RCF ACUSTICA FOR NEW SWAMPY JOHNS SHOWBAR

When 15 months ago Jaye Selway (of JSAV Ltd) installed an integrated AV system at the Original Bierkeller in the British city of Lincoln for the operators, Latenight Bars, she little expected that she would be returning to the City’s Silver Street to fit out the new Swampy Johns showbar next door with another RCF system. But that is precisely what has happened.

Latenight Bars founder Paul Kinsey had wanted to pilot a new brand with a more diverse offering, including an American style showbar and live music. The entertainment space was well known to Lincoln’s clubbers, having previously traded as Status, Wahoo, and prior to that as Chicago Rock Café, where an RCF Monitor 5SW system had been installed.

Selway, who says she only specifies RCF, would dearly have liked to install an RCF HDL line array but the positioning of the stage, and both the general and VIP areas were obstructed by structural pillars, while she was also battling with a varied ceiling height. Needing to mount a discreet speaker system, that would provide even coverage throughout the 450-capacity room, the answer lay in RCF’s Acustica C-series. “The benefits of the 90° x 60° dispersion and rotatable horns made them an ideal solution,” she said. “We were able to run them in horizontal mode and get the full 60° coverage.”

The three flown C5215-96 Acustica 15” passive speakers, designed as an L/C/R system, will enable live musicians to wander the venue, minstrel style, on a Friday night and accommodate a full band set up on the Saturday. Swampy Johns will also host DJs and podium dancers.

The stage, already situated four metres behind the bar, has been augmented so it can function as a double size stage where necessary.

Jaye Selway has designed the room as a multi-zone environment, repurposing the existing 20 RCF MR 55 speakers as delays. Existing subwoofers, set in the ceiling, have been boosted with the addition of a pair of Acustica S8015LP subs, concealed under the seating, and an S8028II 2 x 18” bass reflex sub, recessed under the end of the bar. An active ART312A 12” + 1” HF speaker provides DJ reference monitoring.

All RCF equipment was supplied by Leisuretec.

These enclosures form the centrepiece of a high specification, including state-of-the-art digital matrixing, a 32-channel digital mixing desk and microphones.

Selway says she is delighted with the outcome. “The Acustica loudspeakers, tilted 20° off centre, provide a really even coverage pattern,” she says. “They are mounted high — some 4m in the air — but the sound coming down from these tops complements the RCF Monitors perfectly.

Explaining her love of RCF’s signature sound, she said, “I can always run the RCF tops flat, straight out of the box. They have clearly been designed with the listening ear in mind and you never have to wrestle with unwanted frequencies. When you spec a PA you want it to receive the cleanest signal possible, and I always know that RCF speakers will reproduce the sound through a microphone perfectly.”

I can always run the rcf tops flat, straight out of the box. They have clearly been designed with the listening ear in mind and you never have to wrestle with unwanted frequencies