Since the lovely new Terrace Hotel in Magherafelt, Northern Ireland, opened its doors in early December, it’s hard to remember what the town ever did without it. The only hotel in the area, it includes 16 stylish en-suite bedrooms, the traditionally styled Terrace Bar, the Courtyard Bar, which is used as a function room and a spill out area for busy weekend nights, and a great restaurant, located on the lower ground floor of the Church Street building. With a state of the art sound and lighting system, installed by Rea Sound, it is a wonderful example of a modern boutique hotel.

Martin Audio loudspeakers are used throughout. The reception area sets the standard for the rest of the building. Stylish and modern, with clean beige marble floors, square stone fireplace and wraparound glass frontage it has a look of understated elegance. Sound from a multiplay CD player is distributed in this zone through 18 Martin C115T ceiling speakers.

Moving into the Terrace Bar, the look is more traditional and comforting, with rich, warm woods and library features. The large central bar is built in heavy wood, and its lines are followed around by homely terracotta and beige mosaic tiling. Here Rea Sound have installed ten Martin Audio F8 enclosures, with the low frequencies handled by four ultra-compact EM150’s.

The adjacent Courtyard Bar has a more modern and sleek look than its neighbour, with long rows of high block tables and brushed suede seats in brown, black and beige. With its own bar, stage and DJ box, which is built into the wall high above the bar, the Courtyard is the perfect setting for a private party or corporate event. Punchy sound reinforcement was called for and 12 Martin Audio Blackline F8 compact enclosures are reinforced by a pair of S218 subs, the system EQ’d using Martin’s dedicated M3 controller.

A walk down the wonderful marble staircase in the reception area will bring visitors to the Terrace’s fabulous new restaurant. Any reservations the owner may have had about the lack of natural light on the lower ground floor were quickly overcome by the experienced team at Rea Sound, who fitted colour changing lights behind the long rows of fitted seats around the sides of the room, and cleverly positioned spots at the central bar area. They were also judicious with the sound system, discretely fitting eight further F8’s and four EM150 subs.

Throughout the hotel, the sound system has been carefully designed. In addition to the Martin Audio components, the system utilises an Allen & Heath IDR digital mixer zoner, allowing control in each specific area, both of music choice and volume level. With multiple inputs including Sky, a Rolec hard drive, the DJ system and a multiplay CD player, a wide choice of signal sources is available for every zone, with the Martin audio speaker enclosures strategically positioned to provide a high quality sound no matter where the location.

Adapted from an article by Nicola Reddy, that originally appeared in am:pm Magazine, Feb/March 2004.