The new Dal Toro Restaurant at The Palazzo Tower of the Venetian Resort & Casino Las Vegas boasts an interesting adjunct to an outstanding dining experience. Co-sited with The Strip’s first Lamborghini dealership, the location offers a unique combination of exotic Italian cuisine and probably the world’s most coveted Italian car brand. And to support this Las Vegas attraction is a flexible Lab.gruppen-powered AV system that was designed and installed by Paradise Production Services; it includes loudspeaker systems from Martin Audio, Bose and JBL Professional.
“The background music system for our new restaurant, outdoor patio and lobby areas sounds outstanding,” considers Lorenzo Barracco, the restaurant’s proud co-owner. “We needed a high degree of flexibility to provide quality sound coverage throughout the inside lounges and terrace areas.” The outdoor patio is surrounded by 100 feet of marbled mosaic Palladian Italian fountains. “And our after-hour events in the nightclub and ultra-lounge needed a system that is powerful and, above all, totally reliable,” Barracco adds. Final cost for the AV system was a reported $300,000.
The new systems were commissioned by Paradise Production Services’ president Carlos Henao, working closely with restaurant and dealership staff. “Lorenzo [Barracco] was looking for top-of-the line brands but pretty much left it up to us to design the AV system.” The audio section comprises a rack of six Lab.gruppen C Series four-channel amplifiers powering a total of 26 JBL Contractor Series Control 25 two-way cabinets and eight Control SB1 subwoofers for the restaurant terrace, in addition to Bose Panaray column arrays for the main areas throughout the car dealership, as well as the restaurant and bar areas.
“The C Series simply works!” the AV installer confides. “We are very happy with the Lab.gruppen brand, since it packs a total of 30,000 quality watts into a remarkably small amount of space – we just set and forget them. Our 12-U rack houses six, four-channel units that are rated at 1.2 KW into four ohms.” Each C Series channel features an individually configurable Voltage Peak Limiter (VPL), which allows the output to be optimized for any loudspeaker load – whether a single large subwoofer or a series of small 100/70 V loudspeakers. “Because we are based in Miami and the installation is in Las Vegas,” Henao explains, “we needed an amplifier that is extremely reliable. The C Series from Lab.gruppen is that and more; to date we have had no complaints.
“The system offer a lot of high-quality power for music playback around the venue. Although the clients will never really need that wattage, we like to build in plenty of headroom, because you never know when it might be needed during a disco event, for example; the Lab.gruppen amplifiers will handle all of that and more.”
Eight C Series-powered Bose Panaray 502A mid/high-frequency units with four Model 502B subwoofers were installed in the upper area’s restaurant and DJ areas, with an identical complement in the downstairs dealership and sales rooms. “The Panaray systems are very versatile and can be used in meeting spaces, lounges and restaurant areas,” Henao offers. “For the ceiling speakers we installed 52 Martin C8.1T two-way and 14 JBL Control 312CS subwoofers, which include a large back can. Our supplier, Mike Harris of Harris Audio Systems, a local Lab.gruppen dealer, recommended these Martin systems, which offer outstanding performance specs with multi-tap capabilities, and eight-ohm operation if necessary. Outside, we installed 26 [JBL Professional] Control 25 two-way cabinets, and eight Control SB1 subwoofers.”
According to Henao, the AV system is based on a 16-zone Crestron Electronics dual-bus control architecture: a total of 10 zones throughout the restaurant and six for the dealership, including the sales floor and merchandizing areas. “We had installed [a similar topology] with great success at the Las Vegas Hilton’s Temple Lounge,” the designer says. Audio and video playback sources for the Crestron system include cable boxes, DVD, CD and MP3 players, plus an Alcorn McBride DVM-HD for playback of video promos. All system control from the Crestron PRO2 is via Ethernet and RS-232/422 serial ports. Jeff Simmonds, based in Salt Lake City, programmed the Crestron systems, working with primary electrical contractor J. P. Rodrigues of Las Vegas. For control of overall level settings, system EQ and delay, Henao specified a pair of BSS Audio SoundWeb Model 9088s and two Bose Panaray controllers; a total of three Model 9010 Jellyfish wall units – two in the lower dealership and one in the Dal Toro bar – also were included.
Crestron-controlled video displays installed throughout the restaurant, bar and car dealership include Toshiba 37HL67, 42HL167 and 52HL167 screens, plus a single Sanyo 3k projector. “A dozen of the 37-inch screens are installed above individual stalls for the vehicles being displayed in a lower showroom area,” Henao explains. In addition to Lamborghini models, the dealership also represents Spyker, Saleen and Bugatti brands. “We specified,” says Patrick Searcy, general manager of Lamborghini Las Vegas, “that each car-display area be provided with an individual large-screen display that can be used to show in split-screen mode, video presentations about each model, in addition to specifications for each model.”
“The new AV systems sounds and look terrific,” Searcy concludes. “The screens worked out well, and the music playback system is outstanding – clear and precise in all areas of the lower and upper areas. We are very happy with the installation.”
“We were working on a controlled budget, “Barracco recalls, “and it would have been easy to spend a couple of million dollars on the sound and video systems. But the Lab.gruppen-powered system offers outstanding value for money; it strikes the right balance between an appropriate budget and functional style. I wanted the best, and that is what I got. We are very, very happy with its performance throughout the restaurant and car dealership.
With over 3,000 suites, luxury shopping and world-class dining, the themed design of the recently opened 50-story Palazzo Las Vegas is reflective of modern European ambiance and luxury living. In addition, 20 stores and luxury brands made their Las Vegas debuts at The Palazzo, including Chloe, Tory Burch, Christian Louboutin, Diane Von Furstenberg, Van Cleef & Arpels, Catherine Malandrino, Anya Hindmarch, and Michael Kors. The Palazzo offers a variety of cuisines from a collection of award-winning chefs, in addition to the world’s largest Canyon Ranch SpaClub, Jay-Z’s signature 40/40 Club and The Strip’s first Lamborghini dealership. The first hotel to open on the Las Vegas Strip in nearly three years, The Palazzo is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.