Spain - Lapso Studios’ boutique fitness studio in Barcelona is keeping the energy levels high with a powerful sound system from Electro-Voice and Dynacord. The fitness studio offers classes over three disciplines – cycling, functional fitness and barre. It required a club-style solution to ensure its clients were motivated and had the best possible experience.
“There are elements that we use in the room such as sound, microphone, lights as well as a motivational instructor to facilitate the class,” explains Lapso trainer, Ishaq Vadillo. “Sound is one of the most important things because if there is no sound, there’s no music, there’s no microphone and the class really depends on the clarity of the sound. People don’t really remember what you do, but people always remember how you made them feel. That’s the philosophy we like to implement here at Lapso.”
The Lapso team turned to local systems integrator Fentum Pro to find the right solution for its two fitness studios. “We try to solve issues with creative technical solutions that use sound and light to make immersive experiences,” states Daniel Scholten – CEO/technical director at Fentum Pro. “For a boutique and high-class studio, we were looking to find a high-class solution and for us it was Electro-Voice.”
The main challenge in the two studios was acoustic. Both work-out spaces are surrounded by mirrors, leading to a difficult environment for sound. While Fentum Pro could acoustically treat the floors and ceiling to try and minimise the sound energy bouncing around the room, it also needed to find the right loudspeakers to provide the right energy levels clearly focused on the participants.
“You have to consider the coach, and the clarity of voice under load of the system,” explains Jordi Raluy, technical director at local Electro-Voice and Dynacord partner, Acson Comercial. “We looked at the best speaker models for this project. They needed to be very directional and have the best gain before feedback.”
The chosen solution to meet these needs were Electro-Voice EVC Series loudspeakers and subwoofers. “In the room, you find 12-inch and 8-inch loudspeakers, as well as 18-inch subwoofers, all driven with Dynacord L Series amplifiers,” notes Raluy, adding that the Dynacord amplifiers were particularly important. “The FIR filters really helped us control the sound and the presets are amazing.”
Adding control to the system is the MXE5 Matrix Mix Engine used alongside Sonicue Sound System Software. “We used the Dynacord MXE5 processor extensively,” says Scholten. “The processor was very intuitive. We had to program everything properly in Sonicue to cancel all the undesired frequencies we have. It was very helpful for us to find a solution this way.”
A further advantage came from creating a simple way for the instructors to control the system from their equipment at the front of the class. “We created an interface in the tablet where instructors can control the sound and the lights from the same GUI,” explains Scholten.
Reflecting on the project, Scholten is very happy with how the system has performed. “I think we did a great job as we haven’t been called back in since the install was completed,” he smiles. “It’s working from the first day and for me, this is a success.”
“It’s amazing,” agrees Vadillo. “I have worked in many different studios before, and I must say that the one here at Lapso is world class. The sound system is fresh, it’s new, it’s crystal clear, and it allows me to deliver the class that I really want to give.”