One of the UK’s most successful hospitality entrepreneurs is the Inception Group, which goes from strength to strength with its highly themed collection of “cocktail bars for the adventurous” in London. Two new venues have opened recently, providing an eye-catching showcase for NEXO’s super-compact ID Series loudspeakers.
The Inception Group has set a high audio standard for its Mr Foggs bars, of which there are now five in the collection. The audiovisual design company Diamond AV has been entrusted with creating signature sound systems, configuring NEXO sound reinforcement elements to achieve different characteristics for the venues.
The two newest venues are Mr Fogg’s House of Botanicals, and Mr Fogg’s Society of Exploration, both located in central London, radically different to each other in terms of interior design and target usage.
The House of Botanicals is filled entirely with tropical plants, reflecting Mr Fogg’s collection of flora and fauna from around the world. A discreet, barely-seen audio system was required, so Diamond AV’s technical director Guy Ayres specified NEXO’s small ID24 loudspeakers, which have been tailored specifically for the installation environment.
Ten ID24s were required to provide coverage for the space, full-range speakers using twin four-inch drivers in a V formation in combination with an HF compression driver. The ID24 has a unique user-adjustable horn, easily rotatable without tools by a switch on the rear panel, giving 60º or 120º high frequency coverage. This allows high frequency horizontal dispersion to be ‘tuned’ for the given application. A single NEXO IS S110e bass bin is also in place at the House of Botanicals, extending the low frequency.
For amplification and processing, Guy Ayres used two NEXO DTDAMP4x0.7 four-channel amplifiers and two NEXO DTD-T’s, which offer sophisticated control over crossover, EQ and time-alignment along with speaker protection. BSS Soundweb London BLU-100 DSP and the BLU-3 volumes control panels are also used.
Now the largest of the Mr Fogg’s venues, the new Society of Exploration is split into three spaces – the main area, the carriage and the map room. Inception Group’s marketing director Simon Allison offered a description: “The Society of Exploration on The Strand is our biggest Fogg’s to date and is truly jaw dropping with many moving parts and even a mechanical Star of Bombay negroni machine.” Its location is a stone’s throw away from the location that Jules Verne’s fictional hero Mr Fogg embarked upon his infamous journey around the world – the bustling Charing Cross station.
Once again, ten NEXO ID24 loudspeakers were used to cover the three spaces, but, as the carriage is deemed the party area, additional bass bins were added, four ID S110e subwoofers in all. NEXO DTDAMP4x1.3s and NEXO DTD-Ts power and control the system.
One more addition to Mr Fogg’s empire is due this year, and the Inception Group is full of ideas for new venues. In praise of NEXO and Diamond AV, Simon Allison comments: “Personally, I have worked with both for 10 years now.The technology is top of the range and fits discretely into our Victorian venues, which is no mean feat.”
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