The Sound of Bondi | Green Blooms With Yamaha

Bondi | Green is the new flagship restaurant of the Daisy | Green collection, which has brought relaxed Australian food and drink to a range of London locations. Situated on the ground floor of the Brunel Building - a recent major office development next to Paddington station - a Yamaha audio system delivers powerful but refined sound.

Founded by Prue Freeman and Tom Onions in 2012, Daisy | Green has developed an attractive range of premises throughout London, each individually designed to make it a unique experience for customers. Completed in 2019, the Brunel Building’s 16 floors and 22,610㎡ of office space gave Prue and Tom the opportunity to establish a larger, more permanent restaurant close to its existing Darcie & May | Green restaurant, a pair of converted narrowboats which float on the adjacent Grand Union Canal.

In addition, the rooftop Pavilion Bar gives staff at the Brunel Building’s high profile businesses a chance to relax with great views over the city and surrounding areas.

Peter Kellet of Twickenham-based Viba AV was asked by Prue and Tom to design and supply high quality audio systems for both Bondi | Green and the Pavilion Bar.

“The customer brief was straightforward; they needed the best system available to match the high standards of the food and décor,” says Peter. “We had to recommend the best system available for performance, reliability and integration, also taking their commercial considerations into account.”

A particular challenge was that the Brunel Building was designed with an exposed structure, reducing its environmental impact by helping to use less embodied carbon and avoiding suspended ceilings. This meant Peter had to contend with potential acoustic issues from a lot of hard, flat surfaces and suspend most of the loudspeakers from overhead cable trays.

The restaurant covers around 750㎡ and, with the speakers hung 3.5m above the floor, Peter needed speakers which would deliver powerful but high quality, controllable audio. “Many things were on a much scale bigger than a regular restaurant installation,” he says. “In many ways it was more like installing a very large nightclub.”

Having used Yamaha’s powered DZR series loudspeakers for Viba AV’s hire department, Peter was confident that the passive CZR series with PX3 power amplifiers would accurately meet the customer’s brief. 12 of Yamaha’s lightweight, two-way CZR10s were suspended from the space’s overhead cable trays, the Yamaha brackets strengthened with bespoke plates produced by Viba AV.

Two CXS15 XLF subwoofers were provided to boost bass levels, these were installed at 5.5m above the floor, also on custom brackets. “The steel of the RSJs is 28mm thick, so we had to use the largest Lindapter girder clamps available, adding rubber mounts for sound separation from the floors above,” says Peter.

Four VXS5 two-way surface mount speakers were installed in the VIP area, with a pair of VXC4 celling speakers in the customer toilets. Six PX3 power amplifiers were installed, with system management by an MTX3 matrix processor via a DCH8 digital control hub.

Meanwhile, in the Pavilion Bar on the 16th floor roof terrace, Viba AV installed six Yamaha VXS5 two-way surface mount loudspeakers and a VXS10S ceiling-mounted subwoofer for the indoor area. The IP35 weatherproof rating of the VXS5 also made it ideal for installing four more on the outdoor terrace. A pair of PX3 power amplifiers drive these speakers.

“In terms of control we kept it simple, setting up the Bondi | Green installation as a four zone system with a DCP4V4S digital control panel behind the bar,” says Peter. “The Pavilion Bar audio system is separate, but we installed fibre links for video, running 200 metres up all 16 floors of the building.

“We also supplied a CCTV 4K video system, an 86-inch LED screen and exterior LED lighting, all integrated with the audio in one large 42 unit AV rack.”

“We are very happy with the quality of the Yamaha system and with their service and technical support,” says Prue. “Together with the great service and backup from Viba AV, we have a very flexible, high quality audio solution which helps our customers enjoy an outstanding experience.”