In addition to award-winning cuisine and an aesthetically pleasing environment, Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille of Texas also features live music entertainment every night of the week. Intelligent Lighting Services, a full-service AV systems developer, recently set the bar in terms of sound reinforcement capabilities at a newly opened Perry’s location in Austin.
The project, which is headlined by Tannoy loudspeakers driven by Lab.gruppen multi-channel power amplifiers, has already proven so immediately popular that the other seven Perry’s facilities are also in the process of sound reinforcement upgrades. Intelligent Lighting Services (ILS), based in Austin, was asked to provide the design and installation of the high-performance system for the 16,000-square-foot facility that was once owned by the family of former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. “We were contacted by Perry’s at the urging of their booking agent, who had been drawing complaints from performers and patrons about sound quality at the other locations,” explains Eric Bernstein, a veteran systems integrator and general manager of ILS. “With this new Austin location, we were charged with providing a system that would be significantly better than what they had done in the past.”
A stage in the lounge/bar is the site for all live music entertainment, ranging from a pianist on a grand piano to three- and four-piece ensembles. The charge to ILS from the client was, “make sure all music is reproduced throughout the facility on the par of the live version in the lounge.” Bernstein first determined that a low-impedance system, rather than the previously utilized 70-volt transformer approach, would help enhance vital aspects like dynamic range and frequency response. He designed a distributed system to serve multiple rooms on two floors. Performance and sound quality was further enhanced with the selection of Tannoy loudspeakers throughout the system. “Tannoy is one of the best ‘go to’ product lines in professional audio when you’re looking to deliver absolute premium sonic quality,” Bernstein notes. “The depth of their line offers solutions to every problem, while the consistent design principles in every loudspeaker insure exceptional consistency.”
During the design phase of the project, ILS utilized EASE Address design verification software to help with accurate positioning of the distributed Tannoy loudspeakers. Unlike conventional 2D ceiling speaker software, EASE Address also allows for complex room shapes with varying ceiling heights. (It is available for free download on the Tannoy website, www.tannoy.com.)
All loudspeakers are driven by four Lab.gruppen C 20:8X power amplifiers, the most powerful eight-channel amplifier in the company’s C Series family. Capable of delivering 250 watts at 4 ohms on each channel, this high output helped in attaining the additional performance advantages of a low impedance system sought by ILS. The amplifiers are housed in an amplifier rack in the general manager’s office on the second floor, linked to an ETA Systems power sequencer for optimum power on/off.
The lounge/bar stage is outfitted with a Tannoy V6 loudspeaker, with its conical coverage pattern making it an optimum low profile stage monitor due to exceptionally wide dispersion that allows performers greater freedom of movement .The stage also offers several microphones as well as an Allen & Heath microphone mixer. Coverage for the room is supplied by six Tannoy CMS801 DC ceiling loudspeakers, which retain a compact format while delivering full-bandwidth, high-level output. Each CMS801 DC utilizes Tannoy’s acclaimed Dual Concentric™ transducer, with the 8-inch drive unit mounted in a rigidly constructed injection molded, vented front baffle. Sub low frequencies in this room are further reinforced and extended below 150 Hz by two Tannoy CMS 110TB ceiling mounted subwoofers, each with a long-excursion10-inch bass transducer. These subwoofers are specially designed to seamlessly integrate into any ceiling installation.
More CMS801 DC ceiling loudspeakers provide outstanding coverage at several other areas throughout Perry’s, including 12 distributed in the main dining room, as well as two or four units serving multiple dining rooms, hallways, and other areas. One of the most interesting applications of CMS801 on the project has them positioned in the kitchen, adjacent to the entrance and exit doors to help muffle the kitchen sounds that patrons dislike. Another interesting application is the “vault” dining room, literally housed in a concrete vault, where sound reinforcement is supplied by dual Tannoy iw62 TDC full bandwidth in-wall loudspeaker systems with 6.5-inch Tannoy Dual Concentric™ point source, constant directivity drive units as well as an additional 6.5-inch bass driver and 1-inch Tannoy SuperTweeter™. ILS built a wall at one end of this room to house the loudspeakers, and it also served in mounting a large video monitor and conceal all cabling.
The largest upstairs dining room is served by 10 distributed Tannoy iC6 DC long-throw 6.5-inch Dual Concentric™ design that delivers high intelligibility and exceptional performance down to 36 Hz, supplied with a perforated metal grille and low profile mounting frame that can be painted to blend in seamlessly with any type of décor. These same loudspeakers also proved the ideal choice in serving main and satellite restrooms, where the client again showed a commitment to offering its patrons non-stop quality audio performance. This philosophy even extends outdoors, where four Tannoy model Di8 DC loudspeakers (8-inch Dual Concentric™) serve the patio. These loudspeakers were also selected in part due to weather resistance, with, high impact polystyrene enclosures optimized for consistent performance in adverse conditions.
ILS designed the entire venue-wide system to be both flexible and easy to control. Multiple loudspeaker zones were established and controlled via a dbx ZonePro digital processor/controller that’s housed with the Lab.gruppen amplifiers. Most zones are further equipped with their own dbx ZC-8 wall-mounted source selector and volume controller, even the restrooms, where they are concealed behind mirrors. In addition, ILS also designed and installed an extensive video system that has numerous video monitors fed by an 8 × 8 video matrix switcher, with Intelix Video Balun A/D converters for each video zone and additional control by via several AV wall panels.
Currently celebrating its 30th anniversary, Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille has grown from a small butcher shop into a group of award-winning restaurants, with a strong commitment to quality exemplified by this project in Austin as well as the impact it will have at other Perry’s locations.“Based on the dramatic success of this project, we’ve been asked to perform system upgrades at several of the other facilities,” concludes Bernstein. “It’s great to see that quality still sells, and we’ll be bringing that same quality to the upcoming projects, including many of the components like Tannoy loudspeakers that helped us exceed the client’s expectations.”