FLEXPOINT THE SOLUTION FOR LATEST ROCK AND BREWS CLASSIC ROCK DINER
The latest roll-out of the Rock & Brews American bar/diner concept, specializing in classic rock, has opened at the Potawatomi Casino Hotel in Carter—the premier gaming and entertainment destination in northern Wisconsin. This follows its success at the nearby Casino Hotel, Milwaukee, where the Potawatomi Tribe first embraced the concept a year earlier.
Both operations feature a heavy deployment of Martin Audio products, installed by Green Bay-based partner, CCCP (Camera Corner). At both sites they were sub-contracted to carry out the installation by principal contractors, Dublin-based Audiotek, who supplied the visual media.
CCCP has a long-standing relationship as AV providers to the Forest County Potawatomi Tribe. CCCP project designer, Scott Tomashek, said the client had been keen to maintain consistency with Martin Audio having been impressed with its performance in Milwaukee, where it had been specified by Audiotek. So successful was the Rock & Brews concept there, that the operators duly decided to convert the restaurant at their Carter site.
“We were pleased to see that a lot of Martin Audio equipment had already been specified by Audiotek, as we have been partners with them for a number of years. Everyone was happy to be working again with a brand with which we were already familiar, and trusted.”
At Potawatomi CasinoHotelCarter, CCCP once again worked closely with architects, I-5 Design. But faced with a smaller 3,000sq. ft. footprint than Milwaukee, with a reduced stage and restricted ceiling height, a change of approach was required. CCCP turned to an alternative flown system other than TORUS which had served them so well in Milwaukee. “FlexPoint became the obvious solution,” Tomashek explained, “and it worked out really well.”
The primary system is the largest FP15—a single box flown left and right with the two subs set adjacent in the center. “This is a relatively compact box that still has plenty of output. And because we had to fly subs directly in front of the stage area, the ability to use the SXC115 cardioid versions meant we could keep some of that low frequency energy off the stage area.”
A pair of FP8 are located on either side of the two large Taylor videowalls. Five additional FP6 and the final pair of FP8 point out from the Rock & Brews restaurant into the main casino area on a delay ring, to attract customers in. “The coverage is excellent,” the installer confirms.
The entire set up is powered by Martin Audio iKON DSP amplifiers; a pair of iK42 are assigned to the main FP15 rig, the SXC115 sub and FP6 fills, while an iK81 powers all six FP8, one per channel.
There is the capability for bands to plug in to a digital console, and a wireless mic audio system can set up for announcements or special events. However, the venue essentially operates a strident, video accompanied ‘classic rock’ playlist “which is why we needed the kind of energy generated by the FP15,” Scott Tomashek continued. In terms of SPL, he says, “it can get way louder in there than they’ll probably ever run it!”
Signal transport is on a Dante backbone sent from the primary DSP core to the Dante-capable Martin Audio iKON amplifiers and the entire system is under master Crestron control. As an alternative to running music content, sports events or TV channels can be fed from the hotel hub.
The FP15 had earlier made its mark at the Milwaukee operation, notably in the ‘Sportsbook’ venue, where Audiotek provided a massive 116ft x 18ft LED screen for sports betting. Elsewhere in the casino further Martin Audio speakers include CDD, Blackline and TORUS.
For both projects Martin Audio’s DISPLAY3 optimization software was used. Says Scott Tomashek , “FlexPoint has been so easy to set up and tune, and the presets are really good in the [iKON] amplifiers. That really helps to maximize our time‚ which is extremely important as the AV team is always the last in when timelines and deadlines are getting very compressed. To have a product I can set up really quickly and get really good results from is vital.”
DISPLAY’s compatibility with SketchUp provided a further boost. “It’s been great to get SketchUp models of these rooms directly from the architect so we could drop the speakers right into that design and know they were going to work the way we needed.”
Finally Scott Tomashek, who co-commissioned the system with the Crestron programmer, praised Martin Audio’s Martha Callaghan for her support. “Relationship is important to us, and we want to work with companies that value the relationship as much as we do, and that’s certainly something that we’ve found with Martin Audio.”