USA - Middlesex Sound & Light (MSL) has successfully delivered the biggest contract in their 41-year history, with the opening of the flagship Swingers – the crazy golf club in Las Vegas.
Set on a massive 40,000sq.ft site inside Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino (on the Las Vegas Strip), the venue boasts no fewer than 170 Martin Audio loudspeakers, including 122 CDD6. MSL has been installing this popular series regularly at Swingers since the corporate-friendly crazy golf concept was first rolled out in London before it expanded to the USA. Swingers London was one of the first deployments of CDD, and to date MSL has racked up more CDD deployments than any other UK-based dealer.
Swingers is the brainchild of two successful entrepreneurs, Matt Grech-Smith and Jeremy Simmonds. Martin Audio now appears in all Swingers venues as the vibrant entertainment concept continues to evolve. Run with the support of MGM Resorts, the Las Vegas operation not only offers four nine-hole crazy golf courses, but also Swingers’ new fairground-style Carnival games arcade concept.
The focal point dominating the entire central section of Swingers Las Vegas is a long, 1920s style English country house, its façade brought to life with a constant flow of projected imagery.
Here, three Martin Audio Torus T1230 constant curvature arrays, flown discreetly on each side with a pair of cardioid SXCF118 subwoofers, create a classic proscenium PA system. Four powerful CDD10 are located within the country house’s ‘sunken garden’ where the generous balcony doubles as a stage, providing a performance area for small combos, as well as corporate presentations.
Further CDD10s are provided for artists’ reference sound, while in the lower section of the house is a DJ station – which comes into its own later in the day and extra volume is required. Elsewhere, 122 CDD6 boxes are distributed throughout the venue.
MSL’s system designer, Steve Billington, explained that the Las Vegas site represents a conversion of the former LIGHT nightclub. His first site survey was to ascertain whether any of the existing sound equipment was salvageable. “But it was clear that nothing could be reutilised,” he said, “and so with our existing brand template Martin Audio was always going to be the obvious choice. The question was how we could adapt this template to such a large-scale space that it is.
“With a constantly moving audience, the reason we choose CDD6 is because the dispersion is so wide, and gives consistent coverage compared with a traditional speaker.” This is because it achieves a rectangular, extendable coverage pattern, which is ultra-wide close to the speaker.”
MSL’s approach is broadly to allocate a ratio of three SX subs to 12 CDD6. In this application, they have also been careful to place an SXC115 (cardioid) in the DJ booth, since there is an exclusive private hire space directly behind, “and this keeps the impact on the dancefloor without bothering the VIP space,” notes Billington. Elsewhere, LF extension, where necessary, is provided through a combination of 30 SX110 and SX210 subwoofers.
Much of the magic had already taken place in the 3D software prior to installation. The design was modelled using Martin Audio’s advanced DISPLAY3 visualisation software, importing Revit and SketchUp models provided by the architect.
Signal distribution is via a 10GB network, with fully redundant fibre backbone running Dante from BSS Soundweb London into the process-controlled amplifiers.
Stated Jeremy Simmonds, co-CEO and co-founder of Swingers: “When we started designing a flagship Swingers to take over the enormous LIGHT nightclub space at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas – the entertainment capital of the world – it rapidly became clear that we were designing the best competitive socialising venue in the world.
“MSL were the perfect partner on this ambitious project, bringing incredible creativity and a vast technical expertise to the table. MSL’s unique contribution is a huge part of the venue’s massive success.”
The Swingers momentum shows no sign of letting up. The programme is now set to continue in other key US cities, before moving even further afield.
