Yamaha Delivers Big Beats For Fitness Freaks
VondelGym is owned by a five man consortium, including Dutch television host Arie Boomsma. The first centre opened on Overtoom in Amsterdam two years ago and has proved such a success that a second one has recently opened across the city on Wibautstraat.
Opened in December 2016, the new 1100m2 facility is in the basement of an office building and has been fitted out with the latest fitness equipment for up to 120 people at a time. To help inspire participants to work themselves hard, the owners wanted an audio system that could play hip-hop music at high volumes and with plenty of bass. Experienced live sound engineer Stan van Ettikhoven was approached to see if his installation company, Rock 'n’ Roll Engineering, could help?
Stan suggested a Yamaha Commercial Installation Solutions (CIS) system, comprising 21 full-range VXS8 loudspeakers distributed throughout the space, with a compact HS8S subwoofer by the boxing ring in the centre. Powered by XMV4280 and XMV8280 amplifiers, managed by an MTX3 matrix mixer/processor and controlled via two DCP1v4s and one DCP4s panels, it delivers all the volume, power and clarity required. A microphone was also installed in the boxing ring for presentations, training and instruction.
“The system is really impressive and very suitable for hip-hop,” says VondelGym co-owner Marvin Michel. “Wherever you are you get stereo sound and the low frequencies produced by the HS8S are spread evenly throughout the gym. The HS8S is particularly impressive, considering how small it is.”
One challenge of the installation was to minimise the low frequency vibrations that could travel through the building to the offices on the floor above. Stan solved this by installing custom rubber fixings between the loudspeaker brackets and the walls. He also used the MTX3 to create a separate audio zone near the gym’s entrance bar, where the system volume can be lower if required.
“We are really pleased with the Yamaha system,” says Marvin. “We are so impressed with it that we have asked Stan to install a similar system at our first gym. The system there is only two years old, but the Yamaha solution is so much better.”
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