Yamaha Commercial Audio’s recently launched Installation series is getting major play in Italy’s busy nightclub market. Slick interiors and state-of-the-art AV systems are combined in Italy’s clubs and the punters have grown to expect the latest technology.

The Installation series of loudspeakers was designed for live music, theatre and nightclubs and comprises 27 different models to suit a wide range of applications, from  dual 18-inch subwoofers to dual 5-inch models.
Several Italian venues have been equipped with products such as the XP and Tn ranges of amplifiers, DME digital mix engines and compact digital mixing consoles. Here is a brief run-through:
 
Blanco Café
Located in Corsico, a western suburb of Milan, Blanco Café is a multi-purpose live music and DJ venue, which caters for an extensive range of music styles, delivered by a state-of-the-art Yamaha installation.

The venue features four separate zones – the bar, exhibition area, a live music area inside the pub and a further performance space outside, which created the necessity for a flexible and easy-to-set-up sound system.

Stefano Papetti of installation company Audio Progetti chose a Yamaha Ethersound network, based around the NAI48ES network interface and four AD8HR AD converters. In the live music area an LS9-32 console is situated at FOH, together with an MY8AE AES/EBU board, MY16ES64 and MY16EX Ethersound interfaces. A stage rack houses the four AD8HR, a DA824 DA converter and the NAI48ES network interface.

Powered by XP7000, XP5000 and XP3500 power amps, the PA system comprises two Installation Series IF2115/64 mid/high speakers, two IS1118 subs and four CM12V wedge monitors. Speaker control is by an SP2060 processor.

In the bar, sound is delivered by four S15C speakers, powered by an XM4080 amp, while an MG124CX, 12-channel analog mixer can be patched into the system for small-scale performances.

Meanwhile, the outside performance area features two Installation series IF2115M/64 speakers, two IS1218 subs and four CM15V monitors, driven by
two PC6501N power amps controlled by an SP2060
speaker processor.

“Another advantage of using the Ethersound-based sound system is that it will be very straightforward to expand the system in the future,” continues Papetti. “It is a great solution all round.” 

 
Spazio Aurora
Audio Progetti has also installed a Yamaha system at Spazio Aurora, a multi-function venue in Rozzano, which is also near Milan.

Spazio Aurora is a popular meeting place and cultural centre that offers courses, social projects, theatre shows, dance nights and live music. In addition to a school of music with a wide variety of lessons, there are also three rehearsal rooms and a recording studio, which meant it needed a flexible and reliable sound system.
“We did a product demo of the Installation series loudspeakers at Spazio Aurora and the venue’s technicians were very impressed by the rig’s sound pressure and reproduction quality, even though we only used a limited number of power amplifiers,” says Papetti.

The system features two Installation series IF2115/64 full-range enclosures with a pair of IS1215 2x 15-inch subs, complemented by two IF2208 2x eight-inch for infills. Four Club series CM12V monitors are provided onstage.

Drive for the system comes from XP3500, XP5000 and XP7000 power amps, with signal processing and distribution handled by an SP2060 speaker processor, whose LSI technology promises optimised sound quality and dynamic range and a signal/noise ratio of over 110dB.

“The system is set for three-way use, the processor being used as a crossover, limiter and compressor. It makes the set-up extremely flexible,” says Stefano.
“The XP series has excellent units that run very quietly and the system was designed using Yamaha’s Y-S3 Sound System Simulator software, to study the sound and configure the appropriate presets.”

“For the various outputs, I created and stored a series of presets,” says Lorenzo Catinella, who runs the venue’s recording studio and is also in charge of the audio set-up throughout the building.

“We’ve got a preset for DJ sets, a ‘live’ preset with more punch on the bottom end, another that has a bit more compression and one with a compression threshold that reacts to low input signals, but ensures we have precise powerful sound even on nights when we don’t have a large crowd in the room.”
 
Max & Play
Max & Play in Carditio, near Napoli was created as a live room for emerging local musicians. The venue includes a control room and three recording rooms, one of which can also be used for rehearsals. There’s also an outdoor ‘relaxation’ zone, which is complete with fountains, pools
and tables.

The Yamaha audio system in the live room comprises two flown IF2115/64 full-range cabinets with a ground-stacked IS1215 2x 15-inch sub per side, powered by PC9501N and PC3301N amplifiers while, on stage, two IF 2208 and four IF 2108 monitors are driven by XP3500 power amps.

“We’d heard the new Yamaha Installation series loudspeaker enclosures and were very favourably impressed,” says Fulvio Liuzzi of installation company Start Up Audio.

“Their very linear response, even at high frequencies, is an important feature. It ensures fatigue-free listening over long periods, making them very pleasant to listen to.”

This system is controlled by an SP2060 digital speaker processor programmed with two presets: a ‘live’ setting with a flat eq configuration and a ‘lounge’ setting, which has the subs excluded and a loudness curve set to avoid excessive volumes in a softer context.

Mixing the system is a compact LS9-32 digital console, that has 32 mic pre and line inputs, 16 mix outs, eight assignable matrix outs, two Mini-YGDAI cards slots, Virtual Effect Rack, multiple equalisers and a built-in two track USB memory recorder.

“To link the live room to the studio facilities, Yamaha provided two Yamaha ACU16-C control units connected with the LS9, which send 32 channels of 24-bit audio at 48kHz from the FOH mixing position to the control room, for live multi-track recording,” says Fulvio.

“The Yamaha console has two MY16-CII Cobranet expansion cards, from which the signals are fed via Cat 5 cable to the ACU16-Cs, which convert them to analog and send them to the recording desk’s patch bay. This means that two track recordings can be made of the live mix on the LS9, plus a 32-track dedicated recording mix done in the control room.”

The ACU16-Cs are also configured to control the main system’s PC-N series amplifiers on stage. These units can provide control of up to 32 separate PC-N amplifiers.

With Yamaha’s NetworkAmp Manager software, it’s possible to control and monitor functions such as in and
out levels, limiting, protection circuit, heat sink
temperature, power on/standby, attenuation, phase and muting of the loudspeakers.
 
Nationwide coverage
Yamaha installation gear can be found in various places throughout Italy, such as in the MD Music Jazz Club in Angri, Kasamatta in Bologna, the Tambien in Settimo Milanese, the Soleluna, Sol Levante and Gattopardo nightclubs in Albisolina, Cavi di Lavigna and Alba Adriatica respectively. That’s Italy covered, then.
www.yamahacomercialaudio.com