"The rumble from the subs through the banquette seating is particularly popular with our customers," offers entrepreneur Jeremy Hartley, part of the consortium - which also includes international entertainment veterans Rory Keegan and John Stephen - that opened Chinawhite London below Café Royal in late 1998. Hartley originally auditioned ATC's loudspeakers at the company's demonstration suite near Stroud in Gloucester, England on the recommendation of one of the club's directors, Freddie Moss. The installation follows ATC's principle of using recording studio quality loudspeakers in greater than average numbers to give enhanced sound performance and extended listening comfort. "We wanted hi-fi quality but with an element of coarseness," explains Hartley. "What ATC has done brilliantly is establish a balance between the two. When you leave the club you do so without any ringing in your ears." The private, members-only nightclub's main dance floor features eight flown ATC PA65 speaker systems that have been developed from the company's SCM150ASL active studio monitors. Each three-way active enclosure can generate a maximum SPL of 116dB via an ATC Super Linear 15-inch driver, a 3-inch Soft Dome mid-range driver, and a 1.25-inch fabric dome tweeter. Each cabinet offers ±80 degrees of horizontal, coherent dispersion with ±10 degrees in the vertical plane. Each PA65 system is driven by ATC three-channel Class A/B amplifiers, which deliver 200 watts to the low-frequency driver, 100 watts to the mid-range, and 50 watts to the tweeter. All amplifier channels feature active momentary gain reduction. Crossover frequencies are set at 380Hz and 3.5kHz. Eight 15-inch passive bass reflex subwoofers are also built into the main floor's banquette seating. The nightclub's Wu Wu bar additionally features a pair of PA2x9 and four x 15-inch subwoofers built into the banquettes. "This has allowed us to maximize the useable floor space, optimize the audio quality in the critical mid-range and give excellent coverage," observes ATC's R&D engineer, Ben Lilly. The guest-list only Chinawhite London has since expanded, first to Istanbul, Turkey and then to Ibiza, Spain (with The Mao Rooms), before setting up a licensed operation in Glasgow, Scotland. The London club, which operates a £650 a year membership policy, features Chinese day beds and opium platforms and exotic furniture in a deep red, Oriental-themed environment. |
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