Discreet, high performance audio from Sonance enhances a boutique style of hospitality at a luxury hotel and wedding venue in West Yorkshire.
With a blend of high style, distinctive interior design and personal service, the privately-owned Manor House Hotel aims to offer its guests the experience of luxury through the quality of its accommodation, communal areas and purpose-designed wedding and events spaces.
Located at Lindley near Huddersfield, the boutique hotel comprises eleven bedrooms, four individually themed bars and restaurants, a roof terrace and a gym. There is also a discreet wedding and events venue called the Coach House, a versatile space designed to accommodate up to 200 guests and complete with private musical garden.
The Challenge
Making time spent at the Manor House memorable, a service-first mentality conveys a strong sense of bespoke hospitality within a range of curated environments, all of which include the necessity for discreet high-performance audio in sympathy with their design.
Partner Shaun Hawkins of Smart Synergy takes up the story, “The owner had heard about us locally and invited us to pitch for the AV design and installation at the Manor House. As a business, we have been practising high-end residential CI for over twenty years, so we’ve built a good reputation of skills and knowledge within this industry.”
“The brief demanded a level of sound quality and design you just can’t buy off the shelf. Having rejected a competing pitch for a ‘basic’ system, the owner wanted the discreet install and audio quality we’ve been putting into high-end homes. And he had a very clear idea of what he wanted it to do. He was after an even, high quality sound field that was discernibly full-range at a volume that didn’t impose on the space, so his guests would be able to converse normally in a socially conducive atmosphere.
“They would be able to appreciate the quality of the sound without being dominated by it. Rather than blaring audio hotpots intermixed with areas of silence, he wanted the sound to exist everywhere but blend evenly and discreetly with the space.”
Shaun adds, “There’s a growing desire for discreet high sound quality within the UK’s luxury hospitality sector. This may come from the US where discriminating customers associate the quality of the venue with its ability to get the audio just right. The advantage for residential CI integrators is that their skill sets have developed to achieve this level of fine-tuning.”
“Perfecting the sound at the Manor House was complicated somewhat by the fact that it’s a listed building, so we had to be super sensitive with the design, and not just with the way it looked; we also had to eliminate the transfer of sound from social to private spaces within older architecture.”
The Solutions
Smart Synergy selected Sonance Pro Series speakers for the project. The Sonance Pro Series is a range of 70V/100V/8 ohm selectable in-ceiling, pendant and surface mount speakers, designed to deliver high fidelity with extremely low distortion, wide dispersion and smooth power response. The range shares consistent voicing, ensuring sonic integration when used together throughout a space. The Pro Series speakers are powered entirely by Sonance Sonamp digital amplifiers.
Outdoor areas feature a mix of Sonance Mariner on-wall speakers and SonArray in-ground satellites and subs. AV distribution is through Wyrestorm’s Network HD 400 architecture and security is supported by Dahua, involving five 4MP IP eyeball dome cameras and an eight channel NVR.
The Coach House
This area is provided with Sonance PS-P63T Pro Series 6in pendant speakers and Sonance PS-P83WT Pro Series 8in pendant woofers.
The Coach House Garden
This space, is installed with Sonance SonArray in-ground satellites and subwoofers and Mariner on-wall speakers.
The Clock Tower Lounge
Is installed with Sonance PS-C63RT Pro Series 6in round in-ceiling speakers, and 1 x Sonance PS-C83RWT Pro Series 8in round in-ceiling woofers. These two-way in-ceiling speakers are fitted with robust fire-resistant backboxes installed within a suspended ceiling lattice.
Lindley Cellars
Installed with Sonance PS-C63RT Pro Series 6in round in-ceiling speakers, and 1 x Sonance PS-C83RWT Pro Series 8in round in-ceiling woofers.
Commenting on the installation, Lee, concludes, “The Manor House was Ashway’s first boutique hotel install and something of a dream job. We knew the product and the support we’d get from Habitech (distributor for the Sonance brand) and we applied our trad skills and competences to relatively simple tech for a customer who understood the value of quality and wanted the very best. It wasn’t a ‘no expense spared’ brief but it was generous enough to allow us to flex our creativity in delivering excellent results. Plus we have a happy customer.”
Essential Kit list
- 2 x Sonance Sonarray SR1 outdoor speaker system (8 satellite and 1 in-ground subwoofer)
- 1 x Sonarray SR1 Sub
- 1 x SonArray SR1 – 4 Pack Satellite Extension Pack
- 1 x Sonance SR2-125 Amp
- 1 x Sonance MARINER 54 SST (5.25in Single Stereo outdoor speaker)
- 4 x Sonance MARINER 54 (5.25in outdoor speaker – pair)
- 4 x Sonance PS-C43RT Pro Series 4in round in-ceiling speaker (pair)
- 10 x Sonance PS-C63RT Pro Series 6in round in-ceiling speaker (pair)
- 5 x Sonance PS-C83RWT Pro Series 8in round in-ceiling woofer
- 3 x Sonance PS-P63T Pro Series 6in pendant speaker pair
- 2 x Sonance PS-P83WT Pro Series 8in pendant woofer each
- 2 x Sonance Sonamp DSP 2-150 Digital Amplifier
- 14 x Sonance Sonamp DSP 2-750 Digital Amplifier
- 4 x WyreStorm NetworkHD 400 Series 4K AV over IP JPEG-2000 Decoder
- 4 x WyreStorm NetworkHD 400 Series 4K AV over IP JPEG-2000 Encoder
- 1 x WyreStorm Network HD IP controller
- 5 x Dahua 4MP IP eyeball dome camera 2.8mm lens 50m IR triple-stream WDR IP67 ePoE 1 x Dahua 8 channel NVR, 8x PoE, 4K/12MP support, 320Mbps incoming bandwidth, 4TB HDD