What makes a great dining experience? Naturally the food, but what about the lighting of the restaurant, or the placement of the tables, or the interesting artwork and other facets of interior design? Most would argue that a great dining experience goes well beyond just the food, and design attributes play an enormous part toward creating a perfect night out.
While lighting and design may be understudies (after all, there are ‘Hacker” stalls in Singapore with a Michelin star) music may be just as important as the food in creating a mood that will be cherished when in a restaurant. Play loud garish music through a terrible sound system and that spectacular salmon dish just got stale in a hurry. Restaurateurs have known about the importance of the overall package for decades, and have mastered the fine balance between food, sound and ambiance, so it should not come as a surprise that other industries are tearing a page from the restaurant playbook to create their own beautiful sounding places full of ambience and design.
Take for example, the Lexus dealership in Vaughan, Ontario, just north of Toronto. You’d expect a car dealership to have strong white lighting to show off the paint of the cars on offer, but Lexus of Vaughan has recently installed a sound system that puts most high-end restaurant installations to shame.
Corrado Longhin, a lifelong audiophile and the General Manager with the Zanchin Automotive Group, who oversee multiple automotive brands including the Lexus showroom, tasked Sean Eccleston from Completely Custom to create a sound system that would be both beautiful to hear as well as to see. Eccleston, who was referred to Longhan from a previous client, presented the French audio brand Elipson. “Elipson builds beautiful cylindrical speakers in painted finishes inspired by the automotive industry” stated Eccleston, “but more importantly, Elipson are not intended to be hidden in the ceiling like most commercial applications, but designed to be seen. The speakers can also be placed closer to the showroom floor which of course created better audio clarity in a large car showroom, while also creating a beautiful visual where the speakers become almost like an art installation.”
Lexus of Vaughan uses audio as a subtle add-on to the overall emotional experience of purchasing a vehicle. By having multiple speakers throughout the showroom, Longhan is guaranteed hi-audiophile sound without having to blast the system. The system can of course be played at higher volumes for client events and new product launches again creating that emotional attachment that comes from great sound.
Elipson has a history that starts in the 1930s and has built a reputation for creating audio speakers that are equal parts art and sound. Since 1962, Elipson has been incorporating sphere designs starting with the La Religieuse model, followed by the 502 in 1966, and the 4050 in 1968, the year Elipson also provided the sound system for the Grenoble Olympic Games. In 2010, the company launched the first Planet L, a space-age sphere on telescopic stands, followed a year later by the smaller sized Planet M and both remain timeless staples of the current Elipson product offering.
For commercial applications Elipson offers the popular Bell 4 and Bell 6 models, a 2-way bass reflex teardrop shaped speaker designed for 360-degree sound diffusion. Each Bell speaker includes a 1.8-meter cable and carabiner allowing the speakers to hang from the ceiling. Elipson offers the speakers in both a white and black finish and Lexus Vaughan installed black Bell 6 speakers to contrast with the overall white aesthetic of the showroom in addition to larger hanging Planet L speakers in white.
“Customers are paying far more attention to the esthetics of the system in addition to how it sounds” says Eccleston who adds “products from manufacturers like Elipson are making it much easier for commercial installers to surpass design and sound expectations.” Like the restaurant industry, auto showrooms are using music to enhance the overall experience of shopping for a car and savvy dealerships know that the quality of their products can only be enhanced when married to a quality sound system.
Elipson speakers and audio components are exclusively distributed by Gemsen.