With its original 1933 location on the campus of the University of Illinois closed to make way for new development, the Kam’s Bar name and brand were purchased by local developer and restaurateur, Scott Cochrane. CV Lloyde Audiovisual, worked with the Cochrane team to design and install the A/V in the larger, two-storey revival of Kam’s, which features a network-based, fully-distributed system with video displays, full-range sound, digital signage, a DJ booth, device-based control apps and remote monitoring.
‘This was a fun project because Kam’s has a history – it has served decades of alumni, many who are now at Fortune 100 companies and they all remember Kam’s and cherish those memories, and they come back and share this unique experience with their kids and grandkids,’ says Stephen Morris, President and CEO, CV Lloyde Audiovisual. ‘Kam’s is very near and dear to everyone’s heart, and when the new owner, Scott Cochrane, decided to relocate and upgrade Kam’s, he was determined to do it right.’
With three other Campustown bars and several other club locations in Champaign-Urbana. Cochrane and his team captured the charm of the original but could accommodate a range of events. Morris explains that, while this is a campus bar, it is not the traditional hang-and-bang A/V type installation. Depending on local and college events and the bar’s theme nights, the system needed to be able to handle music from hip-hop and EDM hits to classic rock and everything in between.
‘Scott and his team did a beautiful job with the new Kam’s, capturing the charm, history and nostalgia of the bar and the University of Illinois,’ Morris says. ‘On the second floor, there’s now a showcase of all the Champaign-Urbana bars over the years; it’s a real walk down memory lane of every bar and Tavern in the Champaign-Urbana area since the turn of the century.’
For its audio, the system uses JBL Control 28s, Control 31s and AC115S subwoofers, with six LEA Professional Connect 704D four-channel, 700W amplifiers.
‘The types of audio support they need is all over the map, so we wanted to be able to represent any genre and make sure we had plenty of amplifier headroom in the system to make the subs do what they need to do,’ Morris says. ‘I’m happy to report that the place sounds great, there is plenty of headroom, allowing us to reach well over 100dB with less than ±1dB between all the public spaces of the main bar, the coverage is excellent.
‘The overall sonic performance, responsiveness, and headroom of the amplifier have proven to be all that we hoped and then some. We’re pushing a good-sized, full-range set of JBL Control 28s, Control 31s, and AC115S subwoofers, which all take a lot of power, and the LEA amps are taking it all in stride.’
The CV Lloyde team also put a lot of design work into the control system, with analogue and Dante digital audio inputs available throughout the facility, including the DJ booth. When there is no DJ, the bar managers use the system’s Bluetooth access to easily play and control music playlists from a smartphone or tablet. There is also a colour, touchpanel master control, but the mobile device connectivity allows managers to walk around the bar and manage sound levels for the multiple indoor and outdoor zones.
‘There’s a beer patio outside, a second-floor deck and terrace, an outdoor patio and upstairs, downstairs, and a side bar — all of these different zones have their own zone control and volume control,’ Morris says. ‘They all operate independently with a mix of private and public events happening simultaneously, so each zone has an autonomous capability to completely choose their own inputs and manage their levels independent of each other.’
With the temporary closure due to the coronavirus shelter-in-place order, the team has not had the chance to work with the available remote diagnostics and control for the system, but it is coming.
‘We haven’t opened up our ports for the VPN to do remote diagnostics yet, which will allow us to look directly at the amplifier addresses remotely and monitor their performance, but we will,’ Morris says. ‘Once that happens, I’m going to have my diagnostics and remote access online so we can constantly monitor the amps — this is a very interesting feature of the LEA products, and we’re glad to see that they put a lot of work into the diagnostic side of the amps.’
The new Kam’s opened briefly in February 2020, just before the shelter-in-place announcement, but for several weeks the bar was open and enjoyed, and the team had time to settle the system within the live environment. There was a private opening for vendors and partners, followed by a public grand opening, which saw an hour-long line of patrons waiting to get in.
‘At the end of the day, we do business with people who are easy to do business with, period,’ Morris adds. ‘When evaluating new products, I look for capable, reliable components that will fit the application as good or better than my other options, and that are built and supported by trustworthy teams. When these points come together, that’s a product and company I’m going to pay attention to, and LEA has brought these points together for me.’
