The new PBR Rock Bar & Grill opened recently in the Miracle Mile Shops complex at the Las Vegas Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino, just as the annual World Finals of the Professional Bull Riding championship—from which it takes its name—came to town. A little bit country but more than a little bit rock ’n’ roll, the PBR Rock Bar encompasses multiple eating areas and bars—plus a mechanical bull—in indoor space and an outdoor pavilion that borders the Las Vegas Strip.

Local commercial and residential design-install company R2W was responsible for the AV

systems at the PBR Rock Bar, installing dozens of LCD displays and digital signage inside and

outside the location, together with a multizone sound system and DJ booth. “The system needed

to be a lot more than a restaurant system; it needed to be high-powered,” explained David Starck, director of engineering for R2W. The company’s Kevin Ruschmann was the project manager.

Country music gets played, to be sure, but so too does rock and hip-hop when the venue goes into nightclub mode, requiring some serious wattage. The speaker system, comprising all high-power, lightweight JBL products, includes 21 AM7212/95 two-way 12-inch full-range loudspeakers; five ASB6125 dual-15-inch frontloaded vented subwoofer enclosures; eight AC28/26 dual-eight-inch two-way loudspeakers; 15 Control 28T-60 indoor/outdoor two-way speakers with eight-inch woofers; and four Control 24CT coaxially mounted four-inch woofer and 3/4-inch titanium-coated tweeter ceiling units. Nearly 30,000 watts of Lab.gruppen C28:4 and C48:4 amplifiers drive the speakers.

The only real challenge was that the sound system had to be entirely ceiling mounted. “The project was so fast paced that they didn’t even give us space for subwoofers on the floor, where we would have liked them,” Starck reported. “The speakers are spread out throughout the place so it actually worked out well, because we get very good low-end coverage. Using the higher powered JBL subs we were still able to get the bass punch and impact even though they are on the ceiling.” R2W was recently asked to further expand the sound facilities for live musical acts.

Video is a major feature, with over 80 LCD displays located inside and outside, in landscape and portrait orientation, for television playback and digital signage. “They have about 12 55-inch LCDs along the mall outside, with digital signage, extending the whole length of the restaurant frontage,” said Starck. A total of 22 BrightSign HD210 networked sign controllers deliver content to the venue’s displays. A dozen Contemporary Research QMOD-HD HDTV modulators distribute HD subscriber sources. “We’re taking high-definition feeds out of the satellite cable box receivers, modulating it to QAM, and also injecting Contemporary Research’s control signals [they use Display Express software and controllers to manage power

and channels],” he said. “It’s very high-quality video for being re-modulated off a receiver. You can control it from one PC in groups or any individual television, and change the channels remotely. It’s the first time we’ve used that system; it worked out really well.”

A BSS Soundweb London eight-input, 24-output DSP system, comprising a BLU-160 and a BLU-120, handles multizone audio control, crossovers and EQ. “During sports events they use the BSS to switch satellite receivers. They can switch between those and the DJ system, or media playback, such as background music during restaurant hours, using the BLU-8 wall controller,” said Starck.

Steve Harvey ([email protected]) has been west coast editor for Pro Sound News since 2000.