The new location of University of Illinois mainstay Kam’s Bar has been outfitted with a sound reinforcement system driven by LEA Professional amplifiers deployed by Champaign-Urbana based C.V. Lloyde Audiovisual, which has been providing pro AV design, sales, and installation services throughout Illinois for more than 150 years.
Founded in 1933, the original Kam’s location was closed in the fall of 2019 to make way for new development. The Kam’s name and brand were purchased by a local developer and restaurateur, Scott Cochrane, who owns three other bar and club locations in the area, with a vision for re-opening a larger, updated Kam’s that captured the charm of the original but could accommodate a range of events with a comprehensive, state-of-the-art sound system and audiovisual support.
Stephen Morris, president and CEO of C.V. Lloyde, worked with the Cochrane team to design and install a highly integrated AV system for the new two-story version of the venue, including network-based, distributed AV video displays, full-range sound reinforcement, digital signage, DJ booth, device-based control apps, and remote monitoring tools.
“This was a fun project because Kam’s has a history, it has served decades of alumni, many who are now at Fortune 100 companies and they all remember Kam’s and cherish those memories, and they come back and share this unique experience with their kids and grandkids,” says Morris. “So Kam’s is very near and dear to everyone’s heart, and when the new owner, Scott Cochrane, decided to relocate and upgrade Kam’s, he was determined to do it right.”
He adds that while this is a campus bar, it’s not the traditional hang-and-bang AV type installation. Depending on local and college events and the bar’s theme nights, the system needed to be able to handle every type of music, from Hip Hop and EDM hits to classic rock from the 70s and 80s — and everything in between.
“Scott and his team did a beautiful job with the new Kam’s, capturing the charm, history and nostalgia of the bar and the University of Illinois,” says Morris. “On the second floor of Kam’s, there’s now a showcase of all the Champaign-Urbana bars over the years; it’s a real walk down memory lane of every bar and Tavern in the Champaign-Urbana area since the turn of the century. This facility is only a few months old, but it has roots.”
The new Kam’s opened briefly in February 2020, just before the coronavirus shelter-in-place announcement, but for several weeks the bar was open and the system team had time to dial in the system and experience it within the live environment. There was also a private grand opening for all the vendors and partners involved, followed by a public grand opening.
“The types of audio support they need is all over the map, so we wanted to be able to represent any genre and make sure we had plenty of amplifier headroom in the system to make the subs do what they need to do,” Morris notes. “I’m happy to report that the place sounds great, there is plenty of headroom, allowing us to reach well over 100 dB with less than 1dB plus or minus between all the public spaces of the main bar, the coverage is excellent.”
Behind the scenes, C.V. Lloyde deployed a half dozen four-channel, 700-watt LEA Connect 704D amplifiers. “The overall sonic performance, responsiveness, and headroom of the amplifier have proven to be all that we hoped and then some,” Morris states. “We’re pushing a good-sized, full-range set of JBL Control 28s, Control 31s, and AC115S subwoofers, which all take a lot of power, and the LEA amps are taking it all in stride.”
The audio system as a whole is a Dante environment, with analog and Dante digital audio inputs available throughout the facility so there would be Dante inputs and access at all points, including the DJ booth. When there is no DJ, the bar managers use the system’s Bluetooth access to play and control music playlists from a smartphone or tablet. There;s also a color, touch panel master control, but the mobile device connectivity allows managers to walk around the bar and manage sound levels for the multiple indoor and outdoor zones.
“There’s a beer patio outside, a second-floor deck and terrace, an outdoor patio and upstairs, downstairs, and a side bar — all of these different zones have their own zone control and volume control,” explains Morris. “They all operate independently with a mix of private and public events happening simultaneously, so each zone has an autonomous capability to completely choose their own inputs and manage their levels independent of each other.”
With the temporary closure, the team has not had the chance to work with the available remote diagnostics and control for the system, but it is coming. “We haven’t opened up our ports for the VPN to do remote diagnostics yet, which will allow us to look directly at the amplifier addresses remotely and monitor their performance, but we will,” said Morris concludes. “Once that happens, I’m going to have my diagnostics and remote access online so we can constantly monitor the amps — this is a very interesting feature of the LEA products, and we’re glad to see that they put a lot of work into the diagnostic side of the amps.”
