EAW KF740 Loudspeakers Are the Centerpiece for L.A.'s Supperclub

The latest addition to the international Supperclub group of dining and entertainment establishments recently opened in Hollywood, California. The venue features a flown, custom, five-way EAW line array system that covers the dance floor and a smaller EAW system installed in the bar area. In addition, four EAW MicroWedges provide monitoring for DJs and guest music artists. Four EAW UX8800 four-channel digital signal processors manage the speaker systems, which are powered by Lab.gruppen amplification.

Sound designer and contractor Michael Lacina, of San Francisco-based JK Sound, specified a line array with substantial headroom in order to provide distortion-free coverage throughout the room and also to ensure longevity. "There are 16 compression drivers, 16 mid-range, 32 low-mid, and 16 mid-bass drivers in the array, plus eight 2"drivers," he notes. "A system that is going to be driven at dance club levels without any distortion, and a system that is going to run until 4am, with zero maintenance issues, just has to be massive."

Supperclub Los Angeles is located in the historic Vogue Theatre, a former movie house built in 1935 on Hollywood Boulevard, and the venue for numerous major motion picture premieres in its heyday. Supperclub music director Michael Anthony, a former resident DJ at San Francisco's Ruby Sky, an award-winning club that was outfitted with a customized EAW system by JK Sound, brought Lacina onto the Supperclub Los Angeles project.

The system in the main all-white Salle Neige (Snow Room) consists of eight flown EAW KF740P three-way line-array modules and eight EAW SC215 custom dual-15" bass speakers, with four EAW SB2001 21" subwoofers located below the stage. All of the EAW speakers are custom finished in white to match the décor.

Two EAW MW15 MicroWedges provide monitoring at the movable DJ console. Another pair of the 15" MicroWedges is available to expand the system and provide up to four discrete channels of monitoring for artist showcases. The monitors have patch points on stage to transform them into live sound wedges.

A separate system consisting of two EAW AX396 three-way speakers and a pair of EAW DCS2 bent horn dance club subwoofers covers the Bar Rouge (Red Bar), which can be separated from the Salle Neige by heavy curtains. "I like the dual concentric high-mid, 8" mid-range with the compression driver in the center," comments Lacina. "The AX396 sounds more natural than most dual concentric speakers, because of the unique radial phase plug."

In order to achieve the 90 degrees of vertical dispersion from the line array that the room required, Lacina designed a 12'-tall configuration with dipole subwoofers, installing a pair of SC215 subs above and a pair below four KF740P modules in each of the two hangs. Lacina states, "The magic of the sound system is that the speakers and acoustics are designed to work together. There really was no need for a line array taller than four KF740s per side -- that's already plenty of output - but, on the other hand, it's only a 4'-tall array, and it's losing vertical control fast below 300Hz. So the acoustic walls take care of some of that. Still, a 1"-thick acoustic material is not going to absorb the extra mid bass punch you get from a great dance club system, which is why we extended the height of the array with the two pairs of custom dual 15" flown subs. With this arrangement we have 90-degree vertical pattern control down to about 80Hz."

The flown dipole SC215 subwoofer setup features specially modified EAW SB625 modules. The dipole subs also contribute to the directionality of the array. "The top subwoofers are processed differently than the bottom subs; we're doing a little shading with the UX8800 sound focusing processors. The result is zero reflection off the ceiling. It's a dream system," stated Lacina.

A 12'-tall line array in a dance club may appear to be overkill, Lacina admits. "Not many nightclubs have a line array -- but the bottom line is great sound for the club-goers, which keeps them coming back."