It is said that New York City has more Irish pubs than anywhere outside of the Republic itself. True or not, Stout has made its mark on Manhattan as one of the city’s more authentic upscale Irish pubs – with help from Starview Satellite, Renkus-Heinz, Ashly and Symetrix.
Founded in 2005, Stout’s Madison Square Garden location gained almost legendary status, promtimg an expansion to the Wall Street District with Stout FiDi in 2015. Most recently, Stout continued its growth with Stout NYC Grand Central, an extensive bar and restaurant off Park Avenue.
Here, an expansive layout covers two floors, with a front bar, main dining area and central bar downstairs, and a second bar, dining area, and private party room upstairs. The open floor plan presented some challenges in distributing sound adequately, explains Richard Trombitas of Cardone, Solomon Associates.
Trombitas worked together with A/V contractor Starview Satellite to install a sound system based around Symetrix DSP: ‘We divided the restaurant into six discrete zones, controlled by two ARC-2e interfaces,’ he says. ‘We have a total of 14 inputs into the system. Using a selection of very directional speakers and Symetrix DSP, we were able to create several overlapping ‘micro-environments’ within the different areas.’
The system is controlled by a single Symetrix Radius AEC unit with an xOut 12 Dante expander. Symetrix has long been the DSP of choice for Starview Satellite, as President John Paturno confirms: ‘We’ve been using Symetrix on pretty much every project for the past six years. It’s dependable, it’s easy to set up, and the sound quality is second to none. We’re very proud of the work we do with Symetrix.’
The loudspeaker installation uses Renkus-Heinz PNX82 two-way complex conic loudspeaker systems. ‘We have six PNX82 cabinets mounted around the periphery of the bar, configured for 120° by 60° and 90° by 60° coverage patterns,’ Trombitas explains. ‘The PNX82 is an exceptionally flat and even sounding speaker – very accurate, and works well with a wide range of music. With proper positioning and layout, we were able to achieve completely seamless coverage around the entire periphery of the room, and every person seated at the bar has the exact same audio experience.
‘People remark regularly that they’re able to listen to music at a very substantial level, and really be involved in the music, and yet still not have to raise their voices to hold a conversation.’
Starview also replaced Stout’s rack of old amplifiers with new energy-efficient Ashly nX-Series multichannel amplifiers. ‘In terms of power density, nothing can beat Ashly’s well-engineered amplifiers,’ Trombitas says.
Five Ashly nX 1.52 dual-channel amplifiers deliver 1.5kW/channel and two Ashly nX 8004 four-channel 800W amplifiers now power Stout’s extensively distributed array of existing loudspeakers and subwoofers. Zones include 70V under-balcony areas, the area near the entrance, the upstairs balcony dining area, bathrooms and hallways. In addition, fourteen mid-high boxes and two dual 12-inch subwoofers fill the main seating areas with full-range sound.
‘The nX-series multi-mode amplifiers are especially flexible in terms of output loads – they can run 70V and low-impedance loudspeakers from the same unit, as they do at Stout – and they’re incredibly efficient and energy-saving. The old amps at Stout were on pretty much 24/7, grinding away at full idle current, even when the place was closed. In contrast, the Ashly nX-Series amplifiers have an energy-efficient ‘sleep mode’ that they fall into when no input is detected.’
