Beat the Cube – that was the goal of “THE CUBE”. For 14 years, from 2009 to 2021, the participants in the British TV show had to complete physical and mental tasks in order to leave the 4 × 4 × 4 metre cubes. The more cubes they beat, the higher the prize money. To this day, the fascination with the game concept remains unbroken. Since 2022, anyone can test whether they have what it takes to become THE CUBE Champion. Following the first live-experience venue in Manchester, a second THE CUBE opened in London in 2024. For the planning and installation of the multi-zone sound system, the global in-store music provider and AV integrator Imagesound relied on a large number of speakers from LD Systems.
A total of 56 ICOA 12 coaxial 12″ loudspeakers and 17 CURV 500 I SUB 10″ installation subwoofers are spread over three floors at THE CUBE London. For the cubes on the playing areas, Imagesound used the SAT 242 G2 2 x 4″ installation loudspeakers to ensure that game announcements, sound effects and music are presented clearly and with lots of punch – both inside for the game participants and outside for the spectators. In order to fulfil the colour code requirements of the end customer, the speakers have been custom-sprayed in advance.
“The total area is relatively large and the individual areas are sometimes managed by different teams of employees,” explains Carl Anson, project manager at Imagesound. “It was important to the customer to be able to control the volume of the speakers in the individual areas individually. We then grouped the speakers and subwoofers and combined them into several higher-level zones with separate DSPs to make operation as simple and convenient as possible for the staff on-site.”
In addition to the play areas, the bar and restaurant areas as well as the general lounge areas and corridors in THE CUBE are also equipped with ICOA 12. “The combination of the many ICOA 12s and the CURV 500 I SUB results in an even sound coverage that is impressive with a high-quality sound and rich bass even at low levels,” confirms Anson.
Imagesound has been working with LD Systems installation solutions for many years and already used the ICOA speakers in THE CUBE Manchester. “We did a hearing comparison with several models from different manufacturers beforehand,” Anson remembers. “The ICOA was the clear winner in the end customer’s favour.”
