Jazz Café

Recently, Jazz Café’s previous sound system had begun to let the venue down. Overworking small speakers, the music was too loud in the day and not loud enough at night. So when he began looking for a new pro audio partner, the venue’s owner Beppe Grasso knew he needed something versatile. “In the afternoon and evening, people need to be able to hear the music but also talk, but later on we turn up the volume and everybody dances until late, so we needed a system that could adapt,” he explains. However, Jazz Café’s desirable location on the historic Corso Sempione presented a crucial challenge. The labyrinth restaurant/club is situated in the ground fl oor and basement levels of a 120-year-old building with residential properties above and to the sides. It’s protected from modifi cations, including the installation of damping materials, making it extremely diffi cult to contain sound. “The music has to be loud, but it can’t bother our neighbours,” says Grasso. He turned to Pioneer Pro Audio to create a new sound system that would allow him to gradually transform the ambience in each of Jazz Café’s several diff erent spaces independently of each other, without leaking sound into the surrounding properties.

Since the new sound system was christened at a pulsating launch party with a performance by top Italian DJ, Claudio Coccoluto, among others, Jazz Café’s owner Grasso has grown more and more fond of his new setup. “We’re so happy with the Pioneer Pro Audio system. Inside it’s powerful and sounds so clear, but you can’t hear the music outside so our neighbours are much happier,” he says. But it’s not just the drastic reduction of sound leakage that’s made a difference. The Powersoft amplifiers that drive the system are considerably smaller and more efficient than the old A/B amps which used a huge transformer and were installed behind one of the bars, generating furnace-like heat. Now neatly stored in a small cupboard, the cool-running Powersoft K and M Series amps have hugely reduced energy use.

Having been fully trained on how to use the system by Barrand, how did Grasso find the whole experience of working with Pioneer Pro Audio? “It was really nice. They’re very professional and efficient, and they’re always available to answer our questions,” he says, adding; “We were pleased to collaborate with such a famous brand. Jazz Café is Italian at heart but with an international twist, so this partnership felt right for us.”