CÉ LA VI TOKYO, a futuristic and all-encompassing restaurant centered around mixology, music and cooking opened in 2019. The restaurant is equipped with the latest technology from leading acoustic and lighting manufacturers. For its backbone infrastructure, Luminex was chosen for its highly reliable switches. On the audio side, Martin Audio speakers, Powersoft power amplifiers, SoundTube waterproof speakers, and Symetrix touch panels are used.
Luminex equipment list:
GigaCore14
GigaCore14 with PoE
GigaCore16Xt
Gigacore10
This article is an excerpt from a use case courtesy of Audio Brains, – Luminex’s partner in Japan. To view the full version of the articles, click the link below:
Cooperation: AUDIO BRAINS Co., Ltd
On December 17, 2019, CÉ LA VI TOKYO opened on the 17th and 18th rooftop floors, in Tokyo Plaza Shibuya, lately called Shibuya Fukurasu. CÉ LA VI is known as the restaurant on the top floor of Singapore’s famous five-star hotel “Marina Bay Sands”. CÉ LA VI TOKYO is the first Japanese branch of the global restaurant brand. This area, Shibuya, has always been at the forefront of Tokyo’s cultural sphere. People can find many cafés and bars around, enjoy the nightly scenery of Shibuya and attend DJ performances as well as experience the foods and drinks in fine-dining spaces with luxurious atmospheres.
We’ve interviewed Mr. Dobashi, CEO of ENTER SANDMAN LTD., who was in charge of the acoustic design of this 2,300 sq meters sized venue.
1. What were the customer requirements in terms of acoustic design?
There were three main requirements:
1. “I wanted to connect all three sections of the exclusive area”,
2. “We should be able to use the restaurant individually or for private events”, and most importantly…
3. “As part of the redevelopment of the Shibuya area, and the CÉ LA VI brand in Tokyo I wanted to create something that is “just cool”.”From the beginning, we had in mind to create a solution with a modern design, stable, easy to use while maintaining the highest quality.
2. Please tell us about the IP Network infrastructure of digital transmission put in place.
From console to processor, to power amplifier, everything is based on Dante. To align the total of 5 sections either exclusively occupied by the tenant or shared with other tenants across different floors, each section is connected through Luminex GigaCore switches via multi-mode fiber or CAT6 cabling. The restaurant is open from 11:00 to 24:00, and the club from 18:00 to 05:00 in the morning, leaving very little idle time. On top of the primary and secondary backups, the power amplifier has become a redundant system that seamlessly switches to analog input if the Dante signal is lost. Sound output within the sections is then guaranteed in the unlikely event of a network failure. By assigning fixed IP addresses to all devices, we have created a system that, in the event a problem would occur, quickly recovers to the normal state by replacing a faulty device with a replacement having the same IP address.
3. What are the benefits of installing a network infrastructure in such facilities?
First of all, I think “stability” can be mentioned. When designing a solution, I always keep stability, operability, and expandability in mind; I decided to adopt Dante for its stability with redundancy and its expandability that swiftly addresses the sudden customer request for playing sound with Dante.
Since the system is networked, it can be easily monitored centrally, allowing fast and accurate system diagnosis.
Since the system should be operated by nonprofessional audio staff, it should be as easy and intuitive as possible. Therefore, a graphical, easy to understand customized screen for control has been built on a Symetrix T5 touch panel. On the touch panel alone, the operator can do all that is necessary for switching between audio sources.
I also think that one of the biggest advantages is that you can pre-configure the system. It took almost one year to prepare this opening, but the installation and set-up period was kept very short. The reason that made a short installation time possible was that we did create offline configurations, temporarily assembled the equipment and loaded the configurations into it in advance. So, all we had to do at the site of installation was connect the equipment and bring it online. When it comes to Symetrix touch panels, the previous analog systems required additional expenses and labor with us, say, having to add and wire hardware per request. However, network infrastructure makes it easier; if you want to add functions, you simply need to upload the data you prepared off-line in the office. You can freely add additional functions on the screen at no extra cost, which is very effective in such environments where time is limited. I also believe that one of the biggest advantages of network infrastructure is that it can be updated to adapt to future trends and to keep the highest usability.
Dante has already become the mainstream for live sound, and I think that network infrastructures will become increasingly adopted in such facilities. From my perspective, if there is a refurbishment project, we actively promote network infrastructures.
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About Luminex
Luminex Network Intelligence is a Belgium-based manufacturer of data distribution equipment for professional lighting, audio and video applications. Besides Ethernet-to-DMX converters & DMX/RDM splitters for lighting control projects, Luminex also produces Ethernet switches, enabling users to build a complete data distribution system for all types of AV applications. The GigaCore switches are, like almost every other Luminex device, truly plug-and-play products that provide an excellent solution to expand an AV network in a very user-friendly way, without needing any IT knowledge. Luminex products can be found in the most demanding installation, theatre and touring AV applications worldwide.