Getting the karma right at the Karma Kafé in Dubai

Following from the successful installation of the Cavalli Club in Dubai's Fairmount Hotel, d&b audiotechnik have proved themselves again in Dubai's newest music and dinner venue. Located in the exclusive area of Souk Al Bahar in Downtown Burj Dubai, the Karma Kafé is sumptuously furnished in dark woods and opulent crimson décor. To ensure the quality of the musical ambience matched the décor, the Karma Kafé management had been fortunate enough to secure the DJ talents of Ralph Khoury from Beirut, one of the members of the REG Project who have been instrumental in developing the progressive yet eclectic mix of traditional Arabian sounds with strands of Western modernity.

With the Kafé due to open early in May, Khoury came by in the middle of April to check out the brand new sound system. His reaction to listening to the sound system was not what was expected. He contacted d&b’s Middle Eastern dealer, Elian Zahid, right away. Khoury’s opening gambit to Zahid: "It's a complete disaster here; you have to come urgently, by yesterday!" was not ignored.

Zahid takes up the story: "I sat with the clients and Ralph. After listening to the existing system for twenty seconds it was unanimously agreed that the system was woefully inadequate in design, specification and performance. Within seconds of a test using just a pair of d&b audiotechnik E3 loudspeakers and one subwoofer they had agreed to change the entire installation. We (Triangle) had less than a week to install a comprehensive system of d&b Ci80s with E15X subwoofers all driven by D6 amplifiers."

That they succeeded is a given, but it was tight. "We made it, despite having to overcome a complex cabling challenge: the opportunity to run cables under and through floors and walls had long since passed. To achieve the optimum level of clean, even coverage we had to be especially discreet and sensitive to the final appearance." It is a testament to the tenacity and dynamism of the whole team at Triangle that the d&b system was in and working by the opening on May 3rd. That the owners, who also run venues such as the Buddha Bar and the Sanctuary, had the confidence in Zahid's expertise to accept the loss of scrapping a brand new system and invest all over again in d&b can only underpin the profile of Triangle as the premier dealer in the whole of the Middle Eastern catchment.

Since opening, the Karma has received almost universal praise from its customers from, 'Good food and great music' to 'The music is WOW', an acknowledgement of Khoury's prowess. It's only fair that the final word should go to him: "Only Triangle can deliver such a superlative job and quality. I shall recommend Triangle and d&b for any installation I have in the future; I trust whatever Zahid recommends; he has good ears, good judgement and never fails to deliver what he promises."