Liberty Collective Case Study

Liberty Collective Elevates Its Audio with AtlasIED Atmosphere

Ohio’s Liberty Collective is an 18,000-square-foot entertainment complex designed to bring people together. It combines a vibrant atmosphere with a strong sense of local pride, offering an experience that is both welcoming and inspiring. The facility features five distinct restaurant concepts spread across two floors, along with a coffee and breakfast bar, an ice cream shop, and three bars, including a 30-tap self-pour beer wall. Indoor and outdoor seating is available on both levels, with a second-floor deck and first-floor patios leading out to five sand volleyball courts.

The owners were working with Tom Kaper, owner of TECServices, to design and deploy the multitude of video displays throughout the building. Kaper contacted local integrator ICOMM Communications to help with the audio system. The building is approximately 160 feet long and 100 feet wide, with a very high ceiling and a large open area between the two floors. The architecture made audio intelligibility very challenging.

“I’m an AtlasIED fan, and I’ve been working with their products for about 15 years,” said Ken Sargent, owner of ICOMM Communications. “Liberty Collective’s system is almost entirely used for background music, so AtlasIED’s Atmosphere platform came to mind immediately.”

In turn, ICOMM Communications contacted Andy Black, McFadden Sales’ territory sales manager for Southwest Ohio and Kentucky, to assist with the installation. McFadden Sales has represented professional AV and audio technology brands since its founding in 1938, building long-term partnerships with manufacturers such as AtlasIED.

“While the Cincinnati market has a few other venues with food courts, this one stands out as a true food hall-style destination,” said Black. “However, it’s larger than similar concepts and incorporates outdoor space. The inside design was gorgeous, but very acoustically challenging. A lot of work went into the design phase to come up with an audio solution that would suit the architecture.”

AtlasIED's Atmosphere platform is a state-of-the-art audio control system designed to enhance communication and improve the ambiance in public spaces. Simple to deploy and use but powerful in capabilities, Atmosphere combines digital audio processors, amplifiers, graphical user interfaces, programming software, and controls to set a new operational and performance standard for digital audio systems.

An Atmosphere AZM8 was well-suited for the venue’s needs. The AZM8 is an eight-zone digital signal processor and the heart of an Atmosphere audio control system. A built-in message player, virtual wall controllers, learning ambient noise sensing, Tilter Filter™, auto-gain, GPIO, room combine, and more make the AZM8 a processing powerhouse. Two zones (east/west) were configured on each floor, while outside, separate zones were created for each side of the building.

Programming is simple via an on-board web interface optimized for common use cases. The control interface is device-agnostic, responsive, and meticulously designed to deliver an ideal user experience without sacrificing design freedom. In addition to Ethernet, built-in Wi-Fi allows tablets and other control devices to connect directly to the AZM8 via rights-based access.

A combination of the 800-watt DPA804, 1200-watt DPA1202, 2400-watt DPA2402, and 4800-watt HPA4202 amplifiers powers the loudspeakers installed throughout the venue. AtlasIED’s multiple-channel amplifiers are engineered to support 25V/70V/100V distributed systems as well as low impedance systems, making them versatile for a wide range of installations.

The building has garage doors that can open during warm weather, so wind inside the building can be considerable, making pendant loudspeakers problematic. Instead, ICOMM Communications proposed installing surface-mount loudspeakers much closer to the listeners to reduce intelligibility issues. After exploring options, Sargent chose the AtlasIED 2-way SM82T loudspeakers based on their sound quality and commercial-grade durability. The largest of the SM Series at 16½ inches tall, the 30-watt loudspeaker features a high-efficiency woofer and 1-inch high-frequency compression drivers.

Outside, 12 AtlasIED AS-8T loudspeakers were mounted on light poles surrounding the volleyball courts, and “they sound great.” The AS-8T is a two-way, compact surface-mount loudspeaker that delivers a consistent, accurate broadband frequency response, both on- and off-axis. Equipped with a low-insertion-loss 60W transformer for 70V or 100V distributed applications, the durable, scuff-resistant, high-impact ABS enclosure with UV inhibitor is weather-resistant (IP55) for consistent performance in adverse conditions.

ALA20T column line-array loudspeakers flank the enormous, 25-foot-wide LED video screen that dominates the wall behind one of the bars. The 66-inch tall loudspeakers combine twenty 3" full-range drivers and six 3/4" high-frequency tweeters, delivering maximum pattern control performance in a minimum footprint and making them ideal for applications that require exceptional speech intelligibility.

Newly completed, the entertainment venue has already proved to be a hit in the community, thanks in part to the superior sound Atmosphere delivers. By mounting the SM82T loudspeakers at the proper intervals and locations throughout the building’s interior, ICOMM Communications overcame the venue’s acoustic challenges.

“The coverage feels really even as you walk through the space, which means you’re not having to overdrive the loudspeakers to fill the room,” said Black. “That’s especially hard to pull off in a large, reverberant space like this, so I was genuinely impressed by how good it sounded.”

"With a product catalog as extensive as AtlasIED's, it's fantastic to have a wide selection of high-quality indoor and outdoor loudspeakers. The audio experience is exceptional both inside and out," said Sargent. "AtlasIED's products are reliable, and their team is very knowledgeable. If someone doesn't know the answer to a question, they will find it out quickly. I truly enjoy working with them."