Set on the fringes of the town of Fondi in the countryside of central Italy, the outdoor dining area and dancefloor at Ristorante Al Boschetto are a valuable asset in attracting custom. Spill from the venue’s generic sound systems brought frequesntcomplaints from nearby residents about noise, however. Unable to find a solution, the restaurant contacted Riccardo De Simone of Remix Multimedia, based in Sperlonga, for help.
What was needed was a high-quality audio system with sonic impact, but tight control to keep the sound from escaping into the surrounding area as much as possible. The solution was a Yamaha system, which includes four truss-hung Installation Series IF2112/95 mid/high cabinets and three floor-mounted IS1118 subwoofers, powered by three PC9501N power amplifiers. A truss-hung DXR12, pointing at the DJ booth, provides monitoring and the whole system is controlled by an MTX3 matrix mixer and a DCP4V4S surface-mounted panel.
‘For this open air space we needed passive subwoofers, so the IS1118s were selected for their excellent audio quality,’ says Michele De Simone, who installed the system. ‘They are arranged in a line with the outside subs playing normally, but the middle one is rotated 180° and has the polarity inverted. We applied a delay using the speaker processor section of the MTX3, which cancels backwards directed energy from the outside subwoofers and increases the forward energy towards the customers.
‘The IF2112/95s are directed downwards from the 3.5m-high trussing to keep the acoustic energy within the dance area as much as possible – the large, hand-built horns have greater pattern control compared to speakers by other manufacturers, which have smaller sized horns. The crossover was also set at 120Hz instead of the standard 90Hz, to radiate less omnidirectional energy and deliver more from the subwoofers with their DSP-controlled dispersion pattern.’
The new system has transformed relations between Ristorante Al Boschetto and its neighbours, described as having previously been ‘a war’. ‘The customer is very happy, because the new system is powerful but controlled and they have not had any complaints from neighbouring residents,’ De Simone reports. ‘Finally they have a solution that they, their customers and their neighbours are all pleased with.’
