The product of a complete renovation and remodeling on the site of an old restaurant near Orland Park Mall in suburban Chicago, the Square Celt Alehouse and Grill has been outfitted with a versatile sound system headed by Martin Audio loudspeakers, exclusively, courtesy of Encompass AV of Des Plaines, IL.
A sports bar, restaurant and part-time club destination, the Square Celt is run by a family that owns seven other Irish-themed bar/restaurants around Chicago, all known for high audio and video capability.
Encompass AV president Tim Pickett explains, “There are two major rooms, a large bar area, and a dining room with another big bar and lots of booths with tables. We were tasked with providing the sound and video systems, as well as security cameras and some of the architectural lighting.
“The owners insisted on Martin Audio from the get-go because they wanted a very high quality sound that was reliable and would last,” he adds. “We used 26 Martin Audio AQ8s mounted on the walls and beams throughout the site. The whole place has lowered ceilings with lots of trim, soffits and beams to give it the feel of an old Irish pub. We mounted the speakers strategically in the best places we could put them for optimal sound quality.
“There are also two AQ28s where the owners planned a dance area in the main dining room. We supplemented those with two AQ210 subs plus two F12+ and four S15+ subs for maximum low energy reinforcement in that area. They bring in a DJ on Friday and Saturday nights, so they wanted the place to have a nightlife with a system they could crank up and really feel the music, which we accomplished with the Martin Audio subs.”
The new system also includes Lab.gruppen E12:2 and E4:2 power amplifiers along with Symetrix Jupiter 8 stand-alone DSP processing. “The owners think the sound is ‘even, clean and crisp’,” Pickett concludes. “They definitely got more than they expected with Martin Audio and it’s flexible enough to give them everything they need in terms of volume, coverage and sound quality. Plus the system is easily capable of transforming the dance area into a real nightclub just by cranking up the volume.”
Highlights of the venue’s video system include a four-panel video wall consisting of large Philips 55-inch displays in the bar/dining room and an eight-panel video wall made up of Philips 46-inch displays in the bar area. There are also 14 Sharp 70-inch displays and 16 55-inch LG displays with the whole system run by a Vivitek D5190HD 1080p 3D multimedia projector.