The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace recently took the form of a massive AV upgrade at the entrance on Las Vegas Blvd, involving a massive vertical marquee, a complement of digital visuals evoking ancient Rome, and eventually a large-scale distributed audio system employing over two dozen loudspeakers from Bose Professional , including modules from the Bose Panaray and FreeSpace lines.
These upgrades were initiated by property owner Simon, with graphics, visual design and content created and implemented by Moment Factory with support from Acquire Digital. Simon and Moment Factory subsequently worked with Mood Media and Bose Professional to design, spec and install the robust audio system.
Christian L’Heureux, Producer at Moment Factory explained: “The visual elements were an outstanding success. Immediately we had visitors stopping to look and take pictures, and that increased traffic to the shops.
“We wanted a more immersive experience, so we added a sound layer to the project, that’s where Mood Media and Bose came in, and we worked together to create the audio system. I think the best way to tell a story and have a captivated audience is to have sound because it crystallises the experience for the visitor.”
On The Forum Shops project, Craig Breigle, Mood’s Director of Retail and Development System Sales noted: “It’s the biggest and brightest thing on the Strip right now! It’s always about one-upping the next guy in Vegas, and the audio and visual content at The Forum Shops are second-to-none. Once they brought on Mood for the audio phase, we looked at Moment Factory’s design and began evaluating system options from multiple brands. For all of us, especially given Simon’s very high standards throughout their properties, Bose was the clear choice in terms of sound systems and support.”
The system includes 16 Bose Panaray 402 Series IV loudspeakers in white, four additional Panaray 402 Series IV loudspeakers in black, four MB12 WR weather-resistant modular bass loudspeakers, and several FreeSpace 360P Series II full-range environmental loudspeakers. Power is handled by four Bose PowerMatch PM8500N configurable amplifiers, and processing is handled by a Bose ControlSpace ESP-880 engineered sound processor with Ethernet and a Bose ControlSpace CC-64 control centre.
Craig continued: “The Panaray 402’s in white are arranged on the building’s façade, and the 402’s in black are on the bottom of the marquee. The MB12 subwoofers are up inside the marquee, not visible, and they project the bass frequencies down and out through the bottom of the marquee. The FreeSpace 360P environmental loudspeakers are in the landscape beds in-ground along the sidewalk, located between the show area and Las Vegas Boulevard.”
Chip Harding, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Simon explained: “Our new marquee has had a very positive impact for The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace – it has elevated our presence on Las Vegas Blvd in grand style. The marquee’s unique design has changed the digital signage landscape in Las Vegas. We have definitely raised the bar in a market that is notorious for audio and visual stimulation.”
Neil Farr, Managing Director at Acquire Digital, the digital signage company involved in the project, agrees. He concluded: “The performance is amazing. It is a very challenging location, as it’s right on the Strip, with numerous other attention-grabbing elements all around it. Having clear and crisp sound with arresting graphics really creates a standout effect for the Forum Shops.”
