Playing up the novelty of producing wine in Sweden, the Ästad Vingård, in Halland county, southern Sweden, has created a business complex around its operation – including a hotel with modern conference centre, spa and two restaurants, one of which was recently awarded a Michelin star. With its on the sensory experience, sound is as important as everything else, including the installation of a Genelec Smart IP loudspeaker solution throughout the newly refurbished garden rooms and suites, set apart from the main hotel.

Set between two lakes in the Akulla beech forests nature reserve, the organic vineyard has made the most of its setting, focusing on wellness and relaxation. To create an holistic experience in keeping with the surroundings, Ästad brought in Efterklang – experts in sound design, acoustics and vibration control – to create a sound concept that could be implemented throughout different areas of the venue, and especially the spa, that would evoke the surrounding natural environment and harmonize with the other sensory impressions in the various spaces.

A/V integrator Special-Elektronik was called in by the project owner and installation company Granitor (previously Midroc Electro), to design the A/V and lighting solution. Henrik Asp, who is in charge of projects at Special-Elektronik, explains that they were working to an extremely tight timeframe, so it was imperative to find solutions that would minimise installation time as well as deliver the quality required.

‘Our brief from Ästad Vingård was to achieve the same functionality in the refurbished Garden rooms as in the rooms of the main hotel, a project that we helped them with a few years earlier,’ he explains. ‘As part of that project, I had already specified two rooms with Genelec loudspeakers, both of which are highly appreciated by guests and the owners.

‘Knowing that Genelec would deliver the quality levels required by the customer, and mindful of the time constraints involved, I decided that a Smart IP solution using the 4420 models in the RAW aluminium finish would be ideal,’ he continues. ‘The single Cat cable which supplies power, audio and control gave us the freedom and ability to implement all the IP music streams already used in the main system – including Efterklang’s amazing soundscapes – with excellent sound quality and a quick and easy installation.’

Special-Elektronik provided 24 4420s – one for each room – which deliver all the audio in that space, including audio from the TV, streaming from guests’ mobile devices, radio or room ambience sounds, a programmable ‘wake-up’ scene, and a ‘welcome back’ scene. Audio distribution throughout the venue is managed by QSC with control by Crestron. Finally, four more powerful 4040s from the 4000 Series grace one of the conference rooms in the main hotel and the gym, located in the Sinnenas Spa.

Asp notes that the RAW finish and the sustainable ethic that underpins Genelec were added benefits to the quality and ease of installation. ‘Ästad Vingård prides itself on its nature-inspired, sustainable approach to everything it does,’ he says. ‘It stands to reason that its prefers to use suppliers who share a “green” mindset – and Genelec is a great example of this. The RAW finish is even better – not only does the natural look of the recycled aluminium enclosure match perfectly with the Ästad aesthetic, but the RAW versions require no paint and less finishing material – making them an even more ecologically friendly choice.’

Efterklang’s Alexander Kassberg, one of the sound designers involved in the project, agrees on the choice of Genelec: ‘Although our role was strictly content-related in this instance, we are familiar with Genelec and have used the company’s loudspeakers in several of our projects. In our view, Genelec loudspeakers are extremely well suited to this high-end concept at Ästad Vingård thanks to their high definition, broad soundfield and overall quality. Smart IP offers integrators a huge amount of flexibility for their designs and makes installation very straightforward. Finally, the RAW finish that was used here is a perfect complement to the natural environment evoked by our soundscapes and Ästad’s design.’

More: www.genelec.com