The Finnish Embassy in Japan recently renovated part of its buildings to bring them up to the standards representative of ‘the best that Finland has to offer’. A Genelec Smart IP loudspeaker solution was installed as part of the project, to ensure that the technology matched the exacting standards of the rest of the renovation.
‘We wanted the best possible experience for our guests, ideally using Finnish products,’ explains the embassy’s Mikke Kinnari. ‘Having studied several options from a variety of suppliers, we decided that the Genelec Smart IP solution with its easy, single-cable installation and extremely high-quality audio offers the best possible solution for our requirements.’
Located in Toyo’s residential Azabu district along with those of several other countries, the Finnish Embassy buildings are constructed of thick reinforced concrete in order to withstand the earthquakes that are common in the region. Kinnari says that the impracticability of drilling any more holes than necessary in order to run cables was a major factor in the decision to adopt a Smart IP solution, which delivers audio, power and loudspeaker management over a single CAT cable.
However, he points out that this wasn’t the only criterion: ‘The physical elegance of the solution was also important because we have a lot of very high level visitors here – we have received the Imperial family of Japan, the President of Finland, and many other ministerial and high level visits. The elegance of the room, with beautiful Finnish furnishings that project the image of Finland, was important. The Genelec speakers are very aesthetic in their own right, and the fact that we could totally hide the cabling contributes to the high-class feel of the space.’
The Embassy appointed A/V integration specialist Astro Serve, who installed nine 4430 and two of the smaller 4420 Smart IP loudspeakers across four separate zones in the newly renovated guest facility – the entrance, conference room, dining room and an informal lounge area. Astro Serve’s Michinari Sato notes that the Smart IP concept facilitated a ‘clean’ installation with no compromise on quality.
‘We were specifically requested to make the installation as neat as possible with no visible cables anywhere. Normally, you need a power supply to set up an active speaker, but the Smart IP concept delivers power over Ethernet [PoE] and so only one LAN cable is required. This made it much easier to deliver impeccable results. We were able to precisely tailor the audio response to each room via the Dante network using Genelec’s Smart IP Manager software, which is a big advantage. Finally, an IP networked solution enables us to easily manage and reproduce high quality audio across a number of locations seamlessly. Control is managed via a Crestron touch panel controller that non-technical staff or guests can easily handle. Alternatively, they can select content from their own devices connected to the network, or mirrored from the PC.’
Sustainability was another important factor in the decision-making process: ‘In Finland, sustainability is important to us,’ says . Pekka Orpana, Finnish Ambassador to Japan. ‘Genelec’s speakers are made of 95 per cent recycled aluminium and produced with renewable energy making them an obvious choice for our renovation. Not only are they produced in a sustainable way, but they are very long- lasting and can be easily calibrated to any space again and again if we decide in the future that we’d like to use them elsewhere. Finally, they are very beautiful. Finnish design is well known and appreciated in Japan. The grace and natural look of these speakers fits tremendously well with each room.’
However, while design is important, Orpana emphasises that the most important element is the sound: ‘The Smart IP solution has made it possible to have perfect sound quality,’ he says. ‘When I heard them for the first time, it felt as though we had a live pianist in the room. The sound is really clear and natural.’
‘We now have at the Embassy a fantastic loudspeaker system that brings all our events to a level of quality that we have never had before,’ Kinnari agrees. ‘This includes the webinars, teleconferences and virtual events that have become so essential during the pandemic – from an audio perspective, it really feels as though the person speaking is right there in the room with you. It was perfect timing for us to invest in a Genelec system and we’re proud to represent the essence of Finland to our guests.’
More: www.genelec.com
