The Client

Offering peerless views over the city, top London restaurant Galvin at Windows (on the 28th floor of the London Park Lane Hilton) opened in May 2006.

With chef Chris Galvin at the helm, the restaurant quickly became one of the most talked about in London, as patrons exiting the lift headed either right into the restaurant or left into the elegant cocktail bar.

However, the sound system was the one aspect of the bar’s infrastructure that was found wanting, and general manager Fred Sirieix decided that this would need to be upgraded in order to complete the perfect atmosphere.

“The old ceiling speaker system was not sufficiently powerful for our private events, and there were ‘pockets’ where there was no coverage,” he says.

Project Brief

Sirieix had worked with the Sound Division Group in a previous role – back in his days as general manager of another exclusive London bar/restaurant, Noble Rot, that had also been equipped by the technology suppliers. He also knew that they had recently fitted out the chic Whisky Mist, operated by Piers Adam and Nick House, on the hotel’s ground floor and the site of the famous Zeta Bar.

Fred Sirieix decided it was time to renew his acquaintance with David Graham’s company. Being aware of the outstanding performance of JBL’s Control 29’s in Whisky Mist, he invited them to provide a demonstration of suitable JBL speaker products. After a demonstration of these same speakers, along with JBL Control 26CT ceiling speakers, this combination was specified as part of a complete sound package.

System Solution

Sound Division retained the existing cabling to the old ceiling speakers, which were promptly replaced with seven JBL Control 26CT ceiling speakers. Meanwhile, new cabling was run to the four Control 29 speakers – with one positioned discreetly into each of the four corners – while a Martin Audio AQ210 floor-mounted subwoofer was enclosed in its own special discreet housing at the back of the lounge.

Sound Division also installed a separate plug-in point for a flight-cased portable DJ system – housing a pair of industry standard Pioneer CDJ-1000MK3 CD players and Allen & Heath XONE:62 mixer for use when the venue reverts to party mode (and for private bookings). An EV SX300 has additionally been provided as a portable DJ reference monitor.

The existing sound equipment hardware running the background music system was reconfigured to accommodate the new JBL system with the addition of two new Crown XLS series amplifiers and a dbx Drive Rack PA that processes the system, ensuring full sound optimisation and speaker protection.

The Result

This iconic space now has a background music system that meets the high standards of the restaurant, and of which Fred Sirieix can be proud. “We wanted an even spread and now there’s nowhere in the bar with a flat spot; the sound is evenly dispersed and we have the power in the system to turn it up as required.

“Also there are no cables showing which makes this a very tidy job. It’s not a shock to see big loudspeakers when they fit into the general aesthetic.”

The installation had to be completed from start to finish in a single day – on August Bank Holiday Monday when the venue was closed. This required a lot of meticulous forward planning by the installation team, headed by Dean Osbourne, who ensured that the fit-out was completed in 15 hours.

Says David Graham, “I am really pleased with the upgrade work we have carried out; the quality of sound is vastly improved, and this is particularly noticeable when a DJ is playing in the Bar Lounge. The installation was a challenge with the timescales involved, but we delivered on time and on budget, and Fred (and the hotel) are very happy with the end result.”

Update

In 2017, Sound Division returned to Galvin at Windows to upgrade the Pioneer DJ system to the latest CDJ-900NX and DJM-750MK2 mixer, as well as installing a new BSS Soundweb London BLU-100 digital sound management system.