A new eatery on the waterfront in Nordhaven, Aarhus, Restaurant Anker reckons to be the ‘least French’ French brasserie in Denmark. High quality audio plays a very important part in creating the venue’s ambience, with a Genelec system throughout based on the compact, installation-specific 4020C loudspeaker.
Installed – along with the rest of the A/V system – by local specialist, LK Backline, the system was chosen after a demonstration convinced the owners that Genelec was the right solution for the restaurant – providing a flexible, high-quality set-up that could be zoned into three areas.
‘Restaurant Anker is a new venue in Aarhus, and they wanted to ensure that they are attractive to as wide a public as possible,’ Kirk explains. ‘The restaurant can cater for up to 150 people, but it can be divided into smaller ‘rooms’ of 50 people for private parties and corporate events. Each space has its own A/V system, including screens and projectors. The audio system therefore needed to be flexible enough to cater for any zoning possibility, and of sufficiently high quality to remain crystal clear at low levels. Genelec was the ideal choice.’
Kirk and Genelec Denmark’s Jonas Olsen specified seven 4020C loudspeakers in a black finish and a further four 4020Cs in white, along with a Soundcraft UI16 mixer for distribution and control, MiPro wireless microphones and custom audio playback from My Instore Radio.
‘We went for the 4020Cs as they suited the spec perfectly,’ Kirk says. ‘They are ideal size-wise being nice and compact – we had a few restrictions with ceiling and door heights so anything bigger would have been an issue - but still with enough power and low-end energy for everything the restaurant wanted to achieve. Coverage is excellent and the calibration controls on the back of the loudspeakers enabled us to perfectly optimise the performance of each speaker in relation to the room.’
Restaurant Anker aside, Kirk uses Genelec loudspeakers for a number of reasons, the first being that he finds it’s the most flexible way to plan an installation: ‘I often see clients changing stuff on the fly or at the last minute,’ he says. ‘If your installation is a standard 100V line with traditional amplifiers, it’s much less scalable. However, as Genelec’s installation loudspeakers are active, it’s easy to add more if necessary and you don’t have to worry about finding more room in the amp rack. Also, Genelec makes great-looking loudspeakers, and yes, for some clients, the way the speakers look is just as – if not more – important than the way they sound.
‘However, they also sound fantastic. In my opinion as far as sound quality is concerned, Genelec is the best value for money you can get. They also have a vast range of well thought-out accessories making them easy to use, easy to install and all of them are nice quality. Finally, Genelec Denmark will always go out of their way to help me. Recently I had a client who only accepted the order the day before we were due to start. Genelec shipped the speakers from Finland to Denmark in under 36 hours – now that’s what I call great service.’
More: www.genelec.com
