The Amerikalinjen building has been reborn as one of Oslo’s premier urban
boutique hotels, complete with a comprehensive Genelec sound system supplied by
Norwegian pro audio specialists, Benum. Occupying some of Oslo’s most prime real estate,
Amerikalinjen – owned by the Nordic Choice Hotels group – has retained all of its authenticity whilst providing today’s travellers with a thoroughly modern experience.
“Genelec was a completely natural choice for this installation,” said Ronald Hernes,
Benum CEO who oversaw the Amerikalinjen project. “Firstly, the sound quality is second to
none. Secondly, they are active speakers which are therefore easier to cable and install, and there is no need for an amp rack room. Finally, you know that once they are in, the client will have trouble-free service for years. There’s no doubt that, for a project of this calibre, Genelec ticks all the boxes.”
“From an architectural point of view, the building is beautiful with lofty ceilings and large
windows,” said Ronald. “It looks wonderful, but it’s not ideal when it comes to speaker
placement. Our main concern was achieving the required coverage with such large volumes
of space to cover. In the conservatory, we also had to think about the reflections off the glass roof. Fortunately, there’s quite a lot of greenery which helps deaden the room a little.”
“We opted for eight of the larger 4030Cs in the cocktail bar to make sure they had enough
power for the late-night crowd. For the reception, the restaurant, and the conservatory ‘garden’ we used lots of 4020Cs. Each area also benefits from a pair of 7040A subwoofers (except reception which only has one) to provide a subtle, but critical boost to the low end without being too physically imposing. In total we installed thirty-eight 4020Cs, eight 4030Cs and seven 7040A subs. Everything is on a Dante network distributed via an Allen & Heath dLive DM0 MixRack which is broken out into analogue at each zone via a Neutrik interface, and then to the loudspeakers via Sonifex active balanced splitters. Each zone is equipped with an A&H IP1 network controller which gives local operators access to source selection and volume. Finally, we put an A&H IP6 in reception which provides control over multiple zones.”
