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The audio system at the World of Beer in Arlington,
Virginia features a variety of HARMAN products from JBL, Crown, BSS Audio, Soundcraft and AKG. |
NORTHRIDGE,
California — In a unique and compelling installation, World of Beer, Inc., a
national franchise that offers craft beers and live music in a casual setting,
decided to go all out in supporting its live entertainment by equipping its
Arlington, Virginia location and corporate headquarters with all-HARMAN audio
systems that include JBL, Crown, BSS Audio, Soundcraft and AKG
products. Orlando, Florida-based American Audio Visual (AAV) performed the
installation.
The
system had to be high-performance yet cost-effective. It was also critical that
it would be easy to use by the tavern’s staff without having to bring in an
outside audio engineer every time they had live music. Finally, it also needed
to be able to easily transition from background music to live music, sometimes
more than once a day. The system, once accepted, would be adopted as the
standard sound reinforcement system for all World of Beer franchises moving
forward.
“We
worked closely with our rep Jason Bethune of Dobbs Stanford to propose an
all-HARMAN system,” explained Sean Reish, Director, Capital Projects for AAV.
“World of Beer had been working with different companies and vendors
previously, and a big part of winning the bid was that HARMAN was the only
company that offered everything from microphones to loudspeakers in a system
that met their requirements and was also flexible enough to adapt to the needs
of individual locations.”
“For
the Arlington location we went with two JBL PRX415M 2-way 15-inch speakers
flown above the stage because they’re unobtrusive yet deliver plenty of volume,
and their 90 x 50-degree coverage is ideal for this type of space,” Reish said.
The system also includes a JBL PRX418S subwoofer and a pair of JBL JRX112M
loudspeakers serve as stage monitors. Thirteen JBL Control 65 P/T pendant
speakers cover the main tavern area and four Control 26CT ceiling speakers
cover the VIP section, all on a 70-volt background music distributed audio
system. Crown DSi 4000 and DSi 2000 amplifiers power the main speakers,
subwoofer and stage monitors, with a Crown CTs 4200 for the distributed audio
system.
The
live sound console is a Soundcraft GB-2R 16 compact 16-channel analog board.
“We chose the GB-2R 16 because it had the right combination of features at the
right price point,” Reish added. “We didn’t want to go digital just yet, and
the GB-2R 16 is perfect for the size of the venue, the performers that come in
and the board is also easy to use for people who aren’t professional sound
mixers.” House mics are AKG, including a WMS 470 wireless microphone system.
A
BSS Audio Soundweb London BLU-100 processor provides system control, in
conjunction with HARMAN HiQnet London Architect™ software. “The BLU-100 is an
open architecture device that lets us scale an audio system to meet the
requirements of each particular location and the number of zones it has,” Reish
pointed out. “It operates in conjunction with a standardized GUI interface
we’ve created that will go in every franchise.”
AAV
also has future plans to set up a system as a demonstration and training
facility in World of Beer’s Tampa, Florida corporate headquarters and the
system is standardized down to the touch panel interface. “Managers and
employees will be able to come in, learn the system and be able to operate it
in any franchise,” Reish said.
According
to Reisch, HARMAN HiQnet System Architect™ software is the key to setting these
systems up consistently in every World of Beer location. “Working with HARMAN,
we spent a lot of time getting the system just right, and now we not only have
a template for future franchises, but also the ability to monitor and diagnose
a system in any World of Beer location and make changes remotely,” Reisch said.
“One night a performer in Arlington lost a microphone and were able to reset
the EQ, gain structure and routing for a different mic from 2,000 miles away in
a couple of minutes while live on the phone.”
“Having
a high-quality audio system in each of our locations is central to the
experience that our customers have at World of Beer. We are looking to expand
aggressively in the next 18 months and having a partner like HARMAN that can
provide us with an all-in-one solution at a highly competitive price made it
very clear that they are the manufacturer that we want to be working with
moving forward,” explained Dave Bearce, Music Program Director, World of Beer
Franchising, Inc.
HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and
markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive,
consumer and professional markets — supported by 15 leading brands, including
AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®.
The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports
leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than
25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and
infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,900 people across
the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales
of $4.4 billion for year ended June 30, 2012.
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