Chill Bar in Palm Springs, CA, which presents ’80s and ’90s nights, house music and hip-hop DJs, recently upgraded its soundscape with a new Pioneer Pro Audio sound reinforcement system.
The move came after Chill Bar’s resident DJ and AV production manager Jim Gokey visited the Abbey Bar in West Hollywood and came away impressed with that venue’s audio quality. Gokey connected with the owner of the Abbey and learned that the club utilized an XY Series loudspeaker system from Pioneer Pro Audio.
The Chill Bar previous system was too large and delivered harsh, unintelligible sound. Alex Montenegro, owner of Sonus Systems in Granada Hills, CA — a Pioneer Pro Audio reseller and installer — was brought in to designed a new system utilizing the XY Series.
“We did a survey of the space and existing sound system and quickly realized that it’s sonic coverage was full of hot spots and dead spots, and that it had a harsh sound that had to be turned up way too loud to compensate for the bad coverage. Bad time alignment also added to a bad audience experience,” says Montenegro. “The Chill Bar main room is long and narrow with a low ceiling and it needs a system like the XY Series that has the proper amount of throw and control to fill the space with a pleasing, crisp but still powerful sound.
“Pioneer Pro Audio is an ideal solution for a space like this,” he continues. “We mounted four XY-3B enclosures in a horizontal orientation to compensate for the low ceiling, and also worked in subs and performer monitors. Together with a set of appropriate Powersoft amplifiers, we created a system perfectly scaled for the needs of the space.”
The quality and clarity of the new system has created an entirely improved experience for guests and performers, with the owners noting a significant increase in revenue since the install. “When we powered up the system for the first time, the improvement was immediately apparent. We got great output and natural-sounding clarity from the XY system — even at SPL levels that the room had never heard before,” Montenegro says. “We came in for a few weekends at peak performance times to finish tuning the system and all the regular customers were talking about how great the system sounded and what a good time they were having.”
Gokey concludes, “By completely revamping our sound we’re now attracting bigger-name performers, larger crowds and more business. After experiencing the XY Series at Abbey Bar, we expected big improvement, but this has really taken us to the next level. It was a perfect move for us.”
