The recently opened The Angeles nightclub and Holly Blue restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, FL, housed in a converted 125-year-old church, offers three distinct spaces that are all equipped with Void Acoustics loudspeakers, subwoofers and supporting components.
Specifically, the 11,000-square-foot venue houses (as the name implies) the Holly Blue restaurant and The Angeles nightclub, joined by the VIP Marvin’s Room. The vision of venue operator David Cardaci and his team at Knallhart Management Group began with taking on a long-term lease on the defunct First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village community and to retain as many of its original features as possible, including the beautiful stained-glass winders that are a distinctive element of Angeles.
“Fort Lauderdale’s first-ever high-energy nightclub needed a high-energy, high-end audio system,” Cardaci states. “We took over the venue in early 2019 since then we have brought our vision to life, designing and installing a high-spec venue to do justice to the space it occupies. The pandemic actually hasn’t really impacted us – what has taken so long has been the attention to detail for the venue to deliver the high-quality finish you see in the venue today.”
With his own in-house design team at Knallhart Management Group, he’s been able to control the process of restoring the building. The nightclub is the centerpiece, a 6,000-square-foot, two-floor space offering capacity for up to 700 patrons.
It’s outfitted with Void Acoustics flagship Incubus multi-loudspeaker system with each element addressing specific bands of the spectrum “We had to have this system,” says Cardaci. “In all honesty, I am a bit of an audio-geek, and in many ways because I knew the Incubus was what I wanted, we had to design the club around the audio system.”
The Incubus covers the entire audio spectrum, with each element of the system addressing specific bands in order to cover the full range of the music being played. “If I’m honest, way back when I first discovered Void products, it was the aesthetics which first appealed to me,” he notes. “And when I first heard the system demoed I was concerned that it wasn’t going to replicate anything other than dance music. But having now done several installations working with Void Acoustics systems I realize it not only looks amazing but functions incredibly well for any type of music genre — live music, hip-hop, EDM, festival house music – all kinds. I can honestly say Void Acoustics reacts well to every genre and every application I’ve ever asked it to deliver on.”
The Incubus Subs with hybrid horns cover 20 Hz to 65 Hz, and they’re joined by Hyperfold Subs to provide added “punch” to the low end. Meanwhile Air Arrays reinforce mid-bass, mid-range and high-frequencies. All loudspeakers are painted a custom Graphite Grey. Additional fill in the club is supplied by Stasys 118, Venu 115 V2 and Venu 215 V2 subwoofers as well as carefully positioned Air Motion loudspeakers.
DJ monitoring is handled by two Air Vantage loudspeakers paired with barewood Venu 215 subwoofers. All loudspeakers are driven by Bias Q5 amplifiers alongside a Bias Q2.
“The insulation of the building to avoid noise leakage was one of the biggest investments we made when converting the building,” Cardaci says. “We did a huge amount of work on the ceiling, as well as applying multiple layers to the walls and on the windows, which alone have been renovated with two layers of hurricane impact glass. Not surprisingly with a 100-plus-year=old structure, every time we peeled back a wall or another part of the roof, another challenge revealed itself. And so we had to take a great deal of care, alongside a considerable investment to ensure the building was fit-for-purpose and in order to minimize noise disturbance to those in the locality. The end result has been a structure which keeps the sound confined to the specific areas of the venue and prevents any noise leakage at all, either inter-venue or from inside to outside.”
Holly Blue has both indoor and outdoor spaces and can accommodate about 220. Using the weather protected IP-55 rated Cyclone 8 and Cyclone Bass meant the audio design could be replicated on the outside veranda as well as inside to help foster seamless sound throughout. Supported by Indigo 6S, Indigo 6 Pro and Indigo Subs alongside Cirrus 6.1 ceiling loudspeakers. All enclosures are driven by Bias Q1 amplifiers.
Finally, Marvin’s Room is a 450-square-foot space for up to 35 guests, clad with wood ceilings and walls, and a handmade parquet floor. The system service this room includes sculpted Indigo 6 Pro loudspeakers, a higher power version of the Indigo 6S and is complemented by Indigo Subs, with audio power via another Bias Q1 amplifier.
“I have to say the Void team is a pleasure to work with, and the product itself is absolutely incredible,” Cardaci concludes. “Our club-goers at The Angeles have not only told us they can hear the difference, they can ‘feel’ the difference. It is loud, of that there is no doubt. But it is built correctly for clarity – in short it surpasses everything I’ve ever worked with in the past.”
