LEGENDARY ITALIAN CLUB RESTORES WITH MARTIN AUDIO

Fifty years on, stylish Paradiso gets the Blackline treatment

Rimini's Paradiso is one of the few clubs in the world able to boast a 50-year history. The venue, offering clients a breathtaking view from its unbeatable vantage point overlooking the Adriatic Riviera, recently made front-page news when the new owners - Luca De Simone and Alessandro Volta - announced their intention to re-open the legendary Italian venue precisely 50 years after its original inauguration, undertaking to restore it to its position as one of Europe's leading venues, and adopting a Martin Audio sound system.

The club became by-word on the international club scene thanks to the far-sighted management between 1970 and 2001 of Gianni Fabbri - son of Mirti Fabbri, who had the original idea of converting her country villa into a top class venue in 1957. Now the venue has again undergone a substantial renovation and technical upgrade before reopening its doors again to a highly select clientele.

De Simone and Volta called in Riccione architect Marco Lucchi, designer of some of the country's key venues, and his stylish black and white décor and extensive use of glass and mirrors has resulted in a spacious minimal look. As a result the club is already hosting high profile events such as meetings, product launches and other exclusive events by top companies, who also make use of Paradiso Dream Club's two restaurants and conference room, as well as its capacity to cater for receptions for up to 1,000 people.

One of the most striking zones in the club is its first-floor VIP zone, with a huge window overlooking the lights of the towns along the coastline. Here, nights begin with a restaurant and sushi bar format with background music. At midnight, staffers remove part of the seating and tables, revealing a dancefloor for live bands and top DJs, opposite the huge 'animalier' style bar.

The task of designing and installing a sound system up to the management's demanding standards was entrusted to Max DeLux of San Marino's Titansound & Light, who explains, 'I had no hesitation in choosing Martin Audio, as my brief was to provide a system suitable for installation in the low-ceilinged VIP room, and at the same time be able to ensure good quality background reproduction during restaurant hours as well as plenty of punch for dancing later in the evening. It also had to be usable by visiting groups, who send a feed of their mix down to the DJ's mixer, which is then fed out to the system.'

Since the room is long and rectangular, DeLux specified a series of 12 x Blackline F10 enclosures - mounted on brackets at the top of the walls along the whole length of the room - and six S15 subs; the latter were chosen for their fast frequency response, and installed at strategic points on the floor around the perimeter of the dance area.

The Blacklines are ideally suited to room aesthetics, due to their custom white livery and unobtrusive rectangular format; their rotatable HF horn enables them to be installed vertically or horizontally (as is the case at the Paradiso). The F10 ensures uniform quality coverage over the entire area and DeLux adds, 'I'd already had the possibility of testing them and have installed them to great effect in several other venues. Although they're compact units, they've a frequency range that goes down to 65Hz and a rated power of 300W.'

The compact vented S15 sub-bass system is an ideal partner for the F10 enclosures, extending and increasing the total low frequency output power, thanks to the long-excursion 15' woofer and 4' voice coil driver. It packs a hefty punch too, notes DeLux, with 500W of rated power.'

Behind the console, the room's DJs also take advantage of Blackline's sonic quality, with a pair of F15's and two S15's on monitor duties. Their colleagues mixing sounds for clients on the main dancefloor downstairs are also ensured leading edge monitoring with an identical set-up.

Commenting on the results achieved in the prestige venue, DeLux enthused, 'Since we installed the system as the Paradiso, it has already been heard by two new clients who compared it to what they already had and immediately contacted me, requesting a quote for a Martin Audio system in their venues!'

Although Titansound & Light's core business is focused on the Adriatic Riviera, their client base is spread across Italy and into Eastern Europe. As well as designing and installing video conferencing, video surveillance and wi-fi systems, the firm also provides rental facilities.

Club installations include some of the top venues in and around Rimini, such as the Pascià, Byblos, Cocoricò and Prince and well-known Bologna venues, such as Matiz and Ruvido.

Further information from:

Maureen Hayes, Martin Audio Jerry Gilbert, JGP Public Relations
Tel: +44 (0)1494 535312 Tel: +44 (0)1707 258525
Fax: +44 (0)1494 438669 Fax: +44 (0)1707 267140