Jands at the Burwood Inn

The Burwood Inn is situated in Newcastle’s beach side suburb of Merewether. It was established in 1876 and is the oldest continually operating hotel in the region. Although it has been a popular destination for famous sports people, musicians and other celebrities to visit for “a quiet one while in town”, locally the Burwood was known as a very ‘blokey’ pub.

When the current owner’s purchased the Burwood approximately four years ago, it was intended from the start to gut the original hotel and refurbish to suit a business model based on hotels around the Balmain, Surry Hills and Paddington areas of Sydney.

This would see a mix of great food, acoustic based live music, lounge DJs and a relaxed atmosphere primarily aimed at the 20 to 30 something market. After operating the pub for 12 months while making plans it was decided that the Burwood had a character and a history that would be a shame to ruin.

It was decided to keep the ‘blokey’ feel to the main bar incorporating bigger, better TAB and sport viewing facilities. Your Vision Sound Solutions flew a 64” plasma at one end of the room and framed it with a pair of JBL Control 29AV speakers and a JBL SB210 sub. This has been very successful in creating a ‘Sports Theatre’ feel in the front bar, making it a popular destination for major sporting events.

At the other end of the main bar, YVSS were responsible for constructing the TAB area from scratch, recessing the display panels and betting facilities into the purpose built wall. JBL 8128 ceiling speakers were used for Sky Racing’s audio.

Behind the bar is a dedicated computer that runs BSS’ London Architect to allow staff to control the hotel’s audio system via a BSS BLU-100 processor. The computer also runs iTunes for background music.

The lounge area was the middle third of the hotel and apart from some pokies was a bit of a no man’s land between the main bar and the restaurant. The pokies were relocated to the front of the hotel and this area was transformed into a lounge bar area that can also be used for casual dining, entertainment and informal functions. Features include aged timber flooring, leather bench seats, tarnished warehouse style lighting and distressed paint which blend in with the original pressed steel ceilings and ornate windows to give a warm and comfortably worn feel to the hotel.

The ceilings and finish made discrete speakers all but impossible so an in your face approach was used instead. The JBL Control 29AV speakers have a verydominant presence as you pass them on the way to the restaurant. They have been described by patrons as ‘letting you know that this place will rock later’.

Originally JBL SB210 subs were to be mounted in the seat bases but a last minute change in design meant there was not enough space. Thinking outside of the box (or inside) YVSS measured the volume of the seat base and went looking for a suitable bass driver to turn these seats into subs. By coincidence, JBL car audio had the perfect match in the form of a 12” 1200W RMS dual voice coil driver. A pair of these was mounted in the lounge bases and a pair in the restaurant.

Inputs have been provided for entertainers to patch their own mixers into the in-house system and be piped through the entire hotel.

In the restaurant the food had people hanging out the doors but the noise was deafening. Tiled floors, bricks, glass and a far spaning gyprock ceiling created an acoustic nightmare.

So the timber floors, bench seats and distressed finishes were carried through in addition to timber wine displays and a log fire. On advice from YVSS, the gyprock ceiling was removed. A suspended timber slat ceiling was installed with 50mm gaps between each batten. On the backside of this, acoustic batts were hidden by black material. The results of this were amazing. JBL Control 26C ceiling speakers were installed into the timber ceiling and complimented with the fore mentioned subs.

Restaurant staff can control audio volume and source via a BSS BLU-3 wall control.

Crown XTi2 series amplifiers run the main bar, the lounge and the restaurant. Crown 180A 100v amplifiers run the TAB, games room and general areas. The audio system partially integrates with the C-Bus and vision systems to make operation for the staff simple.

“This was the first time we had used JBL’s Control 29AV speakers and we were blown away by their sound quality, power and range,” commented Brett Coxon, director of Your Vision Sound Solutions. “They basically made the subs unnecessary. We have used them in more hotels since which have also proved that to be true.

“It was also our first experience with the BLU-100. Having previously used Yamaha, Bose and Mediamatrix options, the BLU-100 was originally chosen for dollars to inputs/outputs value. After a few hours to adapt and a couple of calls to Jands support, it was found to be much more versatile and useable than the others. The sound quality is excellent and reliability rock solid.”

The Burwood Inn’s renovation was completed in late 2011. It has been a great success and has seen business quadruple. According to Brett, the audio system has not missed a beat and has impressed many a patron, entertainer and other venue owners.

This has lead to Your Vision Sound Solutions installing systems based on the same speaker, amp, processor package into other venues in Newcastle.

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