sales and design specialist at SE Systems (Greensboro, North Carolina), designed Marigny's sound system around Ashly's 3.6SP signal processing and the company's new KLR series amplifier.

"Above all, the club owners wanted a system that sounded awesome and was capable of breathtaking SPLs," said Surber. "When Ashly first introduced the KLR series, we A/B'd it with a bunch of other popular manufacturers. It sounded as good-- or better than units that cost more. It was that, coupled with my long experience working with Ashly and coming to trust their products and their support that cinched the deal. The KLR series amps could deliver the output and the sound quality, so I would have to make no apologies about its performance."

Marigny's sound system is composed of three Ashly KLR 3200 and two KLR 4000 amplifiers, each supplying two channels to power a stereo JBL Array Series 4892 and four EAW LA400 subwoofers. SoundTube surface-mount speakers cover the hallways and the lounging areas outside, whereas EAW VR61s cover the VIP area overlooking the main floor. An Ashly 3.6SP, three-input, six-output processor handles all input conditioning, routing, and output conditioning.

"All of Ashly's DSP units are predictable, robust, and comprehensive without being burdensome," said Surber. "The 3.6SP is simple to program. When I make a change, I can always hear it. And I also love the third input! It seems like a small thing, but it affords me all sorts of latitude to build a system that functions according to client requests."

Surber had the joy of experiencing a literal 'high-five' moment at commissioning. He explained, "The owners were there with all of their industry friends. We were doing some back and forth to tweak it to their specifications. When that was done, I opened it up to full-on club volume. It sounded great to me, and as I stepped out of the DJ booth and turned to face the clients and their friends, I saw that they were actually high-fiving each other-- Mission accomplished."