The Client

“The pursuit of excellence”

Beneath its gold crest logo the Antinori family motto declares, “Te Duce Proficio”, which translates as, “following your guide, I flourish”.

It means, “the pursuit of excellence informed by tradition”. And welcomes you to the world of Cantinetta Antinori, winemakers since 1385, with restaurants established in Florence, Monaco, Vienna and Zurich.

The celebrated brand also brings its Tuscan fine-dining and vintage wine experience — a quirky, exuberant yet tastefully stylish fusion of vintage period and post-modern — to the Sloane Street and Knightsbridge triangle.

Project Brief

“Sound invisibility”

Sound Division — with more than 30 years experience and expertise in the professional sound, lighting and AV industry — was recommended to Antinori as an ideal match to supply and install their sound requirement at its prestige London location, working with main contractor NVB Construction.

The interior design-led brief, created by Archflorence / Studio Ageli, called for “sound invisibility” — a discreet, unobtrusive system aligned to the restaurant aesthetic on each of the two separate floors.

System Solution

Ground floor dining and bar area

To perfectly meet the client brief in the two ground floor dining-rooms and bars, Sound Division installed the industry standard, Martin Audio C6.8T flush ceiling speakers. Adorn ACS55TS ceiling speakers were  fitted in the basement restroom areas.

Exact colour-match system

In a further refinement, each speaker grill fascia was colour-matched to the ceiling finishes using the classic RAL swatch system.  

RAL colour matching was also brought into play for the two first floor main dining areas and separate, private dining room.

First floor dining rooms

Throughout the first floor three dining room areas, compact wall-mounted Martin Audio CDD5 speakers were specified and discreetly positioned. RAL colour matching helping to make them virtually unnoticeable alongside the period-design wall furnishing.

Bass enhancement

For added warmth, a Martin Audio SX110 10” bass speaker was also installed in both the ground floor and first floor areas.

Powersoft Mezzo amplifiers are deployed to drive the two systems and a BSS Soundweb Blu100 signal processor installed to provide configurable sound management.

iPad playlist control

Sound Division also provided fast, fingertip playlist control by installing two Apple iPads with desk top mounts and a custom-designed GUI (Graphic User Interface). Source selection and volume control for separate areas can be instantly activated from a waiter station on each floor where each tablet is conveniently positioned.

Completing the client brief for all-round flexibility, connection plug-in points were also installed on both floors to cater for DJs and “Live Music Fridays”.

The Result

David Graham, leading the installation, commented: “The high specification of design and interior finishes demanded a precise attention to detail in speaker positioning and installation. We are delighted the client is happy that their requirement has been fully met by our team”.