Of the four locations for Latin nightspot Cuba Libre Restaurant and Rum Bar, the one in Orlando, Florida, is geographically closest to its island namesake. Cuba Libre Orlando just finished a complete renovation of its sound systems, which are at the heart of what sets these venues apart. After dinner on weekend evenings, the 20,000-square-foot restaurant transforms into a dance venue, with DJs and live bands pumping music throughout the restaurant’s various spaces into the late hours. And the sound that patrons now hear is from Bose® Professional.
Cuba Libre
Four Bose RoomMatch® modules, 19 RoomMatch Utility loudspeakers and three RoomMatch RMS subwoofers fill DJ/band performance spaces on both floors, while over 40 Bose FreeSpace® speakers assure that the music reaches into every square inch, from the bar to the three VIP areas to the restrooms. These are powered by eight Bose PowerMatch® PM8500N, two PM8250N, and one PM4500N networked power amplifiers, and managed using Bose ControlSpace® ESP-00 Series II signal processing with CC-64 and CC-16 wall controllers. Together, these Bose Professional sound systems keep Cuba Libre’s patrons immersed in great-sounding audio.
“I was looking to take the sound here to the next level, and when we heard about the features and the audio quality of the Bose systems, we knew we had found what we were looking for,” says Barry Gutin, Principal and Co-Founder of GuestCounts Hospitality, Cuba Libre’s parent company. “We have a huge amount of space and lots of individual areas within it, like our three VIP areas. We wanted to have the absolute best sound, and we wanted to make sure the music was everywhere, but we knew that to do that, the sound had to be focused, to keep it from bleeding from one area to the next. That’s what the RoomMatch speakers can do — they keep the music on the people, not on the walls.”
With a total of 42 full-range array modules, the RoomMatch modular design allows the system to be optimized for almost any room size, shape or acoustics. Innovative Bose technologies, such as the ControlSpace ESP-00 Series II engineered sound processor, which delivers high-quality signal processing through a flexible audio platform, ensure that concert-quality sound is delivered everywhere in the house evenly. “The Bose systems really do make the music fit the space,” Gutin marvels, noting how the RoomMatch modules fill the DJ areas while the FreeSpace DS40 speakers keep the bar areas well covered but still let the bartenders hear orders clearly, and the DS100F in-ceiling speakers keep the energy high but not overpowering in the VIP areas. “Even when two DJs are playing at the same time, there’s no crossover between them,” says Gutin. “The music in each area is distinct and clear. The sound is fantastic, clear and full. It’s far superior to what had been in there before. It’s just an amazing sound system. Everyone loves it.”
