SANDY SPRINGS, GEORGIA – MAY 2013: Located in Sandy Springs, Georgia, Chef Rob’s Caribbean Café has been a culinary destination for Atlantans since 2006. The restaurant’s success inspired Chef Rob to open a sister establishment next door, Chef Rob’s Upscale Lounge. Of course, the lounge would need an authoritative sound reinforcement system and a high-end video system, and because the two establishments share staff, customers, and a wall, it was also an excellent time to update the café’s audio and video system. Local A/V integration firm T. Magee, Inc. designed and installed a new value-engineered sound and video system based on Ashly Audio processing, amplification, and user control that gives both establishments access to the same source material and yet provides each establishment with independent source selection and volume control.
Todd Magee, the eponymous owner of T. Magee, Inc., spent decades behind a live mixing console before concentrating his attention on the more geographically-rooted profession of A/V integration. Nevertheless, he continues to tour the world (though less occasionally now) and has worked with seventeen Grammy-winning artists, including Gladys Knight, OutKast, and Loretta Lynn. To be sure, Magee knows what it takes to make audio sound great. “Chef Rob’s Caribbean Café used to use a home-grown stereo receiver with long loudspeaker runs,” he explained. “They wanted to upgrade that to a commercial system and to tie it into the video system. On the lounge side, they wanted access to all the same music and video inputs that they had on the café side, plus inputs for a DJ.”
Stereo inputs to the system include a DMX Pandora receiver, two satellite receivers, and three floor boxes on the lounge side. Each floor box includes stereo XLR inputs, stereo ?-inch inputs, and stereo RCA inputs. An Ashly ne24.24M modular processor, configured with twelve inputs and eight outputs, provides input processing, matrixing, and loudspeaker equalization and delay. Because it is so easy to add inputs or outputs to the ne24.24M, Magee will soon add four more inputs to accommodate the lounge’s recent request for a few handheld wireless microphones.
Five Ashly KLR 2000 amplifiers, three on the lounge side and two on the café side, power the system. High fidelity Australian Monitor loudspeakers and SoundTube subwoofers complete the system. “One unique aspect of this installation is the rack system we used,” said Magee. “There are four racks recessed into an area near the entranceway. It’s an elegant, out-of-the-way place to put them, and when we need access, they pull out and rotate 90-degrees. Very cool.”
He continued, “I’ve been an Ashly fan for years. I first worked with Ashly’s analog crossovers, GQX series equalizers, and compressors in live audio. Now their digital equipment reflects the same commitment to quality that I heard so many years ago. The sound quality is comparable to units from other manufacturers that cost twice as much. The IP-based control and communication is also very nice.” A pair of Ashly neWR-5 wall remote controls provide all of the system management required – source selection and volume control.
ABOUT ASHLY AUDIO Ashly Audio Inc. is recognized as a world leader in the design and manufacturing of high quality & high performance signal processing equipment and power amplification for use in the commercial sound contracting and professional audio markets. The 37-year old company is headquartered in Webster, New York U.S.A. www.ashly.com
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