Energywise Systems were recently requested to design and supply the audio system
for the flagship Tasha’s restaurant in the newly revamped Mandela Square in
Sandton.

The project came about through Munka projects’ Ilene Grace who had project
managed the previous Tasha’s stores on behalf of Famous Brands. Ilene asked Dave
Tudor from Energywise Systems if he would get involved on the Audio system
design as Tasha is a fan of Bose Professional. Dave is well experienced in live audio
and production, but has now changed direction and is employed by Energywise
Systems looking after, and developing, the Bose professional portfolio for the
company as an official Bose Professional distributor.

Says Tudor “Ilene and I go back a few years and we recently got in touch with each
other again. We both realized that there was scope for us to work together and she
asked if I would be keen to get involved in the Mandela square project, so, of
course I jumped at it. There are a lot of restaurant systems out there that leave a
lot to be desired in terms of sonic quality and workmanship, so I was looking at this
project as a reference point of how to do things right. The brief from Tasha was
very specific in terms what she wanted. It is essentially a back ground music
system that needs to be full range and split into different zones, also bearing in
mind that a large section of the inside seating area is actually within the mall.
Intelligibility is everything for her. An even coverage across the frequency spectrum
with enough sparkle in the high end is critical in order to achieve this’.

Tudor worked closely with Elite Technologies’ Jono Blacburn on this as there were a
number of challenges. Elite were on hand as the preferred installation company.
Dave carries on “Jono and I have formed a good relationship over the last year.
Their quality of work is amazing and they have access to some really great
products that are able to complete the system’. A selection of Bose Freespace
products were chosen combined with a Rolls RM82 line rack mount mixer to
complete the job.

The Bose Freespace 3 flush mount BMS system was installed for the inside dining
areas, four Bose DS16SE environmental speakers took care of the outside seating
area, two Bose DS16F’s were installed in the kiosk and another 4 DS16F’s were
installed into the bathrooms. Input sources come from two separate feeds with one
feeding the main restaurant, outside and kiosk with a separate source being piped
through to the bathrooms. This second source is a spoken word poetry track, so
vocal intelligibility was critical. A Bose PM8250 amplifier was chosen to drive the
system and do all the distribution. The PM range of amplifiers are extremely
efficient and are well known for their versatility in being able to run 100v line and
low impedance output channels concurrently all being driven via the integrated DSP.
The entire system is controlled through the amplifier so that the various zones can
be made louder or softer depending on the overall ambient level which differs
during trading hours.

“The combination of the Bose elements and input from both Elite Technologies and
Energywise worked well together “says Munka Projects MD, Ilene Grace, ” so here’s
to a successful working relationship going forward where we can ensure that the
right people, brands and expertize are able to deliver exceptional results’.

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