Client Spotlight
Description
Paul Vlahakis, one of the owners of the Dublin Square Irish Pub, approached Merging Media asking if we could design and build a sound and video system for his upcoming Pub. He had purchase the old Evergreen Grill in East Lansing was gutting it and turning it into a Irish pub. He was interested in a full frequency sound system that would cover the whole facility and a high definition video system that has the ability to show a different program on every display. The Pub consists of many different rooms each having its own vibe created by its decor, paint and AV system.
This job was particularly challenging not only the difficulty in running wire through an old building but in the needs the system had to fulfill. There were fifteen separate runs of component video cable from the rack to the plasmas and eighteen speaker runs through ten different rooms. We also had an electrical inspector that went by the book. The owners wanted the audio to be busted into seven different zones with the ability to change the volume on all zones along with the ability to have separate sources in two of them. The video system needed to be high def and driven by satellite with twelve of the displays having their own satellite box. He also wanted the whole system to be backed up by two cable boxes in the event of satellite outage. This made the system more complex on the back end while we needed to make it easy to use on the user end.
Technology
The design took couple of weeks to get down with a couple of reworks, but in the end we had a solid design that the client was excited about. Twelve Direct TV satellite receivers, two Comcast cable boxes and a DVD player drive the video system. The satellite boxes run directly into a Key Digital KD-CSw2x1 a two in one out component A-B switch. The two cable boxes go into two Key Digital KD-CDA6 one in six out distribution amps. This gives them the ability to send out twelve separate satellite signals and have a cable back up if during a big Michigan State game the satellite service goes out. Merging Media worked with the guys from Direct TV to design a system that took one remote to change the channel at each TV. We did this by using a programmable RF remote and RF antennas through out the building that go back to IR repeaters to hit all the receivers. We put numbers on the plasmas that correspond with programmable remote making it simple for the wait staff to change any display by getting the number off the front brining that number up on the remote and changing the channel.
The sound system is a 70 volt distributed system divided up into 8 zones. The speakers are EV Evids 6.2 powered by two Crown CTs 8200VCA amplifiers. The sources and zones are controlled by an Allen and Heath DR66 digital mixer that control the source to all zones and the volume to six zones. The other two zones that are outdoor patios are controlled via the VCA control on the amp. The two main bars also have two EV 12” subs to round out the sound and do a good job of filling the whole facility.