Anyone who has had the good fortune to visit Singapore will be aware that it possesses an extraordinarily dynamic bar and restaurant culture. Delivering a wide range of modern Asian cuisine, CATO Singapore is one of the latest additions to this lively scene – and a robust Symetrix DSP is at the core of its high-end audio infrastructure.For the project and installer, locally-based Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd (E&E), the initial starting point was actually an off-duty conversation between E&E sales engineer Louis Ling and the venue’s music director, Arjun Singh. “They have been friends for a long time and were chatting one evening when Arjun told Louis that he was involved in opening a bar with a group of friends”, notes Dina Menon, E&E’s marketing manager.
As the venue took shape, it became evident that there needed to be processing scope for the upstairs bar and downstairs restaurant areas to be managed both separately and collectively. The eventual system also had to cope with the demands of background music and live DJ sets.
“There was a requirement to split up and consolidate the spaces via effective routing, while being able to tune both areas uniquely in accordance with the speakers that were installed,” explains Menon. “In addition to its attractive price point, the Symetrix DSP is easy to use and provides the appropriate amount of I/Os while offering the ability to configure ‘on the fly’ because it’s plug-and-play.”
In the final design, a single Symetrix Jupiter 8 app-based DSP handles audio processing and routing across both floors. Inputs include a Mac Mini computer and CD player, while two Symetrix ARC-2e wall panels facilitate quick and easy system adjustment. The completed installation also reveals a strong commitment to top-quality loudspeakers, with ten EAW speakers and a sub in the bar on the second level, and six JBL ceiling speakers in the restaurant on the ground floor.
Singh and his colleagues are “extremely satisfied with the sound quality” of the system, adding that E&E is currently working on an expansion initiative: “We are looking at a design to route the audio back via a Dante Virtual Soundcard so that we can record DJ sets and also stream them over the internet.”