In New York City’s Nolita district, is Esther and Carol, a multi-concept eatery that is
split into three sections: an Art Deco-inspired American Bistro (Esther & Carol), a
takeout burger window (E&C Burger), and a music-focused basement lounge (E&C
Studio).

The upstairs bistro is light, airy, and relaxing but music fans flock to the basement
lounge, where high-caliber musicians perform through a new sound system built
around a Symetrix Radius 12×8 EX DSP. Inspired by a 1970s-vintage recording studio
and featuring a full-service bar, the lounge can handle up to 100 patrons. The walls
sport classic images of music legends and Gibson guitars that musicians can take
down and play. The atmosphere is designed to stimulate inspired musical
performances for a relaxed-and well fed-audience.

However, E&C Studio is, after all, in a basement. It’s a tight space, with low ceilings,
and system designer Peter Turloch of New York-based Art of Entertainment quickly
realised that the new sound system would need to have a minimal footprint and be
carefully managed.

“It’s a pretty typical New York City basement, and the ceiling is quite low, so the
space required several sets of loudspeakers,” Turloch recalls. The system starts with a
pair of house speakers with subwoofers and a pair of stage monitors. Another pair of
speakers is positioned 18 feet back from the stage, one facing the bar and the other
facing the side seating. Subwoofers sit underneath those loudspeakers, built into the
raised floor that supports the side seating. Another pair of speakers serves the rear
seating area. The Symetrix Radius 12×8 EX handles speaker management for the
whole system. All loudspeakers are from Renkus-Heinz.

“Live music is a very important component for E&C,” emphasises Rich Trombitas of AV
experts Cardone, Solomon, and Associates, who guided Turloch toward the Symetrix
DSP solution. “John Legend is one of the investors, so they bring in top-level
musicians. The quality standards are high, so they needed a DSP with a very wide
dynamic range that provides uncoloured processing of live music. Symetrix DSPs are a
great choice for that.”

The Radius 12×8 EX, as its name implies, offers 12 analogue inputs and eight
analogue outputs, plus Dante I/O. “Since we had so many loudspeakers and
subwoofers, we added a Symetrix 4 Channel Analog Output expansion card, giving us
a total of 12 analogue outputs,” notes Trombitas. “On the front end, the Midas M32R
main console, including the monitor outputs, goes straight to the Symetrix Radius.
There’s a Pioneer DJ mixer, as well, and both the line outs and monitor outs of that go
to the Radius. So when artists use the mixers, the stage monitors are processed by
the Radius 12×8 EX DSP, along with the house speakers, delay speakers, and subs.”
Using Symetrix Composer programming software, Turloch set up delays for the
loudspeakers so that the imaging was correctly oriented to the stage. Careful timing
ensured that all speakers maintain the stage as the point of origin.

Another consideration was that E&C Studio hosts a variety of DJs and engineers.
“Given all the guest DJs and engineers who don’t work regularly with the E&C system,
they needed comprehensive speaker dynamics control,” Turloch explains. “With the
Symetrix Radius, we could set up the system to allow optimal levels while minimising
danger to the speakers-and the patrons’ ears-if someone turns it up too high.”
The ownership group is delighted with their new system. “They liked that I steered
them into a great solution for addressing the low-ceiling environment, the tight space,
and the minimal footprint that was required,” Turloch reports. “With the Symetrix
Radius 12×8 EX, we could precisely manage timing and levels while maintaining a
clear, clean signal to the speakers, and control is easy. In a challenging acoustic
environment, E&C has an amazingly good sound that fully meets their expectations.”