AV Integration company Audiotech was recently contracted by Rawlins Whales and Partners to install a background music system for the Nicolway Shopping Centre in Bryanston, Johannesburg. The audio system, which was designed by Neil Barrkman of Audiotech and Stephen Bricknell of TID, was overseen by project manager, Avril Holland.
“The brief was to install a background music system to cover the mall and parkades with evacuation compliant speakers and cabling. The head end equipment supplied was not evacuation compliant due to budget but the system does however have the ability to produce prerecorded evacuation messages,’ stated Barrkmann.
The interior of the mall was fitted with Bosch LBC3086 ceiling speakers and LBC3018/01 fire dome back boxes, amplified by a Bittner XV600 power amplifier, a Cloud CXV225 power amplifier and a Cloud Z8II pre-amplifier. A Magos media audio server supplies two streams of music content, one for the restaurant terrace and one for the rest of the mall. Bosch LBC-3481/12 Horn Speakers and Bosch LB1-UW06-FX Cabinet Speakers were used for coverage in the parkade area.
Bose DS16S surface free space speakers were chosen for the restaurant terrace. “These were best suited for this area as they are wide dispersion speakers,’ adds Barrkman. Atterotech R8 input boxes from the control end and output boxes in the Licorish Bistro and Tasha’s restaurants allow for the restaurants to stream the same music content as the music playing on the restaurant terrace inside the respective restaurants’ systems via a fiber optic link, or to change the music at the flip of a switch.
“The system is capable of a multitude of things such as Background music, evacuation messages, paging throughout. In addition, the system is non-modular system and can be expanded from a zone point of view, “, says Barkkman
Speaking about the installation, Jandemie Olwage, Nicoleway Centre Manager, stated: “We are very happy with the system and it has performed according to our expectations.”
The mall, which cost R500 million to construct and spans 23 000 square meters, opened its doors in April this year.
