"We take a lot of pride in the sound of our room," said Tamara Fuller, The Velvet Note's owner and nightly head-of-ceremonies. "We call it 'the acoustic living room,' and we've done everything we can to make it the very best way to experience live music."
"Until recently, the only thing that wasn't five stars about The Velvet Note was the PA system," explained Bob Bakert, an Atlanta-based guitarist, vocalist, composer, and pro-audio veteran who regularly graces the venue's stage. "I had heard Danley Sound Labs systems before, and I knew Danley's fantastic phase-coherence and fidelity could elevate The Velvet Note's PA system to the level of everything else in the venue."
After consulting with Danley, owner Mike Hedden, Bakert helped install two Danley SM-100 loudspeakers in a stereo configuration with a THmini subwoofer for low-end support. The room is only about 20ft wide, so the stereo soundstage created by the SM-100s is more akin to a control room than a live venue.
The THmini subwoofer is tucked back behind the piano, and Bakert purposely configured the system so that the subwoofer would not provide unnaturally loud bass. Rather, the subwoofer forms a balanced, low-end extension to the full-range boxes. "I'm impressed that the THmini subwoofer is so musical all the way down," Bakert said. "It doesn't have the resonances of a conventional sub, so you don't lose pitch or continuity across different bass notes." Danley DSLA7500 amplifiers with on-board DSP amply power the SM-100 and the THmini.
(Jim Evans)
