Maurice Salloum, sound engineer and co-owner of Life, chose the sound system as well as the right company to complete the installation. Having a long-term relation with Beirut-based Hi Fi Service, Salloum knew he is in safe hands: "I wanted an unparalleled system for our venue," he says, "a system that can generate high SPLs and at the same time produce an excellent sound. Additionally, I needed a system that could be used as an indoor system during the winter season and that could be moved outside during summer, when the club shifts to the open air area."
Oussama Mansour Abou Faraj, manager of Hi Fi Service reports, "I proposed using a Dynacord VariLine system. We have used the system in other clubs - always with outstanding results." Abou Faraj worked closely with the Dynacord's MEA technical support manager Tony Sawyer, both discussing the needs of the client and his concept to tackle the issue. A full-venue analysis was undertaken in which a full room model was done using Ulysses, to ensure the position and speakers were right for the application.
The design itself now includes eight Dynacord VL 212 2-way full-range cabinets covering the main area and reinforced by 10 Dynacord VL 122. Five VL 262 cabinets cover the upper tier areas, two VL 262 cabinets act as DJ monitors. As the interior required discrete subwoofer placement, Hi Fi brought in an interior decorator to tackle the issue at hand. The installation includes six Dynacord Sub 28 subs and eight Sub 18 subs.
"To control of all this amount of sound, the control of the whole system needed to be flexible and powerful, allowing proper signal management," says Abou Faraj. "What's better than the Dynacord P64 digital signal processor and the DSA multi-channel amplifiers? That's why we called on these to do the job."
On the opening night the sound system was fully installed, the place packed and 1,200 people were rocking to a well-tuned VariLine system. Life's co-owner Maurice Salloum commented, "The system performs even better than we would have expected. It is extremely powerful, clear and has offered everything we could want. We have definitely made the right choice."
(Jim Evans)
