Formerly known as Hotel Sofia, the transformation into the Grand Hyatt Barcelona has included the renovation of some of the five-star hotel’s most popular hospitality spaces, covering everywhere from the pool and terrace to the 19th floor rooftop restaurant. Sound quality and ease of use have been at the heart of the transformation, with loudspeakers from Electro-Voice and electronics from Dynacord central to the process.
The audio transformation started outside the hotel. “We began with the design of the pool and its bar creating a perimeter of outdoor speakers,” explains Mauricio Lombardi Gomez from Koala Projects SL, the company responsible for the installation. “The idea was to have exterior speakers taking into account the outdoor space but also having a bit of bass. We chose Electro-Voice speakers and Dynacord power amplifiers because of the quality and reliability of the brands.”
The IP65-rated EVID-S5.2 was selected to cover the pool area due to is compact size and high-quality performance, and combined with subwoofers to provide a full range experience. This combination continued for the outdoor terrace of ground floor Sofia Bar & Tapas, where control over the sound field became a key component.
“We have a huge terrace where we host lots of events and it was important to have presets and control to be able to host them,” says João Vivo from Grand Hyatt Barcelona. “We cannot have the music too loud because there is a hospital nearby. It’s important that the volume you use is not so high that it disturbs all the patients.”
It is a different story inside the bar and restaurant where the hotel wanted more of a foreground system to be able to host events. Here EVU cabinets are paired with subwoofers to provide a full range system that provides even, high-quality sound coverage throughout the modern aesthetic of the fully re-designed venue. “We had to distribute the audio and try to create a homogenous sound throughout the restaurant, making sure that there aren’t any tables much louder or quieter than others,” recalls Lombardi.
With these areas covered, the project shifted to an even more challenging space, the new Maymanta restaurant on the hotel’s 19th floor rooftop terrace. “Maymanta has spectacular views of the city,” says Lombardi. “The problem was that the entire perimeter is made with glass. The sound they were looking for needed to be clear, because they also host events and need more than just background music.”
“They looked for a high-quality system since sometimes they have DJs who work there at night, and they needed the speakers to be up to par with this kind of work and not your standard ceiling speakers. For that reason, I think the quality of Electro-Voice EVC series speakers that we used in the area were exactly what the client was looking for.”
While the loudspeakers are the most prominent aspect of the solution, the backbone behind them is even more impressive. Dynacord L series amplifiers power the loudspeakers for each zone while the brains of the system are two MXE5-64 Matrix Mix Engines. These network over Dante with the older sound system in other areas of the hotel to become part of a unified solution.
“The power stages in the pool area are close to its entrance with four amplifiers from Dynacord,” says Lombardi. “And in the Sofia Bar & Tapas terrace there are three Dynacord power stages. We manage all of them via Dante thus creating a sound network throughout the hotel.”
Simple control of individual spaces for staff is established via networked WPN1 wall panel controllers, while mobile control with greater functionality was achieved via customized interfaces for iPad that Koala made via Sonicue Sound System Software.
“We recommended the wall panel controllers for waiters or heads of departments as they only have to push the volume up or down,” explains Jordi Raluy from Acson Comercial, Electro-Voice and Dynacord’s local partner. “For the managers, Koala Projects created a graphical user interface running on an iPad, and they can control the signals from every area.”
With the solution up and running, the team at the hotel are delighted with the new setup. “The installation and control are really simple, so all the DJs and all the different providers can come and use this system in a very easy process,” reflects Vivo. “We are really happy with the AV and sound equipment installed in the hotel.”
