The Prioriti company has been working since 2003 in the field of acoustic design, particularly in Public Address and professional sound systems at complex automated sites. During this long period of work the company has built up priceless experience in systems integration for multi-media business systems, content delivery systems, and displaying media content at large or complex venues. This has given them the experience to optimize the ideal methods and ways of working - which make their services simpler and more affordable for clients.
At Prioriti they are happy to contribute to the operational level of the market overall. Longterm readers of Show-Master need no introduction to the company. In our first issue in 2012 there's an article about the considerable work they did installing the sound system at Europe's new largest ice rink (15 thousand square metres), which opened in Moscow on 1st December 2011 at Gorky Park in Moscow. A number of Europe's most famous companies handled the architectural side of that project, constructing the ice rink and lighting it. The best example of how the company works can be found in Denis Afanasyev himself, the company owner. Readers found out more about the acoustic system installed at the rink from an interview with him. He politely described the nuances of Prioriti's work, and replied to all of Show-Master's questions.
Denis Afanasyev: “The first thing which we do is assign each of our clients a Personal Manager – and the project is visualised in whatever way the client is most used to workking, be it CAD, Easy, or Bose Modeler. From the outset we show them the entire range of services, completely managed through by us”.
Recently the list of sites the company has worked on was augmented by a c hotel. Prioriti's portfolio is already full of successful projects – a chain of restaurants which required a full range of audio, video and lighting fit-out for VIP guests and for holding celebratory events with live music. The team from Prioriti also equipped a cultural and recreational centre, a chain of Rosneft filling stations, chains of supermarkets, and office premises for major corporations. In the case of the East Gate Hotel, the challenge for the company's specialists was to fit out two stores of a multi-storey hotel, as well three of its lifts. On the ground floor there were three zones to wire for sound – reception, a corridor with toilets, and the restaurant.
On the second floor two conference halls needed sound equipment (a small one, and a larger one), with toilets and a chat room for optional buffet service. Prioriti employs skilled engineers who are certified to European standards. In this case it wasn't coincidence that they chose equipment from the American supplier Bose. This brand came strongly recommended for its traditional high-quality sound, along with a reputation for reliability. Here, of course, quality is an important factor for both business situations and for budget solutions alike – and the 4* hotel was no exception. Bose equipment meets the EN-54 standards easily, and comes from distributors with the corresponding warranties. It makes a good capital investment for any building, which will be enhanced by equipment of such standard. This means that you will easily find equipment hall-marked Bose in both European and American hotels, and world-class business-centres, and in turn its influence is felt in similar such venues in Russia too. Characteristically, alongside the high-quality Bose sound equipment installed for the convenience of clients in the hotel by Prioriti, there were also enhanced-brightness top-end video projectors by Sanyo installed in the conference rooms, alongside motorized screens by Draper, and a Shure radio-microphone system.
The installation included the following services:
- supply, fitting, wiring in the communications and launching the system's operation
- careful and effective use of the available budget
- efficient and effective service
- concentration of the key equipment in one room, with further installations in the required locations
- high-quality background music at different levels of volume
Show-Master: Why did you choose Bose equipment for East Gate?
Denis Afanasyev: Bose acoustic systems are a classic one-piece piece of equipment with the full range of dynamics, and can be installed in locations where both background music and a high-end PA system is needed, with high-quality sound, that also supports the fire alarm system. On the ground floor of the hotel we used speakers Bose FreeSpace DS16F, wired into the ceiling. These are not built-ins, but installed on the surface, consisting of four satellites and a bass module with all the necessary electronics already inside, powered to consume up to 100-125 watts of music power per channel amplifiers.
Show-Master: Was the choice of equipment the same in each zone?
Denis Afanasyev: For the conference rooms on the second floor we chose broadband ceiling-mounted speakers, and for the chat room we picked the well-known FreeSpace 3. The Bose FreeSpace DS40F differs from the FreeSpace DS16F in its drivers, which are more responsive. This makes them more suitable for a location where they have to serve not only for background music and announcements, as well as for fire alarm use. The second advantage of this product range is that they can be painted after they've been installed. East Gate has only just opened, and if there is any restyling it can be done at any convenient time, without any additional costs or need to remove the Bose FreeSpace speakers.
Show-Master: What other features did Prioriti use to expand the functionality of this project?
Denis Afanasyev: The company installed the project with a future-proof option to revise it later. If the client gave orders to make a significant rebuild of the acoustic system, and wanted to do that themselves by mounting all the necessary acoustic panels, they could.
Show-Master: What are the options for adding equipment into this system later?
Denis Afanasyev: The client's idea was that all the equipment – sound processing, background music source, microphones, amps, alarms – are all installed from one server on the ground floor. This suggestion was ideal for implementing the following schemes. The processor Bose ControlSpace ESP-88 can handle all the mixing and commutation for the acoustic equipment installed on both floors, and cope with additional four-channel amps Bose Entero 4250. The audio processor ControlSpace ESP-88 is a flexible, scalable, top-quality digital system providing an AV/DS Public Address facility. This sort of equipment grew out of fire alarm systems and has become established in the top end of the market as a business area solution, and is in strong demand. The AV/DS market is on a continuous growth curve.
The Bose ESP-88 has eight microphone/line outputs, four audio-slots for 16 supplementary analogue or 32 digital (AES3) channels. This is just great for a modern hotel in the business segment, including flexible zoning, and integration with the PA and fire-alarm systems. And so for providing sound on the other floors, you would just need to add similar units as needed. The solution would continue to meet the requirements of simplicity of operation, wide range of volume levels, and control from other locations in the building. Just as before, control needed equalization, delays, matrix misers and other modules of the program is accessible by the client through the software via password protection, and access over IP. It can be connected to computer with full GUI amenities, including access to the system settings for two floors, or the entire twelve floors.
Show-Master: What's the drawback when offering such a wide operational range?
Denis Afanasyev: The expanded volume range accompanied by an unaffected balance of sound is achieved by the Bose ESP-88 DSP-Processor. The system is supplied with models for processing the signal, as well as dynamic, graphic and parametric equalization of the acoustics. Crossovers, matrix routers, signal-testing settings generators, indicator measures with graphic displays, duckers which can be switched off, gates and remote control of commutators of the sound source – you've got the whole thing. The hotel staff can attach any kind of sound source, from microphones to players. Going back to your previous question, I'd like to clarify what I said. Thanks to the solution we've installed, the owners of the East Gate Hotel will be able to expand and configure their existing sound system to use multi-channel formats and surround-sound.
Show-Master: Are any of the client's staff studying how to do that?
Denis Afanasyev: We always offer our clients that possibility. By teaching the staff to use the equipment Prioriti has installed, they gain the option to take full advantage of all the facilities the system offers. Of course, the client could also use these facilities without having to train the staff on them. In any case we can offer to walk staff through what is available and send one of our staff to show them how, show them the supplies and equipment – we need just one working day's notice and you can contact us 24/7.
In this case the control system was achieved by using the Bose CC16 and Bose CC64 control panels. We installed them in the conference halls, at Reception, and in the restaurant. Using these control locations the hotel staff can easily manage the volume of the system without any training and without needing any physical access to the equipment. In the same areas we have also installed wall-mounted Bose LIM with XLR and RCA local units. These enable uses in each specific location to attach any kind of sound source they wish (microphones, players and so on) in order to hold any kind of event, or to make announcements. The CC-16 panel has an LCD display and is connected to the ESP-88 via the RS-485. The CC-64 is connected to a 10T-base Ethernet. Up to sixteen devices of any kind can be connected simultaneously, so there's no limit to the growth that this system offers.
Show-Master: Does Prioriti only offer delivery after full pre-payment?
Denis Afanasyev: Our experience and services allow us to develop a business relationship that is flexible and helps our clients – especially in the State sector – to provide for the latest trends in technology with our assistance. I hardly need add that we've always coped successful with that kind of situation and met all the deadlines. The East Gate Hotel is a proud example of the technical facilities provided for the convenience of clients for the conference rooms, and listed on the hotel's website, and Prioriti continues to offer its fullest guarantees and service warranties for this work.
Show-Master: Thank you for a wonderful interview. I'm sure this project isn't the last that we'll feature in the pages of Show-Master.