Known for its sophisticated combination of Italian food and steaks and luxurious setting, the Gibsons Italia restaurant on the Chicago River has installed Martin Audio CDD sound system.

A US$20m build, Gibsons Italia is a super high-end four-storey restaurant, bar and lounge with a dining space for private functions on the roof deck with floor to ceiling windows that offer views of the river and skyline.

‘We were contracted to provide exceptional sound throughout the entire venue and weren’t given a budget because the owners just wanted it to be the highest quality,’ says Tim Pickett from Encompass AV – the company responsible for the installation. ‘We selected the Martin Audio CDD Series because it’s worked so well for us in other restaurant and club installs.’

Gibson Italia’s ground floor is basically a small entrance with the receptionist and elevators to go up to the other floor – but even in that space there are three CDD6s to build the venue’s ambience. For the luxury bar and lounge on the second floor, there are 22 CDD6s, four CDD5s and 12 CDD8s mounted in the ceiling with brackets and facing out and slightly angled down.

The restaurant is located alongside the US$500, 52-storey River Point Complex in the burgeoning West Loop neighbourhood of Chicago, which is mostly financial offices and law firms. So even though the lounge and bar system is designed for background music, the playlist ranges from 90s rock to modern pop music.

‘A tremendous amount of money was spent not only on the sound system, but the owners also insisted on acoustic drywall in the entire place which absorbs sound and optimises intelligibility and clarity throughout the venue, something that was important to them,’ Pickett says. ‘They wanted people to have conversations but still hear the music.

‘CDD was an ideal choice for this project because of its acoustic signature – how it has a wide dispersion pattern as you get closer to the speaker but a narrower pattern as you move away from it which ensures even coverage throughout the venue. There there is a very high-end dining room on the third floor,’ he adds, ‘which has 20 CDD6’s around the perimeter of the space facing out and angled down, and a Martin Audio C6.8T in-ceiling speaker above each booth.

‘Then the fourth-floor roof deck which has a larger system equipped with eight CDD10s and two CSX118 subs. Some of the speakers are mounted to the aluminium structure using wall brackets and some to a soffit on the ceiling with yoke brackets. It’s an aluminium and glass structure with a retractable roof, a very nice bar and a versatile, lounge space with nice furniture that’s rented out for private events. With the extra power and impact, the roof system really sounds amazing, especially when you crank it up

‘Everyone’s very impressed with the sound system because when you walk through the building, you essentially have the same acoustic signature throughout every space,’ Pickett concludes. ‘The owners wanted it to sound right – which it really does no matter where you are.’

More: www.encompassav.com
More: https://martin-audio.com