The Shanghai Metropolitan VIP Lounge has completed the installation of Optimal Audio Cuboid loudspeakers to serve its discerning clientele – gentlemen who cut their teeth at the legendary Paramount and Metropolitan ballrooms in their younger years.
The venue’s brief called for low end that was ‘firm and tuneful rather than booming, tempo that held through every waltz and slow waltz’ and a finish discreet enough to sit alongside crystal chandeliers and original Shanghainese woodwork. It was also to allow conversation in the booths without shouting, and coverage under an octagonal dome prone to echo.
In the lounge area – populated with seating booths the detailed mid-range of Cuboid 10 is well suited to the old standards on the playlist and sits comfortably under conversation rather than fighting it. The rotatable HF horn delivers 90° horizontal dispersion maintains even sound to every banquette corner.
The dancefloor benefits from Cuboid 12 enclosures where the 12-inch drivers – reaching down to 62Hz – deliver deep and solid tones whilst keeping the rhythm tight and defined. The trapezoid wooden cabinets of the Optimal Audio Cuboid loudspeakers sit well with the venue’s heritage interior, whether wall-mounted, suspended, portrait or landscape.
Another challenge met by the Cuboids is the reverberant nature of the venue’s dominating ceiling dome, tamed by their passive two-way design. The outcome is a sound system that performs reliably and distortion-free through long periods of use – which matters when an evening’s dancing isn’t measured in songs but in hours.