Amidst the never-ending drama in the Middle East, Lebanon has been caught in the centre of it all since day one. With Lebanon finding a reasonable amount of stability in recent years, the country’s property development has gone into overdrive. The nightlife of Beirut is fast returning to its pre-war former glory climbing its way back to the title it once held as the ‘Paris of the Middle East’. Countless bars and clubs have gained international acclaim with many of them hailing some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities and fat cats on a regular basis. Whether you’re after old world charm, ultra chic modernity or a seamless blend of both; the nightlife in Beirut possesses a unique magic with something to offer everyone.
Quest’s Lebanon distributor Audiotec Group recently completed one of the more unique installation projects in Beirut at a venue called ‘Garcia’s Pub’. Audiotec was the first installer in the world to utilise the new HPI8i speaker systems. One of Audiotec’s senior partners, Ralph Choueiri, provided some insight on the installation details.
“This was a new installation with a capacity of just over 100 patrons. It was an old house in Beirut with the typical Lebanese architecture (early 20th century, high ceiling, big rooms) and on the ground floor. It was transformed into a pub after extensive acoustic treatment for the ceiling and the floor. One of the main challenges with the venue was the fact that there were residents still living above the pub”.
The choice to go with Quest products was a simple decision for Ralph and his team given their long history of using Quest in projects throughout Lebanon.
“Our wide experience in Quest products tells us that the HPI series is the high end for sound performance. This particular client had some specific demands regarding the sound quality and with the considerable amount invested into the acoustic treatment, he needed the best sound system. We originally offered the HPI 8 but during negotiations we were informed that the new model (HPI-8i) became available for shipping so we quickly amended our proposal.”
The team at Audiotec did a comparison between the original HPI 8 and the new HPI 8i in order to see how much improvement had been made as Ralph notes.
“After we received the new HPI 8i speakers, we setup an AB to compare the HPI 8 against the new model. We could definitely hear an improvement in performance. We totally loved the power and clarity of the HPI 8i.” Ralph and his team assessed the installation and decided a distributed speaker setup would achieve the best result both in terms of achieving even dispersion across the venue and minimising any spill to the outside areas or levels above the pub.
“We chose the 8” HPI’s because of the pub dimensions and because we aimed for even distribution. This is why we decided to install 16 speakers. The design was completed in coordination with Quest Engineering in Melbourne who provided great help when consulted.”
The final design was comprised of 16 x HPI 8i speakers driven by 4 x QA 2004 amplifiers connected with 2 speakers per channel.
The venue owners feedback according to Ralph was extremely positive. “The owners were simply amazed!”.
