Located along Miami’s scenic Biscayne Bay, AmericanAirlines Arena is home to the NBA’s Miami Heat basketball team while also serving as a leading venue for concerts and a variety of other attractions. Its Café 601 at AmericanAirlines Arena, previously known as Bongos, recently received a substantial facility upgrade. To ensure the best possible sound for the new area, loudspeakers drawn from the WR, Artec 300, and Artec 500 series catalogs of Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio were deployed.
Jorge Arronte, Manager of Sound, is responsible for the various installed fixed and portable audio systems at AmericanAirlines Arena, including the facility’s computer systems for control and equalisation. He discussed the Café 601 overhaul and his reasons for deploying the various D.A.S. Audio point source loudspeaker systems.
“Café 601 at AmericanAirlines Arena measures approximately 11,000 sq. feet between both levels and the adjacent outdoor lounge area—called Cabana 601—that adds capacity for roughly another 500 patrons,” Arronte explained. “This combined area is extremely versatile and is able to accommodate most any type of event. In the short time since we re-opened this area, we’ve already had a few private parties with a DJ, corporate meetings, and some company presentations. Cabana 601 is a ‘very Miami’ outdoor area that gives our guests that outdoor South Beach atmosphere right here in Downtown Miami. There’s plenty of good food, good drinks, and good sound with a relaxing groove about this area.”
“Café 601 has the capability of doing it all—from DJ’s to live bands,” Arronte added. “Using our Dante® audio network, we can connect a band or DJ with a localised sound system outside and pipe it into the space—providing an even wave of clean, robust sound with the help of our new D.A.S. loudspeakers. For this project, we installed 10 D.A.S. WR-6412DX loudspeakers, 15 Artec 508, 12 Artec 310.64, 8 Artec 510, and 3 Artec 526 loudspeaker systems. Low frequency support is handled using 4 Artec 322S bass reflex subwoofers. We started the facility upgrade last November and everything was operational for the opening in January.”
As for actual placement of the various loudspeaker systems, Arronte reports that the 12 Artec 310.64 enclosures were deployed in the Tumbler Bar upstairs using adjustable wall mounts plus 1 Artec 322S subwoofer. Adjacent to that area is the Decanter Bar. Here, Arronte and his crew installed 7 Artec 508 loudspeakers on U brackets plus 1 Artec 322S subwoofer. “In the South meeting main room,” Arronte says, “we have two flavours of D.A.S. loudspeakers: 8 Artec-510’s mounted on the wall and 3 Artec 526 enclosures in a small extension area adjacent to the main room. And in the Cabana 601 area, we have 8 Artec 508’s with 2 Artec 322S subwoofers to really give some feel to the open area. Outside we have 10 WR-6412DX all weather enclosures installed to cover the outside patio area”
While he has been very pleased with the performance of numerous D.A.S. Audio loudspeaker offerings and has used them on previous projects at AmericanAirlines Arena, Arronte was particularly impressed with the Artec 508 for this job. “I love the clarity and full sound of the D.A.S. Artec 508 loudspeaker,” he reports, “which is a relatively small box. There’s not much tweaking of the sound necessary to achieve smooth, intelligible vocals for both meetings and music reproduction. This is true of all the D.A.S. loudspeakers, but that little guy, in particular, is one clean, powerful loudspeaker.”
With projects of this complexity, questions inevitably arise. In this regard, Arronte was, once again, very pleased with D.A.S. Audio’s customer and technical support services. “All through the design and installation process,” he said, “we always knew D.A.S. Audio’s Miami-based support team was there for us. They promptly answered all our questions and brought demo product by so we could make informed purchase decisions for the various areas.”
Since the January opening, the new loudspeaker equipment at Café 601 and the adjacent Cabana 601 has received plenty of use and Arronte reports he couldn’t be happier, “Now that everything is in place, we are very happy with our decision to include D.A.S. Audio in our project. The sound is excellent, the facility is enjoying the audio, and the arena has received numerous compliments; both via email and straight from guests attending various functions. The AmericanAirlines Arena and our Miami Heat fans are enjoying the space completely!”
