Decades Club Washington DC

Washington DC’s Retro Nightclub Decades opts for E11EVEN Sound by DAS Audio

Leading nightclub undergoes an extensive sound reinforcement system upgrade

Washington DC’s Decades is a 15,000 square foot retro-themed nightclub with four floors of entertainment each influenced by a different era of music. The owner, Antonis Karagounis, draws the inspiration from a personal career spanning four decades promoting many of DC’s most storied nightspots: Echostage, Ultrabar, the Mayflower Club, Barcode, Soundcheck, and FUR to name just a few. As part of an extensive facility remodel, Decades recently upgraded its sound reinforcement capabilities with a newly installed audio system supplied by Randy White of Washington Music Center, one of the nation’s leading music retail stores and preferred partner for E11EVEN Sound by DAS Audio.

In charge of the installation were “Willy” Rodriguez, owner/operator of Willy-Tech Services of Miami, an A/V system integration services firm, DAS Audio’s John Fiorito, who designed, managed, and commissioned the new Decades’ installation, and Geovanni Ortiz, DAS Audio’s Applications Engineer and certified Rational Acoustic SMAART engineer, who handled loudspeaker optimization.

“The Rooftop is one of the most unique areas at Decades,” Fiorito explained. “With a fully retractable rooftop, the space can accommodate exclusive private events ranging from 50 to as many as 1000 people. Here, we deployed twelve weatherized E11EVEN Sound loudspeakers ES-26DX-W. These 2-way systems incorporate twin 6B woofers to reproduce low frequencies, along with a 1” diaphragm driver. Low frequency support is provided by three weatherized E11EVEN Sound ES-218SDX-W subwoofers—each outfitted with two 18LX low frequency transducers.”

Fiorito added, “Power amplification for these speakers are provided by one E11EVEN Sound by DAS Audio EP-10K4 amplifier and one EP-14K2 amp. Signal processing for the system includes a BSS Audio BLU-100 signal processor and a BLU-BOB1 Break-Out Box output expander. This was coordinated by Santiago Ruiz, a third-party contractor we work with that is certified for BSS and Creston installations for all E11EVEN Sound by DAS Audio projects that require programming.”

In the Hip-Hop floor, Fiorito deployed four Artec-308 2-way passive loudspeakers utilizing an 8” transducer and an M-26 driver. These are augmented by six E11EVEN Sound ES-10 2-way point source enclosures, each employing a single woofer with a 3” Voice coil for low-mid frequency. Low frequency support is provided by four Audio Action-S218 and one Action-S18 passive subwoofers.

“In the 90’s area and 2000’s floor,” Fiorito reports, “we deployed four Artec-308 loudspeakers along with six E11EVEN Sound ES-10 enclosures in each floor. As with the Hip-Hop area, low frequency support is provided by four DAS Action-S218 and one Action-S18 sub. Power amplification for these three areas come from two ELEVEN Sound by DAS Audio EP-14K2 and two EP-6K4 amps.”

“I can’t emphasize enough how important clear and natural sound is to nightclub and fine dining environments,” Karagounis explained. “The music must be appealing, as this is a major part of the ‘vibe’. Without quality sound—at appropriate levels—it’s too easy to alienate your customers. Equally important is speech intelligibility. John Fiorito, Randy White, and Willy Rodriguez were all very ‘hands on’ throughout the entire process and the results speak for themselves. I couldn’t be happier.”

To learn more about Decades, visit https://decadesdc.com/.