About the Venue:

Established in 1884 the Transcontinental is a historic Brisbane Hotel located on George Street just across the road from the Roma Street Transit Centre.

This once “sleeping giant” of Brisbane has undergone a complete renovation internally and externally to emphasise the buildings heritage and elegance.

Now known as “The Trans” this fantastic venue boasts four bars, a dining hall, beer deck and a function space across two levels. The new modern look features exposed brick walls, polished concrete floors, wooden bars and varied wood panel or pressed metal ceilings. Part of the new look includes a throw back to days gone by where some of the historic tile work had been accidentally exposed during the renovation and now stands as a feature of the room.

About the Audio:

A major part of the refurbishment was the installation of a state of the art Audio Video and Control system that matches the ambition and direction of the Trans.

Acoustic Technologies in conjunction with Smart Home Audio Visual, designed a complete AV and control system that would satisfy the requirements of this new venue.

The newly installed sound system delivers superb even coverage throughout the various zones but also maintains a good degree of separation between the different areas allowing for multiple audio sources to be played across the venue simultaneously.

As the venue has a modern clean look, architectural integration of the AV equipment was a must. As a result the configuration, colour and location of each speaker is specific to the space ensuring minimal visual impact with uncompromised performance.

The Craft and Public Bars benefit from LG04 + LGB01 systems suitable for both daytime background music through to live performers and DJs in the evenings. These bar areas can hold several hundred people which means that ample volume and coverage is essential to cater for the wide range of uses for the space. The Dining Hall and Beer Deck have a sublime ALA and LGB03 system that provides uniform background music throughout the day and evening. These spaces are mainly white with some black furnishings (lighting, fans, architrave etc) which stand as room features, and the speaker colour selection compliments the surrounding decor nicely.

The upstairs functions level benefits from twelve LG07 enclosures evenly distributed throughout the entire level. Unlike the downstairs areas installing subwoofers simply wasn’t an option due to space and cabling restrictions. The LG07s provide stunning clarity and coverage and due to their slim line appearance they don’t intrude on the space at all. These speakers are operated in a full range configuration and have plenty of power to cater for large events with several hundred people in attendance.

Each zone has its own DJ/Band input which allows a performer to setup in just about any part of the venue and have their sound streamed to any or all areas; on top of this there is are 3.5mm jack AV inputs to simplify laptop based presentations as well as connecting iPods etc for functions.

The whole system features a number of remote and local input sources including Foxtel, Sky, DTV, two nightlife music feeds as well as DJ/Band and AV inputs which are available to all five audio zones. To accomplish this task properly advanced signal processing was required which came in the form of a DSP network consisting of a BSS London BLU-100 12×8 central processor along with a BSS BLU-BIB 8 way input expander. The staff have complete control over every zone via a number of wall mounted or roaming iPads located throughout the venue.

Amplification for the new system consists of two MK8175 eight channel amplifiers along with one BLACKBIRD 5K quad channel amplifier. These latest generation multichannel Class D amplifiers are eminently suited to high performance zoned audio applications that require a high degree of fault tolerance but have space restrictions to contend with. Taking only 6RU these three amplifiers have an impressive combined count of 20 channels.

The owners are very happy with the result and the new sound system will serve the revitalised venue in its new direction for many years to come.

Equipment List

1 x Acoustic Technologies BLACKBIRD 5K Power Amplifier
2 x Acoustic Technologies MK8175 Power Amplifier
8 x Acoustic Technologies LG04 Loudspeaker Enclosure (Black)
2 x Acoustic Technologies LGB01 Sub Bass Enclosure (Black)
4 x Acoustic Technologies ALA02T Architectural Enclosure (White)
1 x Acoustic Technologies LGB03 Sub Bass Enclosures (white)
3 x Acoustic Technologies ALA02T Architectural Enclosure (Black)
12 x Acoustic Technologies LG07 Full Range Enclosure (White)
1 x BSS London BLU-100 12×8 Digital System Processor
1 x BSS London BLU-BIB 8 Way Input Expander

CONTACT INFORMATION

Audio Design Consultant:
Jason Roesler
AT Professional
Ph: 07 3376 4122

Installation and AV Agent:
Layton Judd
Smart Home Audio Visual
Ph: 07 3733 1515