Croatian nightclub Central achieves seamless sound with d&b ArrayCalc

In the heart of the city of Split on the Dalmatian coast in Croatia is the ultra-high-end night club Central, just a short walk from the ancient walls of Diocletian’s Palace. Built nearly two thousand years apart, the two have much in common. Just as the Roman palaces broke new ground in architecture, luxury and function; so too does Central.
Opened in August 2016, Central has set a new standard by which all club venues in the region can be judged. Built on the site of the former Cinema Central and designed by architect Duje Kaliterna, Central is a one thousand capacity venue arranged over two floors. Clubbers visiting the venue have a choice of four bars and three VIP areas, one of which is positioned behind the DJ booth.
The beating heart of any club design, and every club experience, is of course its sound. For Central that is no different. From the outset, it was clear Central would be raising the stakes in this department too, meaning a need to push the boundaries of what is possible.

Working closely with Tomislav Koran (Kuki) at Croatian distributor Audio Tehnika from the early stages, d&b was the system of choice, as Kuki explains:
“Central’s owners have a lot of experience and success in running clubs. They understand the importance of system design in terms of the customer experience inside the venue, and also the exterior environment. Split is an ancient, tightly packed city - so emission problems will be disruptive to their business.”
The d&b system designed by Kuki is based around a L/R Y-Series line array and a Bi6-SUB array with E12s for fills around the venue. The DJ booth is equipped with a pair of MAX2 monitors for foldback, and flown behind each array is an E12 providing fill to the rear of the stage.

The sub array is an eight-metre delayed arc using eight Bi6-SUBs built into the stage. Kuki continues, “Our aim was to bring directionality and focus to the low frequencies; to deliver that energy to where it is wanted, but also minimise the problems it can cause externally. Using ArrayCalc we were able to experiment and simulate our design until we reached the outcome we wanted.”
The R1-controlled design, driven by D80 and D20 amplifiers, delivers the seamless experience that the owners of the club were aiming for.
“In the year since Central opened, there has been no disruption to their business due to sound emission” Kuki added “Wherever you are in the venue, on the dancefloor, the gallery level or any of the bars or VIP areas, there is a consistency and an alignment to what you hear, customers can fully enjoy every part of this incredible new space.”