New York?s Z Hotel boasts Community sound systems

The Manhattan-based El Media Group has designed and installed sound systems for the new Z Hotel in Long Island City, including Community WET Series W2-218 all-weather two-way systems.

The hotel, previously a factory, has benefitted from a complete redesign, affecting the basement lounge and restaurant as well as the rooftop bar.

The rooftop lounge area is now served by more than a dozen Community WET Series W2-218 all-weather two-way systems powered by Lab.gruppen C-Series amplifiers.

“We opted for the WET Series mainly for their weather resistance but we were pleased to find that they have a nice tight coverage pattern as well.” Says El Media’s Andrew Mitchel.

“Even though the rooftop is 20 stories up and there are not a lot of immediate neighbours, we wanted to make sure that there wasn’t a lot of sound spilling over into the neighbourhood."

Community’s VERIS Series covers the downstairs restaurant and lounge whilst the basement venue is fitted with Community VERIS 26 two-way, dual 6-inch full-range systems, with VERIS 212S dual 12-inch subwoofers.

The loudspeakers are powered by Lab.gruppen C- and FP-Series amplification, with Symetrix Jupiter DSP providing system drive and processing.

“It’s a pretty nice sounding space,” adds Mitchel.

“It’s not very wide, but the room is pretty friendly, not a lot of parallel walls or reflective surfaces, plenty of soft seating and cushions, and the ceiling’s not too low like a lot of basement spaces. It’s a nice looking place too. They’ve opened up a large part of the space to the level above, so they’ve got a lot of natural light coming in. It’s a really nice room, and the Veris speakers sound great in there.”