CÉ LA VI, a new luxury dining, bar and club lounge complex spread across the 17th and 18th rooftop floors of the revamped Tokyu Plaza Shibuya Fukuras shopping mall in Japan, has been outfitted with a range of loudspeakers from Martin Audio.
The CÉ LA VI marque is already well known as the top floor bar of Singapore’s five-star hotel, Marina Bay Sands, and CÉ LA VI Tokyo has now opened as the first concept-imported restaurant in Japan. Patrons can take advantage of a café bar, dining, drinking and DJ performances amidst a spectacular night view of Tokyo.
Shintaro Dobashi, director of the company Enter Sandman, who was in charge of the audio design, explains, “The customer’s request was to connect all three sections of the venue; to create a restaurant that could be used commercially or privately — to make it ideal for a cool Tokyo clientele, and a place that lived up to the reputation of the CÉ LA VI brand.
“From the outset, we aimed at something with high design, excellent stability and operability while maintaining optimum quality,” he continues. “As this is a restaurant, not all staff are familiar with audio equipment, and so we embarked on the project with the aim of building an audio set up that is easy and reliable to use by anyone.”
The CLUB LOUNGE floor of the venue is served by a sound reinforcement system utilizing Martin Audio THV as mains joined SXH218 subwoofers, with CDD15 and SXF115 for side fills, LE100 for DJ monitoring and CDD12 for the VIP room.
“CLUB LOUNGE is fully glazed and customers can overlook the night sky of Shibuya,” explains Dobashi. “However, we took care of reflections back from the glass when constructing the system. First, we simulated the sound with EASE/EASE Focus to ensure the bounce back from the glass was minimized, then placed various Martin Audio loudspeakers accordingly. Carrying out repeated simulations at the design stage, we were able to achieve good process control with less slapback. “
The 17th-floor casual dining area, BAO, offers seated dining with additional terrace seating, creating a club-like atmosphere. “Because we sometimes hold events in conjunction with CLUB LOUNGE on the same floor, we combined Martin Audio C4.8T and C6.8T ceiling speakers, depending on the height,” he adds. “On the terrace seats, we put CDD12 as a main system, with CDD8 on the sides. An SX118 extends the low frequency, while CDD6 is used in areas where the main system cannot reach. Overall, Martin Audio sound remains unified throughout, including within the club area.”
The SKY BAR on the 18th floor has also been designed with plenty of Martin Audio C4.8T and C6.8T ceiling loudspeakers evenly distributed, to avoid ‘hot’ or ‘dead’ areas. “I’m delighted by the many favorable customer comments about the sound, and also the staff saying how easy it is to use,” Dobashi concludes. “We had fun to making this project because CÉ LA VI recognize the value of good sound and let us have our heads. I always hope to meet the expectations of customers who respect good sound. This time, we made EASE visualizations so we could view the data before introduction — and I am proud of what we have achieved here.”
