— New state-of-the-art sports entertainment venue in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, features trackman golf simulators, duckpin bowling and a breathtaking sports viewing lounge with an audio/video system that keeps patrons coming back again and again —
MOUNT VERNON, NY – Brad Leeman and Hunter Taylor, born and raised in Murfreesboro, TN, felt a large void in the Murfreesboro social scene when they returned home during college breaks from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Back in Middle Tennessee, after graduation, they were determined to fill that void. Having explored many entertainment spaces across the country, Brad and Hunter spent months brainstorming and planning to combine the best aspects of each and every one of them under one roof as Happy’s Sports Lounge. Featuring miniature duckpin bowling, cutting-edge golf simulators, a sports viewing lounge, live music, good drinks and food, and a state-of-the-art audio/video system – the latter centered on an expansive and flexible AV over IP system from Key Digital, an award-winning developer and manufacturer of leading-edge digital video processing and video signal distribution solutions. Due in large part to the facility’s A/V infrastructure, Happy’s Sports Lounge has rapidly become the prime destination in Murfreesboro for those of every age and interest.
To design, install and commission the A/V system, Franklin, TN-based Professional Audio Visual Systems (PAVS), under the direction of managing partner Mike Richards, was chosen to make Brad and Hunter’s dream a reality, based on the integrator’s track record and creativity. Once the basic layout and design was complete, Richards needed to choose the right components and the right company to partner with for the creation and installation of multiple A/V systems within Happy’s. “For over 20 years, we’ve worked with pretty much every brand in the industry. And on this project, Key Digital really stood out in terms of how easy they are to do business with, plus they really do a great job with AV over IP and with video distribution,” remarked Richards.
Key Digital made the top of the list, Richards continued, “because their products technically excel, have a reputation for reliability, and are competitively priced. Beyond that, it’s very beneficial to have an entire team of people on the other end at a manufacturer to help make things go smoothly. There are a lot of companies making AV over IP products, and they’re all rapidly pushing them onto the market. But it’s a real delineator when a manufacturer takes the time to pre-configure the network switches, test every single encoder and decoder, label them, and then send them to you ready to work out of the box.”
Richards and his team met with Leeman and Taylor numerous times during the planning stages. “We had a lot of creative and collaborative-type meetings, initially,” said Richards. “They told me, ‘We would like everything to work cohesively with an intuitive management system for our staff.’ We spent a lot of time talking about physical layout of the various spaces within Happy’s. We discussed sight lines and equipping some of the displays for digital signage messaging, based on where they were placed. They definitely had a good idea about what they wanted at a high level. But I also talked to them about how to do some branding and some marketing in the space, as they also wanted to have corporate clients in addition to individual patrons.”
Given the client’s guidelines for a commercial-quality video distribution system that provides a high level of reliability, intuitive operation and support for high-resolution video across the entire space of the facility (not to mention IP manageability so PAVS can remote-in for programing or service), Richards chose the following Key Digital components: 16 KD-IP822ENC 4K AV over IP System Encoders and 27 KD-IP822DEC 4K AV over IP System Decoders for the 26 large screen televisions (one decoder is for audio). Every display has a decoder, and every source, satellite receiver, streaming service or other auxiliary input device has an encoder. Additional Key Digital components include one KD-X2x1WDTx HDMI Display Port over 40m CAT6 HDBaseT Wall Plate Transmitter/Switcher feeding a KD-X40MRx HDBaseT Receiver, and one KD-SMS16 Shelf Mounting System for the AV over IP encoders. The entire AV system at Happy’s is under Crestron control, with Key Digital’s Open API architecture controlling all displays via RS232.
In business since 2005, PAVS specializes in complete turnkey systems for restaurants, corporate, hospitality, houses of worship, educational institutions and more. “Over the course of my career, I’ve done many restaurants, live performance spaces, etc., but this is a really unique space,” stated Richards. When asked to summarize his experience choosing and installing Key Digital components at Happy’s, Richards quickly responded, “Key Digital stands out from the pack because they took the time to pre-configure the network equipment and to verify everything worked properly before they even shipped it to us. To me, that’s a big thing. From our perspective, as a firm that interacts directly with all of the manufacturers in our space, Key Digital’s level of service makes them stand out among their competition. It shows that they have taken a seat at the table to work with us – that’s definitely something exceptional and earns a lot of loyalty with us.”
Photo caption: Happy’s Sports Lounge in Murfreesboro, TN, has opened with its 26 video screens fed and managed by an extensive Key Digital AV over IP system
