A team from Sennheiser China has specified and installed a K-array audio system into a top Shanghai restaurant.
In April 2009, renowned French chef Paul Pairet, who had moved to Shanghai four years earlier, opened Mr & Mrs Bund, which now sits comfortably in the world’s top 100 restaurants and 11th in Asia. His goal was to create a broad menu of high-end French dishes, served through his own interpretation of the sharing concept, reaching a broader range of diners.
Mr & Mrs Bund inherited a sound system from the previous tenants which did not sit well with Pairet and his young team – the sound reproduction did not match the the excellence of the food and one could instantly feel the disparity.
Sennheiser was brought in after months of decision-making to handle the design, installation and tuning of the new audio system.The Shanghai-based team was led by Marc Vincent, president of Sennheiser China. Vincent confessed that the team enjoyed the project from a personal point of view as well as a professional one. He said: “I must admit that I took it as a great honour, being myself a fan of Paul’s creative cuisine and the charming and relaxed atmosphere of the main dining room. I go there as often as possible. Now music can fulfil its duty and add to the dining experience, making the evening totally enjoyable.”
The Sennheiser team had to fill a room of more than 2,700 cubic metres in a 19th century historic building with smooth and ample sound during dining hours, then provide an alternative solution for birthday parties and private events, even ‘space jumping’ at night when house DJ Amar Kabouche gets going.
The solution came by using K-array 2in driver slim array technology. The entire restaurant is covered by six KK102s, six KK52s supported by four KMT18 single 18in subwoofers – one positioned in each corner of the main dining room – and four KU36 double 10in compact subwoofers hidden the sides of the room. The entire sound system is powered by KA10-10 four-channel Class D amplifiers measuring just 50cm x 9cm x 40cm.
The system is nearly invisible and blends into the architecture of the restaurant elegantly. The system produces high-fidelity sound during all phases of the evening, starting from the quieter dining hours all the way through to the late DJ.
