Scarlet dancers with d&b in China's Venice of the East
If Don Quixote ever wanted to put down his lance and dance, this is the place. For Scarlet is no ordinary dance club; an unexpected juxtaposition of Spanish Colonial interior design as context to contemporary dance music. Scarlet is rightfully attracting the young and trendy of Shuzhou in ever growing numbers. Located in one of the most beautiful cities of Jiangsu Province on China's east coast, Shuzhou as a city is no stranger to fabulous architecture; its labyrinth of canals, stone bridges and pagodas rightly earned it the soubriquet 'the Venice of China'.
That's Spain, Italy and China in one breath, so perhaps we shouldn't be surprised to find Germany added to the mix, for when it came to audio Mr Feng Pan of Nanjing Li Te Mei Technology Co, Ltd would only recommend loudspeakers from d&b audiotechnik. "There is a recent tradition in China for dance clubs to install enormous PA systems," explained Mr Pan, "much bigger than is needed. The owners of Scarlet recognised this error and charged us with supplying a correct solution; one that takes the emphasis away from quantity and focuses instead on quality. For us that meant only one thing; d&b audiotechnik."
The Scarlet also benefits from similar wisdom when it comes to interior design; the acoustic is well suited to a modern sound reinforcement system and presents few problems in terms of reverberance. As indicated, the club resembles nothing less than a Castilian palace; the furnishing is all dark heavy and wooden, carved and sculpted. A large gallery overlooks the main public area, with balustrades that wouldn't disgrace a Spanish galleon and affords the perfect vantage point from which to observe the revellers below. Small tables fill much of the floor area, and dancing is informal, taking place between the seated areas. The atmosphere is relaxed, impromptu, and great fun.
Nanjing Li Te Mei Technology Co, Ltd received design support from Alex Poon at d&b audiotechnik (China) Ltd. "The final installation design is well dispersed," explained Poon. "It's a big room with lots of area to cover. Mainly we used Ci7s with Ci7 subwoofers and E12s for the balcony area. The extended low end is enhanced by the addition of two B2 subwoofers so this is still a very powerful system. There are also more than a dozen MAX12 loudspeakers that are used flexibly for both live singing and DJ monitors. The whole system is remote controlled via the d&b Remote network; we programmed two presets, one for DJ and dancing, one for singing, which is done karaoke style to playback. I have to say Mr Pan and his team made an excellent job of the installation." Scarlet has been packed ever since the installation was completed, though as yet there are no reports of a myopic Spanish knight stopping by to boogie.
