Recognized as the best restaurant and gentlemen's club in the area, West Palm Beach's ORA Ultra Cabaret is a destination that few people ever forget. Catering to the highest expectations in adult entertainment, tourists, business professionals and a solid local following keep the venue at the forefront of its kind. The venue recently completed a substantial renovation that included new lighting and visual treatments that create an unmistakable atmosphere. And at the heart of the renovation is an entirely new sound system throughout the complex drawn from the E11EVEN Sound, Artec and Vantec catalogs of DAS Audio.
idesign, a full-service, Miami FL-based lighting, video and audio company that caters to upscale establishments such as nightclubs, lounges, hotels, resorts and restaurants worldwide, was contracted to coordinate the new audio-visual setup at the Ora Ultra Cabaret. Michael Meacham, idesign's owner and lead lighting/video designer, managed the "visual" aspects of the project. The sound system was designed and commissioned by John Fiorito and Geovanni Ortiz of DAS Audio using SMAART by Rational Acoustics while the certified installation team was Willy-Tech Services (www.willytech.net), operated by Guillermo Rodriquez.
From Room to Room, DAS Fits the Bill
The sound setup in the main room uses four DAS Audio E11EVEN Sound ES-112 three-way passive point source loudspeaker enclosures, each consisting of a 12-inch horn for the midrange, an M-75N neodymium compression driver and two bullet tweeters for the high end. These are mated with eight E11EVEN Sound ES-215 passive subwoofers, with each enclosure holding two 15-inch neodymium transducers. Additionally, there are eight Vantec-218 passive bass-reflex subwoofers, four 1000-watt E11EVEN Sound ES-BR18 bass-reflex subwoofers, plus a UX Series UX-30A 7,500-watt 30-inch excursion subwoofer. With an abundance of low-end muscle, the system routinely handles a wide range of music styles, including Top 40, Hip Hop and mainstream commercial dance.
[DAS Audio Drives Sound System at Mayflower Club]
In the DJ booth, the setup includes two DAS Artec-510 powered loudspeaker enclosures plus two DAS Action 18A active subwoofers. These enclosures providing monitoring sound for the Pioneer DJ CDJ-2000NXS2 Professional DJ Multi-Player and Pioneer DJM-900NXS2 Professional DJ Mixer.
The ORA Ultra Cabaret setup has several additional spaces that are equipped with DAS loudspeakers. In the restaurant area, the sound reinforcement setup includes six DAS Artec-326 two-way passive point source enclosures that are mated at the low end with four DAS Quantum Series Q-10 ultra-compact subwoofers. There are also a few rear conversation rooms, with each being outfitted with Artec-306 2-way passive loudspeakers and a pair of Q-10 subwoofers. Further, there is a Private Members Room setup that includes four Artec-306 two-way passive loudspeakers that are augmented with a pair of Q-10 subwoofers.
The equipment rack for the various loudspeaker systems includes four DAS EP-2K4 four-channel Class D power amplifiers, one EP-10K4 four-channel Class D power amp, and four EP-22K4 four-channel Class D power amps. Signal processing for the system includes a BSS Audio BLU-100 signal processor and a BLU-BOB Break-Out Box output expander.
In discussing the attributes that were considered crucial for the various loudspeakers, Fiorito offered the following considerations: "For this project it was important to have loudspeakers that were equally competent at both music reproduction and speech intelligibility. The DAS E11EVEN Sound collection is specifically designed for club environments, and they deliver a well-balanced spread from high frequency sounds through low frequency. Equally notable, their dispersion characteristics are such that you can fill a room with quality sound without necessarily cranking the volume to ear-splitting levels. And for announcements, the clarity of these loudspeakers is exceptional."
DAS Ensures 'The Sound System is Perfect'
Overseeing the project, idesign's Michael Meacham commented on his experience with the DAS Audio team, "DAS Audio is the only manufacturer that provides direct support for the installation dealer by handling design, project management, site visits and ensuring the sound system is perfect--with the customer being 100 percent satisfied. These factors, along with the best warranty in the industry, make DAS an outstanding choice."
The Ora Ultra Cabaret project was installed and placed into service in September 2021. According to Meacham, "The owner is immensely pleased with the sound, lighting and video production at ORA. The DAS sound system installation is one of the best in West Palm Beach while the creative lighting design and center video ring feature are custom to ORA's venue. In summation, this project involved a lot of equipment, technological know-how and installation expertise. I'm very pleased to say that it all came together beautifully."
