Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – March 2018… Offering patrons what it describes as “a unique spin on rooftop entertainment,” SOHY Sky Lounge is one of the most striking recent additions to Ho Chi Minh City’s vibrant nightlife. Considered by many to be the most cutting-edge rooftop entertainment venue in the country, SOHY’s sound system relies on a Symetrix Prism DSP for audio control and processing.
The need to accommodate a wide range of DJ and background music requirements across a large 10,000 sq-ft floor plan – including outdoor areas – were among the challenges facing the project’s provider, professional audio solutions specialist DesignLive Technologies. “SOHY includes an outdoor Sky Lounge, rooftop Champagne Garden, Star Dining Room, and Zero Gravity Cigar Room,” says Phu Tran Pham, founder of DesignLive. “This project required a high performance DSP processor that could individually manage each zone’s distinct musical needs and route audio via Dante to a distributed amplifier topology. The venue is large by Vietnam’s standards, and there was a need for an interface to control the system on the go.”
DesignLive has implemented Symetrix and Dante solutions for numerous audio-related projects over the last seven years, so Phu was never in doubt that the Prism DSP range would provide a suitable solution for SOHY’s requirements. “Symetrix processors are amongst the highest fidelity audio processors in the market and offer native Dante connectivity,” Phu observes, “while the ARC-WEB interface is a highly intuitive, zero-cost network-based control solution. One of the aspects that the venue’s resident sound engineer, Mr. Anh, is most delighted about is that he can walk around the venue adjusting volumes and audio sources via his smartphone using ARC-WEB. It gives him a great deal of flexibility across the site.”
Meanwhile, the Prism’s audio processing capabilities were more than met the challenge of an acoustically daunting mix of contemporary finishing materials. “The interior design concept was very heavy on aluminum, glass and stone components with minimal acoustic treatment, but the Symetrix EQ processor gave us the tools to tighten up the fidelity of the system and solve a lot of the acoustic problems associated with those surfaces,” says Phu.
Several months on from the completion of the project, the SOHY team is “delighted by the performance and convenience of the audio system,” concludes Phu. “It has been able to handle everything the client has thrown at it, from a grand piano and vocal performance during the venue’s grand opening, to fine traditional Vietnamese instruments during a cultural show, to headliner DJs over a range of program material. It is fulfilling all of their many needs in this exciting venue.”
