Founded in 1994 by Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, actor Robert De Niro, and movie producer Meir Teper, Nobu has long been a global icon of fine and adventurous dining. The first Canadian location of the brand in Toronto is part of the Nobu Hotel, Restaurant & Residences project, the latest addition to the city’s nightlife scene. The 10,000-square-foot, two-level, 278-seat restaurant includes separate bar and lounge spaces, two private dining rooms, a sushi bar, and an outdoor terrace. Nobu Toronto comes with high-end sonic ambiance as well, thanks to an L-Acoustics X Series professional sound system designed by local consultant Mulvey & Banani Audio Visual, integrated by The 192 Group.
“A venue like this is going to be more than a restaurant, so it has to have more than just a sound system,” explains Corry McGibbon, President of The 192 Group. “Throughout Nobu, everything is very, very high end,” he continues.
One of the primary challenges of this project was to integrate powerful sound into the venue’s architecture. “We landed on L-Acoustics – it is one of Nobu’s existing brand standards – because it blended in perfectly,” states Gregory Rushton, Vice President at Mulvey & Banani Audio Visual. “X Series are high-performance speakers in a very small package.” The venue required even sound coverage throughout the cavernous space and it needed to be powerful enough to provide both dynamic background music and eventgrade reinforcement for visiting DJs.
The L-Acoustics installation at Nobu Toronto features a distributed system of 22 coaxial X8 enclosures, one larger X12, and 25 ultra-compact 5XT speakers, plus a dozen ceiling-mounted SB10i subs, spread over two levels. Everything is driven by LA7.16i and LA4X amplified controllers.
The bar and dining areas are separated into multiple zones, and McGibbon credits the LA7.16i with helping the venue manage the complexities. “It gives us a lot of flexibility to attain full coverage, managing the quantity of speakers and achieving quality audio in all of the zones within the space,” he says. “The subs, in particular, add to the nightclub feeling, without overpowering diners.”
Nobu’s new L-Acoustics professional sound system delivers on the venue’s high-end ambitions. Initial feedback from high-end events, such the recent Toronto International Film Festival and Fashion Toronto, have been positive. “Nobu Toronto represents the next level of sophistication, and it achieves that thanks, in part, to the same kind of sound you’d find at the best concerts, which comes from L-Acoustics,” McGibbon concludes.
