New San Francisco live music venue BeatBox is the first club
on the West Coast to feature Danley Sound Labs loudspeakers and subwoofers. BeatBox occupies a completely renovated warehouse and features a 25-foot
ceiling, a private mezzanine, exposed brick, exposed steel latticework and
a long line of skylights that can be unveiled when desired. The 30×10-foot stage is completely modular: It can move to different locations
and take on different configurations, such as a tall stack for a DJ or
a long thrust for a fashion show.
Matt Long, principal of A/V integration firm Sonic Sustenance,
introduced the owners to Danley Sound Labs. “We fired up a few of the Danley
flagship products for a demo at BeatBox,” says Long. “We had SH-50
full-range boxes and TH-115 subwoofers. They were totally blown away.”
“We knew that great-sounding music was going to be a
critical component of our success,” says co-owner Paul Saccone. “We were impressed by the
phenomenal bass response and the unmistakable clarity across the frequency
range. It was a very noticeable improvement over every other club system we
had ever heard.”
Long installed four Danley SH-60 full-range loudspeakers and four
Danley TH-118 subwoofers. On each side of the stage,
paired SH-60s deliver a combined 120 degrees of coverage horizontally and
60 degrees of coverage vertically. Depending on the stage orientation, the
subwoofers either combine as a mono cluster or split for a true stereo
signal. Powersoft amplifiers with integrated DSP and network
accessibility serve as a front end for the system.
“The pattern control of Danley full-range boxes is something that continues
to amaze me,” says Long. “In the standard stage position, the seams between
each pair of SH-60s fires right through the thick of the dancefloor. Yet
when you walk that seam, you can’t hear it. The Danley coverage is so tight that I could actually hear a 2-inch gap on
the dancefloor when the speakers had drifted 3/4-inch apart [prior to being
permanently installed]. I pushed the speakers back together, and the gap
went away.”
“The main response we get is that BeatBox sounds great and doesn’t hurt, even when it’s full-on dance party loud,”
says Saccone. “Moreover, it sounds great whether we’re doing a dance party,
a rock show, jazz or spoken word.”
