Renowned pastry chef and bread specialist, Eric van Otten, recently established a new food concept for his patisserie that creates multiple atmospheric eating zones with the help of Powersoft’s Dynamic Music Distribution (DMD).
Unlike many of the pastry shops that line streets of Amsterdam, Van Otten offers its guests a number of places to sit and enjoy its culinary delights: the outdoor patio, ice cream parlor, and a plethora of private spaces, each fitted with sounds that enhance the overall dining experience.
Powersoft’s Dynamic Music Distribution can provide corporate, retail or hospitality venues with a high-quality audio backbone that ensures selected speakers receive the perfect amount of power to each ‘zone’.
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Dutch professional audio distributor, Mennegat, was approached by Eric Van Otten with a brief to create a multifunctional retail and hospitality space with high quality music, tailoring the guests’ unique experience to where they are sat in the venue with independently sourced audio.
“With Powersoft’s DMD, it’s easy to divide a space into several zones – every channel of a Mezzo amplifier can be redirected to a music zone, which can be controlled individually,” said Ferdi van den Berg, commercial director of Mennegat. “This particular interface is made up of two WM Touch panels, making it even more user friendly than you’d expect. The first WM Touch is controlling the shop and restaurant, the other manages the outside patio area.”
Non-technical employees can easily operate the WM Touch panel, which lends itself to smooth and reliable audio tuning from day into the night.
Together with the WM Touch, the entire sound system is not only easy to use but was also simple to deploy by system integrators, because the preparation of the system can be made offsite with a pre-configured user interface.
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Van den Berg highly recommended DMD to end users because of the combination between low-cost/investment and a perfect user experience: “This system can be installed and fully operational in just one day, which is highly advantageous for us – the Mezzo amplifier platform provides amazing reliability, durability and is cost-effective overall,” he said.
Alongside Powersoft’s WM Touch and Mezzo amps, the install consisted of 14 Sonance Professional Series PS-S63T surface mount speakers and a Biamp internet radio, all of which work in harmony to deliver unique eating experience at the patisserie.
Currently, the market alternative to DMD is a traditional matrix system/DSP, which needs to be accompanied by a four-channel amplifier to provide all spaces with an independent music channel. With Powersoft’s DMD, two competitively priced Mezzo amplifiers can be used to, in this instance, provide enough power to amplify 14 Sonance speakers at 30W/100V together with two WM Touch screens.
“This translates into serious savings in terms of time and money when opting for Powersoft’s DMD,” continued van den Berg. “That’s the reason I went for this innovative solution and why I would always recommend it to other distributors, system integrators and end users in the retail/hospitality sector.”
Multisource management plays a pivotal role in the success of Powersoft’s DMD – onboard analogue-to-digital signal conversion is simple and one music source can route to many separate zones.
“The Powersoft team are knowledgeable and were extremely reliable throughout the project; that’s one of the many reasons why I would always recommend them to others in the industry,” added Berg.
Francesco Fanicchi, Powersoft’s corporate and marketing communication manager, believes this type of application truly showcases what Dynamic Music Distribution is capable of, and that this technology will be rolled out in many different applications in the near future.
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“DMD’s results are greater than the sum of its parts – its true potential is not always easily understood upon first hearing of it,” he explains. “We are so pleased that respected SIs and end users are continuing to understand just how powerful and effective this audio solution is, using such a simple and ergonomic interface.”
Eric van Otten, owner, patisserie, and bread specialist at Van Otten, is elated with the results of this install, stating that the subtle audio and “pleasant murmurings” of the guests creates a cozy and atmospheric feel to the eatery, which was the desired effect. “I’m really surprised at the end result and did not expect this audio installation to be as impressive as it is. The music provides privacy, so our guests can talk freely with each other. Empty spaces in the restaurant have been filled with warm, welcoming sounds. Besides this, we can select a choice of music that will contribute to the overall experience.”
