Located in the heart of the Financial District, Ulysses’ Folk House is named after the famous Irish novel written by James Joyce. This venue is a popular downtown destination with live music on Saturdays and DJ’s three nights a week. Founded by a group of private investors and restaurateurs from Ireland and Greece, the venue serves up a dual theme of Irish and Greek influence that has become very popular with locals and visitors alike.
To ensure the best audio quality for their guests, Ulysses’ Folk House recently upgraded its sound reinforcement capabilities with loudspeakers drawn from the Vantec Series catalog of Valencia, Spain-headquartered D.A.S. Audio.
Canal Sound & Light of New York City was contracted to deploy the new system. Jeffrey Kwan, the company’s executive vice president, coordinates much of the company’s AV system sales and installations. He discusses the Ulysses’ Folk House project and his reasons for deploying the D.A.S. loudspeakers.
“Ulysses’ Folk House has three components,” Kwan explains. “There’s the main bar (where the DJ booth is located), the Carvery bar (where the live music stage is located), and an outdoor beer garden. The venue’s approximate size is 5000 square feet plus the outdoor space. The Carvery bar is where the live music takes place, and this is where the new D.A.S. Audio equipment was installed.”
The sound system consists of two DAS Vantec 15A powered, 2-way point source enclosures and two Vantec 18A powered subwoofers, which serve as the house mains. Additionally, there are two flown Vantec 12A powered, 2-way loudspeakers that serve as a sidefill / delay setup to add further depth to the room’s sound. Facing the stage, the mains are flown (from left to right): Vantec 15A / Vantec 18A and Vantec 18A / Vantec 15A.
When asked about the various attributes that made the D.A.S. Audio Vantec series loudspeakers the ideal choice for this project, Kwan offers the following thoughts, “The Vantec series is a high-quality point source loudspeaker that has high output and, most importantly, rigging points for both the mains and subwoofers. Given the low ceilings in this space, we wanted to fly the loudspeakers upside down to put the horn driver closer to the listener. Our installation partner, AVprosNY, and I were very pleased at how easy it was to do this.”
“We love the music reproduction and speech intelligibility characteristics of these loudspeakers,” he adds. “As our customer uses them for live music, speech and parties, the Vantec series has proven to be a versatile loudspeaker line that handles the various activities that occur in this space very well. D.A.S. Audio’s DSP options make the Vantec line a great box to setup and modify as required and are among the most impressive aspects of the series.”
With many AV installations, integrators look to the equipment manufacturer for advice and recommendations, so quality customer and technical support services are crucial. In this regard, Kwan gives D.A.S. Audio’s support services high marks.
“Darren ‘B-Side’ Young, D.A.S. Audio Miami’s Business Development manager for the MI, Retail/Club, and Installation markets, understands his customers,” he says. “As Canal Sound & Light is one of B-Side’s multi-faceted customers involved in retail, installations, and production, he makes certain we’re well-supported in the many ways necessary for us to succeed. We’ve been very pleased.”
The new sound reinforcement system at Ulysses’ Folk House was installed in September 2017. Since that time, Kwan reports the system has been very well received.
“The owners are ecstatic about how their amazing new sound system impresses both customers and bands alike. Already, they look forward to adding some D.A.S. monitor wedges in the near future.”
