LEA Amps Power Iconic Los Angeles Hotel: Hotel Figueroa

Potvin focused on a few main areas of the hotel including two prominent restaurants, Sparrow and La Casita as well as the pool area. Initially, the team came up against supply chain issues with some manufacturers not having amplifiers in stock. This led them to try LEA Professional which had amplifiers in stock and ready to ship. At first, Potvin admitted to being nervous about trying a new manufacturer but after seeing some familiar faces on LEA’s team he knew immediately that this was no start-up company but instead a firm with long-standing industry heavyweights on board. Ultimately Potvin specified four Connect Series 704 amplifiers to power a majority of the hotel.

“Going in with these amps and being able to program one channel to be 70V and one channel to be low impedance, that is huge,” said Potvin. “These have so many useful features, they are very unique within the industry, and that really makes my job easier.” 

Adding to the legacy infrastructure at the hotel were the equipment racks, which were not typical audio system racks but instead, IT racks that could not hold much equipment. For Potvin, the Connect Series and its 1U space-saving design meant they were the perfect fit. One challenge the team usually faces when installing amplifiers in a hotel is ensuring that they are not accidentally powered off, especially when they need to run 24/7. 

“I’m so glad the on/off button is hidden on the Connect Series, we have had so many issues before where the power button is right on the front of an amp and people accidentally hit the amps off,” said Potvin. “It seems simple, but that can be a real nightmare scenario for us.” 

Potvin did need to fix one issue in the hotel after the installation but was able to use the LEA Professional Web UI so he never had to step foot in the AV room. The Web App UI is LEA Professional’s browser-based interface which allows local monitoring of every amplifier connected to the network from any phone, tablet, or PC. In addition, it will enable users to view the status of every channel on any given amp. This alongside the remote control LEA Cloud platform, ensures the integrator, in this case, Potvin is in complete control of the system at all times. 

“The first time a DJ was performing the mix was boosted 8-12db and those frequencies will knock you off your chair. I went down to fix it but didn’t even need to open my laptop. Instead, I logged on with my phone’s web browser and I was able to take the low end out in 20 seconds.” 

Some areas of the hotel, particularly Sparrow restaurant, were acoustically challenging in terms of their configuration but Potvin was impressed with the power LEA Professional provided. 

“Four LEA amps are powering the majority of the hotel and it’s mind-boggling, especially when you see how much audio is in there — it can get very loud,” commented Potvin. “The result was crisp, clear, non-distorted sound quality, even at high levels… it’s very protective of the speakers in the system and easy on an audience.”