Recently-opened restaurant Boudica, a stylishly presented venue located in London’s culinary scene in Battersea, is equipped with a commercial audio system incorporating a range of components from Optimal Audio in a project headed by Essex-based integration firm Cosmic Electronics.
Music plays a key role in establishing the right ambience at Boudica, and with audio reinforcement in mind, co-founder Ed Allingham sought advice from Mark Damon, director at Cosmic Electronics, who recommended Optimal Audio for the project.
“The Optimal Audio package caught my attention from the off — its emphasis on simplifying commercial audio for the benefit of installers and end-users, whilst maintaining audio quality, was very appealing,” Damon says. “Having used elements of the ecosystem on several jobs now, it’s certainly lived up to its billing. When the Boudica project arose, I had no hesitation in recommending Optimal Audio.”
Boudica operates across two floors with the main downstairs restaurant comprising a bar to the left of the space, rear seating and side seating, while the upstairs space is reserved for private dining. The brief required a zoned audio system that could meet the varying requirements of the spaces, from low-key background music at one end of the spectrum to DJ sets at the other.
The system is divided into six zones, namely bar, dining area, entrance, upstairs dining, terrace and restrooms, with an Optimal Audio Zone 8P eight-zone controller with DSP, amplification and WebApp, at its heart. The onboard WebApp provides access to EQs, loudspeaker presets and time-of-day routines, and is compatible with any device to make for a more straightforward setup.
Cosmic installed also deployed Cuboid 8 two-way, full-range, passive 8-inch on-wall loudspeakers mounted on UB1-B horizontal brackets as well as three Sub 15 subwoofers for the bar and restaurant, with two Up 6 two-way passive 6-inch ceiling loudspeakers for the upstairs room. A single Up 6 is deployed in each of the venue’s two restrooms, with audio power provided by two Optimal Audio SmartAmp 30 (4 x 250 watts with integral DSP).
“As has been the case each time we’ve used Optimal Audio products, the job was quick and easy,” Damon explains. “Such is the intuitive nature and ease of use of the Zone 8P controller, I’d estimate that within 30 minutes of starting the routing/setup process we had sound coming through the system, much to the client’s delight – very impressive. Being able to hide unwanted zones and sources means that the user is presented with an uncomplicated simple-to-use interface. For small to medium-sized venues like this, Optimal Audio’s Zone will now be my go-to controller.”
Boudica co-founder Ed Allingham adds, “Having made a significant investment in interior design, it was vital to us that we had an audio system that not only sounded great across the volume spectrum, but also had a pleasing aesthetic. The system is sleek and unobtrusive but definitely matches our ambition to provide an authentic club sound when required – the Cuboid speakers achieve that very impressively.
“It was also very important that our team felt confident about using the system to best effect without being intimidated or bogged down by something overly technical. The Optimal Audio Zone controller is brilliant in that respect. I’m sure that there’s a lot of hi-tech stuff going on in the box but the user interface is so simple! It really was up and running in no time…”
Optimal Audio
Cosmic Electronics
