BRISTOL, UK – After opening in New York in 1993 and inspired the cult film, Coyote Ugly, in 2000, the saloon franchise expanded to other cities around the U.S. before opening abroad in Russia and the UK. This year, the chain opened in a sixth UK city, Bristol, with an audio system designed by Spartan AV and CUK Group powered by Powersoft T Series amplifiers.
More details from Powersoft (www.powersoft.com):
The new Coyote Ugly Saloon in Bristol is bringing a slice of the Big Apple to south-west England with a high-energy audio installation powered by Powersoft T Series amplifiers.
Inspired by the original Coyote Ugly bar in New York, immortalized in the cult 2000 film Coyote Ugly, the first UK Coyote Ugly Saloon opened its doors in 2016 and instantly proved popular with revelers in Liverpool and Birmingham. The newest venue, which also has sister bars in London, Cardiff and Swansea, brings the franchise’s trademark lively atmosphere, choreographed countertop dancing and high-energy parties to a harbourfront location on Bristol’s Bordeaux Quay, with long-time integration partner Spartan Audio Visual once again bringing the audio muscle key to the raucous Coyote Ugly experience.
“We’ve worked with the UK franchise owner for a long time and understand a lot about how they like to work in order to deliver maximum value without compromising the overall AV product,” explains Dave Morgan, Spartan Audio Visual’s sales and installations director. The Cardiff-based company previously designed and installed audio systems for other Coyote Ugly Saloon locations, including Piccadilly and Camden (London), Cardiff, and Swansea.
Spartan is a regular user of Powersoft amplification, and in Bristol Morgan and his team, in partnership with UK distributor CUK Group, selected the Italian company’s T Series amplifiers to meet a brief emphasising both high performance and budget friendliness. Designed for small- and medium-scale systems, T Series delivers premium-quality sound in a cost-effective, 1RU package, with onboard DSP and both analogue and Dante inputs.
At Coyote Ugly Saloon Bristol, one 3,000W T302 amplifier is powering six AUDAC VEXO110 loudspeakers installed directly above the bar-cum-stage, with a higher-power (6,000W) T602 connected to four AUDAC BASO18 subs. A Symetrix Radius processor and SymVue interface (operated by the Coyote Ugly performers) and four channels of MIPRO ACT58 microphones complete the new set-up.
Besides their cost effectiveness, another key factor in the choice of the T Series amplifiers was their efficiency, according to Morgan, who explains how the Powersoft amps deal with the demands of the Coyote Ugly Saloon experience: “The bars require the ability to provide live music-level dynamics with nightclub SPL and coverage, combined with a very high uptime. We are able to use very few amplifiers compared to other brands – using not just the efficiency of the amp models themselves, but squeezing out every bit of headroom using power sharing, too.”
This market-leading efficiency, coupled with their high reliability even under heavy use, mean Powersoft amplifiers have become the go-to for all Coyote Ugly Saloon bars, as Morgan explains: “They are used across all of this client’s sites as the ’standard’ due to their reliability when used continuously, as this is a high-energy environment.” All sites outside Bristol feature some combination of Duecanali and Quattrocanali amplifiers, with two Quattrocanali Q4804 (along with one X4) installed in Piccadilly, one Q4804 and one Duecanali 4804 in Camden, one Q4804 (along with one K20 DSP and one K3 DSP) in Swansea, and two D804, plus one X4 and two K3 DSP, in Cardiff.
Having been designed to amplify the lively energy of the venue, provide clarity and depth to music and announcements, and offer the client value for money, the Bristol system succeeds on all fronts, says Morgan. “The end result is a reliable and great sounding system that punches well above its price tag overall,” he concludes.
