Offers views of the New York City skyline across the Hudson River from its position on the Hoboken, New Jersey, waterfront, the W Hotel is steps away from the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) and New York Waterway Ferry. An architectural gem, its original sound system dating the early 2000s was beginning to experience failures, however, prompting the hotel to call in LEA Professional to rectify the problem.
Hotel staff contracted Ron Lorman of Busy Puppy Productions as audio consultant to design an audio distribution system for the common areas and meeting rooms. Lorman specified LEA amplifiers based on a recommendation from Doug Asher of Essential Communications. To minimise disruptions to guests and staff, the existing loudspeakers would remain in place for the foreseeable future.
‘We discovered the existing loudspeakers were low-impedance; some were wired in series and other sets in series-parallel,’ Asher says. ‘They were running at less than 2Ω because they had so many 8Ω speakers on a line. That can tax normal amplifiers quite a bit, leading to burnout.
‘Lorman re-designed the wiring schemes to achieve more balanced operational loads. We felt that the LEA amplifiers were the best solution because we knew they could handle a 2Ω load and operated at very reasonable temperatures. Add in all the other features like the web interface, ease of set-up, and control of the amplifiers, and it was a no-brainer.’
Asher’s team decided to use an LEA Connect Series 704D to power the loudspeakers in the Ballroom. The 704 is a Dante-enabled four-channel amplifier delivering 700W/channel, and supports high-Z (70V or 100V) and low-Z selectable by channel, giving the hotel capabilities for possible future expansion.
For the meeting rooms and remaining common areas and hallways, several LEA Connect Series 168D amplifiers were installed to run the remaining speaker lines. The larger ballroom is divisible, so care had to be taken to set the zones up properly, given the possible various room combinations. The 168D is a Dante-enabled eight-channel amplifier offering 160W/channel – an excellent fit for the common areas, hallways and meeting rooms. Like the 704D, the 168D also supports high-Z (70V or 100V) and low-Z selectable by channel.
While all the loudspeaker processing happens in the LEA amplifiers via built-in DSP, hotel staff wanted complete control of background audio throughout the building. Essential Communications deployed a Symetrix DSP in the rack room to control the system. Control pages were created in the Symetrix software that could be accessed via a web browser. Hotel management was provided with two iPads – one for common areas and the other for meeting rooms – that allow staff to manage all the zones, select the music and control volume levels.
The hotel staff were so happy with the upgrade that Lorman and Essential Communications were commissioned to retrofit the restaurant as well, again with LEA amplification. Additionally, plans are being implemented to upgrade the audio systems in the former nightclub, which is now the hotel’s premier event space with Manhattan skyline views, using LEA Professional amplifiers.
‘Commissioning the LEA amplifiers was flawless,’ Asher reports. ‘We test everything in our shop before it gets to a client site. All we did on-site was make sure we connected the more than 60 speaker runs to the right amplifiers. Everything worked when we turned on the system and started walking around the hotel, checking all the controls and the zones. Everything came up the first time; the music was playing, and it was playing in the correct zones. Everyone was really pleased about the transition from the old to the new system and how smoothly it went.’
