A High-Performance Music System At City Sports - by Pete Weiss

Sound Communication Magazine

City Sports is a chain of ten sporting goods and apparel stores founded in Boston in 1983. Upscale and innovative, the stores are designed to reflect an urban intensity and each has its own individual identity. Jamie Gilroy is responsible for creating the atmosphere for the stores using energetic music and graphics. "City Sports insists the music in each store be selected on a market-by-market basis. We place a high value on music as part of the shopping experience."

Gilroy hired Shanahan Sound & Electronics, Inc. of Lowell, MA to install a high-performance music system at City Sports' first 'off-highway' site in Woburn and at several other locations in the Boston area. The music system for the Woburn store is not particularly complex but the large, open space was a challenge to sound. There are two ceiling heights; one at 20 feet and another at 14 feet. Based on Shanahan's impressive demonstration of SoundTube RS90 loudspeakers, Gilroy gave the go-ahead to have six installed with volume control for two distinct zones as proposed. A Bogen GS250 drives the 70 volt distributed system.

The funky, beehive look of the SoundTubes does well to compliment the custom, cartoon murals that bring the store walls to life. The retailer is pleased with the dynamic impression on eyes and ears that the speaker makes. Customers hear 360 degree sound dispersion and music that is specifically selected for the dominant local demographic. Customers have asked about the sound system so often that City Sports management has resorted to placing cards by the register stations that direct those with questions to the Shanahan Sound offices or web site. For a retailer to give up one square inch of space to something that does not, by itself, generate sales is a very strong endorsement, indeed.

Sound CommunicationVol. 45, #7