City Winery venues across the United States combine a fully functioning winery with
intimate concerts, food and wine classes, fine dining, and more. With over 300
events in 2016, City Winery decided that it was time to redesign and renovate its
AV technology to communicate seamlessly across each venue’s many rooms. To do
so, they called on trusted Nashville-based technology integration firm, Tour Supply
Inc.

“We were approached to help design a new AV system in City Winery’s Nashville
location that would connect all technology through a singular interface,’ said
technology integrator Lance Wascom of Tour Supply Inc. “We suggested that ELAN
serve as the venue’s “brain,’ and built out the system from there. Following an
incredibly successful installation, City Winery asked us to design expanded A/V
renovations for its Atlanta, New York, and Washington D.C. locations.’

The systems across City Winery’s multiple locations are nearly identical. Wascom
and his team installed one ELAN gMV1616 HDMI 16×16 Matrix and two ELAN gSC10
System Controllers to distribute the content and automate it. They also integrated
seven ELAN gTP7 in-wall touch panels, one ELAN KP7, and the ELAN App on
employees’ phones, which enables instant control from anywhere. Now, any
employee in the New York, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Nashville locations can
control the venue’s many displays, televisions, and projectors, as well as the
extensive multi-room audio and integrated lighting systems. “We replicated the
system across multiple locations because it works so well,’ Wascom emphasized.

Wascom and his team use one ELAN gMV1616 HDMI 16×16 Matrix with 72 audio
input paths and 64 audio output paths to carry HDCP-compliant HDMI, Ethernet,
serial and IR signals over a single cable via HDBaseT. Now, City Winery can easily
distribute audio and video via a Cat-5 cable and convert it into HDMI to distribute to
audio and video devices throughout the facility. Since the venue often holds various
events that use both professional and commercial audio simultaneously, the need to
distribute multiple signal types is of the utmost importance.

“City Winery will often hold a private dinner, cooking class, and concert
simultaneously, in different rooms of the same venue,’ Wascom explained. “Each of
these events requires a unique audio and video signal. With only one ELAN
gMV1616, we can distribute that content seamlessly. And through the ELAN
controller, we are able to automate each device.’

City Winery’s managers and bartenders have control over the ELAN touch panels
when appropriate. The system is separated into zones by room; if a manager is
overseeing a private dining event, he or she can easily control the lighting, audio
and video within that part of the facility. Or, they could simply click a “dinner party’
setting and have all various commands occur simultaneously.

“We absolutely love the new system’s ease-of-use,’ said City Winery Vice President
of Business and Venue Development Greg Kitowicz. “The instant control allows our
staff to change the ambiance on-the-fly as needed. Particularly, having the Mobile
App has been a game changer for all five of our facilities. It’s very convenient.’

Additionally, 24 Lutron RadioRA2 Decora Dimmers, four Lutron RadioRA2 Dimming
LED Drivers and four Lutron RadioRA2 Wall Mount Keypads are integrated into the
ELAN system to enable instant control and automation of the venue’s sophisticated
lighting system. “The lighting varies significantly from room to room,’ Wascom
said. “We integrated stage lighting into the same system that we integrated
recessed mood lighting into. We ended up with 40 dimmable loads of Lutron
including PHPM power extenders, LED drivers, and 0-10v dimming modules. It was
a very sophisticated system to build, but it works flawlessly.’

The venue also uses multiple displays throughout, especially in the concert venue
area. To ensure that each display receives flawless signal input, Tour Supply Inc.
integrated a Gefen EXT-HD-DSMP Digital Signage Media Player. Through it they can
easily distribute digital signage content to multiple displays across the venue. “This
product is perfect for this application because it supports up to 1080p Video HDMI,’
Wascom commented. “The displays can receive this high-resolution content, and we
can configure it to be controlled with ELAN.’

Additionally, with stricter fire codes from the facilities management, it was
necessary for ELAN to become part of the fire control system. “When an alarm
event goes off, the ELAN system mutes all audio outputs, disables all TV’s and
projectors, retracts the screen and turns every light on in the facility as well as sets
the stage lighting to a neutral state,’ Wascom said.

With so much high-end equipment working together, Wascom and his team
recommended that each City Winery location back-up their products with Furman
power conditioning products. They integrated a Furman F1500-UPS Uninterruptible
Power Supply into the AV system’s central equipment rack to ensure that the
system would remain intact in the event of a power outage, and installed six
Furman PST-8 Power Conditioners with Series Multi-Stage Protection Plus (SMP+) to
guarantee that all the system’s AV components receive clean power. “We also
utilized the BlueBOLT remote energy management to allow the F1500 to
automatically power-cycle the cable modem after an outage is detected. It triggers
automated events to the system based on power conditions,’ he added.

Tour Supply Inc. is now working on replicating the AV renovation again, this time in
City Winery’s brand new Boston location. “I highly recommend that other venues
invest in a smart control solution, and ELAN in particular,’ Kitowicz concluded. “It’s
a one-stop-shop for total control, enabling you and your staff to improve the
customer experience. We look forward to utilizing cutting-edge control in even more
locations to come.’