Adlib has already installed sound systems in several other Living Room venues - and were asked to supply their winning formula again for Leeds. Adlib's Andy Dockerty explains: "The challenge in Leeds was that the venue was previously a large, soulless office block divided into many small rooms by plasterboard walls and false ceilings. Getting the space from the bare site to the finished product was a major operation - and the space is now completely unrecognizable!"
Leeds Living Room - located in the heart of one of the UK's most popular 24-hour cities - is divided into three separate areas over four floors. In the basement is the Mosquito Club; the ground and first floor have several different bar/restaurant areas, and upstairs is The Study VIP bar.
Music sources are Rolec, band and DJ, with CD as back-up. Adlib used over 65 speaker enclosures from their 51, 61 and 81 series and six of their 15BP under seating sub-cabinets that were custom designed and manufactured specially for the Living Room concept. The Adlib boxes, particularly the eight inch ones (containing an eight and a one inch driver) have higher directivity and therefore more control than the normal installation speakers of this type on the market. Adlib's 61s and the 51s also contain a high-powered bass unit, built to Adlib cabinet guru Dave Fletcher's own exacting specifications. The passive networks inside the enclosures are also all built in-house at Adlib.
Getting the right boxes in the right areas is they key. The Living Room audiology is always to achieve a seamless balance between the DJ/live areas and background music areas. The Leeds venue is divided into eight separate audio zones, each of which can receive music generated in one of the other areas if desired. The ground floor is sub-divided into three zones, the first floor restaurant is one complete zone and the Mosquito and Study both feature two each.
Adlib also supplied The Study with a DJ facility, including Denon twin CD decks and an Allen & Heath X1 6:2 mixer. System processing throughout is via BSS Soundweb, and control is via custom made Adlib panels for source and volume located behind the bar or serveries depending on which floor you are. Each floor has the ability to listen to any source at any volume.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
