Increasingly popular since Prince and Madonna graced it with their presence, Kaufleuten is the best known entertainment structure in Zurich. Located in a historic building, occupying two floors, the venue is comprised of several distinct sections, including a restaurant, a nightclub, bars and lounges. The brand new "festsaal" includes a stage in which regular entertainment is provided by a variety of top DJs and live performing acts. Kaufleuten's plush decor is reminiscent of a baroque theatre with its classic furnishings, antique paintings, chandeliers, and even bathroom fittings that were once part of the Orient Express. Thrown in are contemporary elements, including an unstructured layout and dishevelled accent pieces which moderate the extravagance and add it a sense of comfort.
The brand new 24m x 16m "festsaal" incorporates a warmer more contemporary architectural design, includes a balcony and has 450 person capacity; which lends itself to an intimate concert setting or jam-packed private event. Other improvements include a new lighting rig and video capabilities. The room's sound design and installation was executed by Georg Caduff, owner of Caduff Tontechnik and Hanspeter Ehrsam whose expertise in being Andreas Vollenweider's FOH sound engineer for over 20 years, was put into use as the installation supervisor.
The Festsaal now says :"The Adamson T-21 Subs have excellent far-field sonic accuracy, far better than any other subs, noticeable even with simple pre-recorded back round music!"
The design consists of two flown arrays of seven SpekTrix 5 degree boxes, and one SpekTrix Wave 15 degree box in the bottom of each L and R array, and two T-21 Subs placed at the centre, underneath the stage. Two of the German company Sonus' Z-X 101 installation speakers were added for near-fill. All SpekTrix speakers are powered by Lab.gruppen fp3400's and the Adamson T-21 Subs with MC2 E45's. All cabinets are processed with XTA's DP448s. The house sound technician is Dani Arnold.
(Chris Henry)
