Equipson's WORK PRO Loudspeakers Deliver a Great Atmosphere at the Purple Rain Lounge

	The SH Villa Gadea Hotel in Altea, Alicante, Spain

Equipson and its loudspeaker products were tasked by Spanish company TecnoSonido with installing a new audio system at the SH Villa Gadea, a five star hotel on the Costa Blanca.

With a customer profile that includes both national and international guests, the SH Villa Gadea hotel in Altea, Alicante, was keen to ensure that its new restaurant, the Purple Rain Lounge, delivered a sophisticated and enjoyable ambiance. Sound was a key part of this requirement as the hotel wanted to ensure that customers could hear music being played, but not at the expense of their own conversations.

"When we go to a restaurant for dinner, we don't want to listen to loud music," says TecnoSonido's managing director Alexis Roldan. "What we are looking for, in addition to a good dish, is a pleasant atmosphere for all the senses. This is where sound plays a very important role."

TecnoSonido's brief for the Purple Rain Lounge project was very clear. The hotel wanted a sound system that allowed every diner to hear the music, not matter where they were seated. The system also needed to have independent volume control for each area of the restaurant -- and the actual loudspeakers had to be sufficiently discreet that they didn't spoil the aesthetics of the room.

"Every detail of the restaurant was taken into account," says Roldan. "From the paintings on the wall, which all have a bold touch and lots of personality, to the carpet on the floor and the absorbents placed in the columns to improve sound quality. And, of course, the restaurant's gastronomy and cocktails are some of the most demanding on the market."

To achieve the desired audio effect, TecnoSonido used 25 WORK PRO C PRO 6 ceiling loudspeakers that have paintable grid covers, making it easy to disguise them once they are installed. These two-way loudspeakers are suitable for 70/100 V line or low impedance installations and once in place the tweeter can be rotated to control directionality, thus enhancing the audio experience.

Alongside the ceiling speakers, TecnoSonido also specified 6 WORK PRO NEO 5 IP two-way passive speakers that offer exceptional audio quality and are very simple and quick to install, the company says.

"We chose Equipson because it has a wide range of products, many of which we are already familiar with," Roldan says. "It also has a good quality/price ratio that allows us to compete in this market."

To ensure that the audio system could deliver independent volume to each area of the restaurant, Roldan and his team also installed a WD 421 audio signal distributor. In addition, they adapted to new ideas introduced by the hotel management during the construction phase.

"Our client wanted the option of bringing in a DJ on certain occasions to set the atmosphere," Roldan says. "The area chosen for this had eight built-in speakers, so to take advantage of what we already had we changed the amplification and installed two WORK PRO NEO S8 A ambient subwoofers, which give us a full range system."

SH Villa Gadea has various restaurants and bars on site, each giving guests a different experience. For the new Purple Rain Lounge, the hotel was starting from scratch and only had to it identify where it wanted to locate the restaurant before starting the construction work. It chose TecnoSonido as its AV partner because of previous good experiences with the company across a number of different projects.

"We have been handling corporate events for the SH Villa Gadea hotel for several years, so we already knew the location chosen for the Purple Rain Lounge," Roldan says. "With projects like this, we always say that we are one of the first to start and also one of the last to finish because initially we have to run cables and coordinate with the electricians, masons and so on, then we have to come back and install all the audio visual materials."

The Purple Rain Lounge was no exception as the first phase of this project involved running corrugated pipes and wiring through the ceiling and making the circular cut-outs necessary to recess each WORK PRO C PRO 6 speaker. The second phase involved regulating and setting up the whole system, including the outdoor terrace area where six WORK PRO IP 65 in-wall loudspeakers were installed.

SH Villa Gadea opened its new restaurant in July, in time to make the most of the 2021 summer season.