Ashburn, Virginia’s Cycle Scene features installed sound and lighting systems worthy of a high-end nightclub, designed by and sourced through Guitar Center Professional. Photo by Jonah Joffe, GC Pro. © 2015.
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, March 26, 2015 — Cycle Scene put a new “spin” on the indoor cycling studio when it opened in Ashburn, Virginia, at the beginning of March with installed sound and lighting systems worthy of a high-end nightclub. Designed by and sourced through Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, the equipment was installed and programmed by Angelo Kokkinakos of GC Pro affiliate Koko Brothers Entertainment, a Baltimore, Maryland-based audio, video and lighting design and integration firm.
“The spin industry is blowing up now, and every cycle studio has to be hotter than the next one to capture market share in the area,” explains Jonah Joffe, GC Pro Account Manager at Guitar Center in Falls Church, Virginia. Joffe worked with Cycle Scene owners Clay and Jenn Sharman to create the right vibe at the new 6,000-square-foot high-tech fitness facility. “These folks were going for a dance club in a cycle studio, so it was super important that we got the audio and lighting right.”
The Cycle Room, outfitted with 60 custom-built stationary bikes, features two 75-inch display monitors, each flanked by a pair of QSC Audio AcousticDesign AD-S12 600W surface mount speakers that each house a 12-inch woofer and 1.4-inch compression driver. A single QSC KW181 18-inch self-powered subwoofer adds low frequency extension to the system. The Stretch Room, dedicated to strength training, core fitness and yoga, is outfitted with a pair of QSC AD-C821 8-inch, 200W ceiling speakers, while a smaller QSC AD-Ci52T two-way speaker, featuring a 5.25-inch woofer with 1-inch tweeter, is installed in the reception area. Four QSC AD-S6T surface mount cabinets, each incorporating a 6-inch woofer and 1-inch dome tweeter, cover the extensive hallway, a popular gathering place. Two QSC four-channel amplifiers—one PLD4.2 and one PLD4.3—provide power to the passive speakers.
A Rane HAL1x 16 in/16 out multi-processor is installed for optimization and management of the facility’s multi-zoned sound system. “I got to experience HAL for the first time,” says Angelo Kokkinakos. “We did all of the dynamic processing and EQ inside of HAL. It’s a great tool; we were really happy with it.”
The system is controlled by Rane Digital Remote DR1 and DR3 wall panels installed in each of the three zones together with connector panels enabling the introduction of external audio sources. “The user interface is just so simple, with a keypad and a simple LCD display to select your input source and volume,” says Kokkinakos. “The end user just has a single rotary knob to increase or decrease volume for the mic—it doesn’t get much easier than that.”
A pair of Shure SLX14 wireless systems, with UA221 antenna combiner, and SM31FH Fitness headsets are available for Cycle Scene’s instructors. The HAL DR remote interfaces are so intuitive that the instructors can focus on their jobs without having to learn how to operate a complex audio system, says Joffe. “Each source selection and volume knob has a digital readout, so we made it really, really easy—it says: Headset Mic 1, Headset Mic 2, Music. Anyone can use this system very easily. Not only that, because of all the processing we’ve got behind it, it sounds incredible in there.”
To meet the expectations of the owners, says Joffe, “We went with Chauvet moving head lights—just like dance clubs use, but in a smaller version, and we had Angelo do custom programming so it would look just like a dance club. The client is super happy with the lighting.”
The Chauvet DMX-addressable light fixtures installed in the Cycle Room include two Intimidator Spot LED 250 50W moving head units and two LFS-75DMX 75W LED framing spots. All four fixtures are suspended from two 12-ft. box truss spans, which are each illuminated by two SlimPAR Quad 3 IRC four-color LED lamp. A total of 18 COLORband 3 IRC three-zone LED strip lights provide a wash down the rear and side walls. A Numark Orbit Wi-Fi panel combined with a Chauvet Xpress 512 PLUS interface controls the lighting rig, which was programmed using Chauvet’s ShowXpress software. All control components are neatly housed in an electronics machine room hidden away from the general public, providing a more aesthetic look to the installation.
“We don’t usually see a lot of moving head fixtures in these cycle rooms,” comments Kokkinakos. “But when we programmed the lighting rack it came down to subtle, slow, simple, predictable movement along the walls, keeping it off the bikes, and making it more of an atmosphere than a distraction. When we first revealed the lighting to the client, they were thinking that they would leave all the fluorescent ceiling lights on all the time in there. But when they saw the effect, they said, ‘This is plenty of ambient lighting for us to conduct a class in here, and such a great atmosphere, why would we ever turn the other lights on?’ Pretty much the only time they turn the other lights on now is just to clean the room.”
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About Guitar Center Professional/Guitar Center
Guitar Center Professional is the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. Its clientele includes recording studios, audio engineers, producers, recording and touring musicians, live sound venues, post production facilities and more. Emphasizing extraordinary individualized service via local account managers, GC Pro offers expert consultation and a comprehensive selection of the world’s finest equipment for music and audio professionals. More information on GC Pro can be found by visiting www.gcpro.com.
