Audiovisual company No Static A/V has built a reputation across the US for expertise in system design, integration, and maintenance. The company’s services are used by restaurants with a nationwide presence, needing reliable and consistent A/V performance. Most recently, Powersoft amplification has become part of its resources.

We handle everything from restaurants and hotels to nightclubs and bars,’ says CEO Eugene Gordon. ‘[Marshank Group principle and Sales Rep], Paul Hugo.was working with us on other projects when he mentioned Powersoft amps – we knew of Powersoft’s reputation on the touring and production side but didn’t know about the range of install amplifiers that would meet our needs. Now we use Powersoft Quattrocanali amplifiers in all new and retrofit installations of Yard House and Bubba’s 33 restaurants across the country.’

No Static has worked with Yard House from the inception of the restaurant, known for its broad menu and beer selection and now numbering 72 locations. Bubba’s 33 – which is known not only for its food and drink but also the 55 flatscreen TVs it has at every location – became a client three years ago. Since then, No Static has provided A/V for 25 of its restaurant locations, with more on the way.

To meet both clients’ needs, No Static needed a powerful and efficient amplifier platform, and their search ended after discovering the superior performance, compactness, and reliability of Powersoft’s Quattrocanali series amplifier platform.

‘We discovered Powersoft and the Quattrocanali amplifier platform at exactly the right time,’ Gordon continues. ‘We were looking for a new four-channel amplifier at the right price point with the right power output in a sufficiently compact package. Quattrocanali was perfect.’

Gordon began specifying the Quattrocanali 2404 at both Yard House and Bubba’s 33, while choosing to include an additional Quattrocanali 4804 to power the subwoofers at Bubba’s 33. The amplification shares rack space with a Crestron DigitalMedia switcher and QSC Q-Sys control, along with DirectTV receivers, touchscreens and other A/V equipment.

‘We are tight on rack space in both locations, so that’s one reason we need multichannel amps that provide a lot of power,’ Gordon says. ‘We’ve only got two racks for each location and they’re packed top to bottom with gear.’

With the compactness of the Powersoft amps, Gordon is able to pack six Quattrocanali 2404 amplifier platforms at both Yard House and Bubba’s 33, along with an additional Quattrocanali 4804 at Bubba’s 33 for the subwoofers.

With so many locations, controlling audiovisual system costs is important for No Static’s clients, and Quattrocanali helps Gordon and his team by enabling a high speaker count per amplifier channel.

The Quattrocanali 2404 amps deliver 600W/channel, with the 4804 providing 1.2kW/channel. ‘It’s plenty of power to drive all the speakers we need.’

No Static installs Community loudspeakers at both locations, with 30-to-35 of the V2-8 full-range speakers at Yard House and a combination of 44 D6 in-ceiling speakers and 11 of D10 subwoofers at Bubba’s 33.

‘We run both of these systems at 8Ω, and we love that the Quattrocanali amplifier platforms can go down to 2Ω with no issues and minimal thermal output, so we can still put a lot of speakers on each channel,’ Gordon explains. ‘We’re approaching the cost-effectiveness of a 70V system when you can put that many speakers on an amplifier at low impedance, but of course the fidelity is much higher.’

Powersoft’s efficiency also contributes by helping keep clients’ operating costs under control: ‘The low power draw is helpful, because the less power we can pull the better,’ Gordon says. ‘It helps our clients because less power means less conduit and less labour on installing the power; and lower electric bills once the restaurant is open. We typically have between eight and 12 circuits put in for everything, so it saves a little money on pipe and wire. They’re so efficient that they keep fairly cool, so there’s no issues with heat either.’

Powersoft also offers cost-savings in less obvious ways: ‘They’re lightweight, which saves on freight,’ Gordon says. ‘It used to be that inefficient amps with lots of heat sinks accounted for most of the weight in a rack. Now, with Powersoft, we don’t have to think about amps as a heavier load, they’re just part of the rack. And they’ve been rock solid for us.

‘Reliability is critical when you’ve got approximately 300 hundred installs all over the country,’ he adds. ‘You don’t want to have to go back for a problem.’

Gordon acknowledges that the many benefits of Quattrocanali would be moot if not for their excellent sound quality: ‘The general consensus from everyone here is that they sound great,’ he says. ‘Once we discovered how much we liked them, we’ve been using them everywhere.’