Pioneer Professional Audio Adds Punch to Manchester Bar
Posted on: 29th May 2025
Where:
The heart of Manchester’s Northern Quarter, a huddle of design-led bars, vintage boutiques, cafes and restaurants, fizzling with creative energy and fiercely independent.
What:
The Morris on Thomas Street. A new multi-concept venue, it was to boast an upscale pub on the ground floor celebrating the city’s craft beer and music scene and, upstairs, a cocktail bar bathed in a retro Eighties feel. On the third level, an events space would be fitted with a dedicated DJ area and bar for corporate functions and private parties.
The Ambition:
Three floors, three distinct yet complementary spaces. For this, the owner demanded a high-quality and flexible audio system. It needed to mirror the upscale look and feel of the venue and be capable of providing warm, crystal-clear sound for both background music and live performances. Importantly, it also had to work from bottom to top.
The Contractor:
After researching new bar openings in Manchester, Salford-based AV specialist Hollowsphere reached out to provide a quote. ‘I anticipated it to be just one floor but when I got to site it was three,’ says Director Adrian Ball. ‘All the bars are quite competitive on that street, so the owner wanted some sort of punch to the kit.’
The Product to Achieve this Goal:
Pioneer Professional Audio’s CM Series units, renowned for premium quality audio, fitted the bill perfectly. Hollowsphere ordered a dozen CM-S58T-K 8" Surface Mount Speakers – the largest speakers that could neatly fit into the design of the three spaces – and also put a CM-510ST-K 10" Surface/Floor Subwoofer on every floor to produce rich, deep bass.
‘From past experience in bars and restaurants we knew of the ease of installation of these units and they look smart in any environment. They’ve also got enough output for what the client wanted. The system is equally comfortable at background and foreground levels and we’ve always been impressed with the outcomes,’ Adrian says.
The Supplier:
Leisuretec – for the convenience, the flexibility, the accessibility when it comes to finding stock, and the speed of delivery. Adrian says: ‘We work such long hours and sometimes want to do our ordering at night. We can jump onto the website, see the live stock levels, and immediately make comparisons with other products. You don’t necessarily get that with other suppliers.’
The Finished Result:
A sound system that is fluid and looks good. The ground-floor bar can be laidback with low-level music that lifts as daytime edges into night and DJs take the space. Upstairs, the cocktail bar is able to focus on big, rich sounds and the private hire space can, when required, be louder still.
About Leisuretec
Established in 1990, we are Trade Distributors of Professional and Commercial Audio, Lighting, Video, Special Effects and Ancillary. Through our AV Hire Production, AV Installation and Re-seller customers we address the live entertainment, leisure, commercial, residential and retail markets throughout the UK.
We support our trade customers with immense stock holding across a vast choice of products, knowledgeable technical support, competitive trade pricing, speedy delivery and attentive after-sales support.
