Raise Your Glasses to Dinning Sky-high with Qbba Terrace
The new Qbba Terrace situated in the suburb of Mumbai, known for its excellent ambiance, drinks
and food is now all set to deliver some wonderful musical experience to its customers, courtesy
the LD systems Curv series. Having been recommended through word of mouth based on other projects
carried out nearby, the place enlisted Apex Audio to design and integrate the new system, which
was supplied by Kei HiFi.
Project & CHALLENGES
‘I have a lot of friends that know the owner, and they had all seen the work that I had been doing
in a lot of other clubs,’ recalled Yash Parwani from Apex Audio. ‘One of the owners told my
friends that they were opening a new club but they weren’t sure who to give the contract to,
because they’d never dealt with any kind of system for this purpose before. I was confident it
could provide them with the required performance at a budget that suited them. I suggested LD
Systems over some other brands that the owner had in mind and he completely trusted my opinion
as the service provider.’
Aware of the potential sonic challenges when moving outdoors, the owners also gave Apex strict
instructions concerning the lower frequencies. ‘They were aware that a lot of the LF would be
lost when moving outside but they wanted customers to experience just as much bass as they would
in an indoor nightclub and didn’t mind how I achieved this. They were also spending a lot of
money on the interior. They wanted the main speakers to match that look and didn’t want to see
the subwoofers whatsoever.’
Having convinced the venue management of the virtues of the LD cabinets, Apex installed Curv 500
arrays with the PES (Power Extension Set) for increased low frequency output, together with
15-inch Curv 500 PV subs. System processing comes from the German manufacturer’s DPA 260 6-channel
loudspeaker processor, while the DJ position has been treated to a pair of Pioneer CDJ-2000
Nexus turntables.
‘I was adamant from day one that we would make sure that the subwoofers cannot be seen and that
they’d get the same thump from the bass that they’d get in a regular nightclub. When it was all
finished we saw a lot of happy faces in all six of the partners. The ones that didn’t know me
beforehand were very keen to know how I’d done it. One of the partners has three or four of his
own hospitality businesses across India as well as a big multinational company. This project has
already led to several more installations for us.’
While the system design itself may not have tasked Mr Parwani’s technical skills to their full
extent, the project was not without its challenges. ‘The biggest challenge for us was introducing
a new brand to the territory. The other part of our business is for home audio, and in home
audio there are millions of products a customer can choose from to meet their tastes. When it’s
commercial you have to tick certain boxes. A lot of people here are inclined to stick with what
they know. It’s a challenge convincing them of the benefits of other manufacturers.’