Hamilton House in Balham - originally a gift from Lord Nelson to Lady Emma Hamilton and later owned by the Kray Twins, has operated as the White Eagle Club and hosted a wide range of Polish community activities since the 1960's.
While front-of-house operates as a bar/restaurant for the Polish community, the 400-capacity multi-function room is used for additional activities including karaoke nights, discos and live music.
The hall was in a run-down state when Magda Harvey took over the premises last year. The services of freelance consultant/DJ Robert Czekalski were enlisted and on advice from Knight Sound & Light, he opted for a Wharfedale solution. "We had experienced environmental health problems, with complaints from the neighbours and needed the sound focused more on the middle of the room," said Czekalski.
Knight Sound & Light installation manager, Andy Taylor noted, "Because of the period in which it was built, prior to amplification, it's acoustically perfect; but when amplified sound came along cheap speakers were used. The problem was that the 18in subs had no definition and lots of woolly low end - and so the neighbours in the flats started to complain."
The Programme 50's are flown in pairs down the length of the rectangular room - with their delay taps programmed into an Alto MaxiDrive 6.2 DSP (which also limits the system). At the stage-end, four of Wharfedale's new SI-12's are flown either side for the near-field. The venue itself will be divided into three zones, once the bar area has been refurbished, with routing implemented by a Cloud Z4 zoner.
"The Wharfedale speakers perform exactly the same function as the bigger pro audio brands - but at a price people are comfortable with spending," adds Taylor. "Anything and everything goes through these boxes - from full-on disco to football soundtracks coming off a Freeview box - but the Programme 50s are very forgiving speakers."
(Jim Evans)
