Il Mercato Gentiloni is a modern gastronomic center offering a diverse menu of options in the thriving northern Mexico industrial city of Saltillo, Coahuila. Brimming with details from both Mexican and Italian cultures, the 92,000-square-foot, four-story building required a sound system solution offering even coverage, clarity, flexibility and ease of use.
Avintech, a local AV integrator, designed and installed a Dante-networked sound system utilizing Bose Professional ControlSpace processors and 200+ Bose Professional loudspeakers.
Operations director Fabio Gentiloni created Il Mercato, inspired by his family’s Mexican-Italian legacy. The innovative vision includes six different restaurants, a coffee shop, a bakery, a juice bar, two private event rooms, leisure zones for kids and even a culinary school.
“Il Mercato Gentiloni has an integral concept. The goal is for the visitor to live a complete experience where they spend a whole day surrounded by gastronomy, with a hint of art, music and a cool vibe,” explains Gentiloni.
Besides the food, Gentiloni shares, lighting and sound are the two main components in each space. “These are the elements that generate a cozy feeling, the ones that draw you in or tell you it is time to leave the place ASAP. A nice music selection helps us prolong the guest’s staying time and, therefore, increase their food and beverage consumption.”
Avintech had previously integrated an ambient sound solution for the outer halls of Parque Centro, the huge commercial complex where Il Mercato Gentiloni is located. Based on that project’s design and implementation, as well as the clear sound coming from the Bose FreeSpace 360P loudspeakers in use, Avintech was invited to submit a sound system, network and video-surveillance setup proposal.
Avintech´s team opted to create a fiber-optic Dante network to distribute the audio signal to each one of Il Mercato Gentiloni’s 14 zones. Each zone has a Bose ControlSpace Dante Endpoint and a Dante network card, allowing zone managers to choose their own content. The whole system can also share a single source, which happens when there’s a concert out in the Central Patio or in a restaurant.
“We had to be careful about the sound of one place not leaking to others,” recalls Hector Martinez, director of Avintech. “This was quite challenging since there’s a lot of open spaces, and every place interconnects through hallways or backyards.”
For instance, at La Cantina, a restaurant where the music volume is significantly higher than the rest, the team added acoustic paneling and an epoxy-based casing for the polystyrene coffers that separate La Cantina from the neighboring El Alamo steakhouse. This preemptive measure successfully isolated both audio environments from one another.
La Cantina uses RoomMatch Utility and LT Series loudspeakers, working together with FreeSpace DS 16SE, DS 100SE and FreeSpace 3 Series loudspeakers, alongside a ControlSpace processor and three PowerMatch amplifiers. Il Giardino, a restaurant with all-day service that transforms into a more festive spot on weekend nights, was equipped with FreeSpace DS 100SE and Panaray MB4 loudspeakers, alongside a PowerMatch amplifier, to expand the power and connectivity options available. In other restaurants, as well as the bakery, coffee shop and culinary school, Avintech installed several FreeSpace DS 16SE, DS 40SE and FreeSpace 3 Series loudspeakers, with FreeSpace IZA amplifiers for power.
The private events room, a venue that needed complete freedom and flexibility to accommodate any type of celebration, incorporates a ControlSpace ESP processor, as well as a PowerMatch amplifier and loudspeakers from the FreeSpace DS 100SE family and FreeSpace 3 Series.
“Whenever I visit one of the restaurants at Il Mercato, I usually come across some friends or acquaintances who agree that the sound is great and creates the proper environment to enjoy the meal and be able to talk to the people sitting at the table. These comments, coming from satisfied customers, are beyond flattering,” shares Avintech’s Martinez.
“Hector, from Avintech, insisted on using Bose Professional equipment. He made us realize that, for a long-term project like ours, it was important to invest in the best technology available to achieve the goal we envisioned,” concludes Fabio Gentiloni.
