Cristó

With live acts and DJs providing cutting-edge sounds, and chefs creating innovative dishes, no two nights at Cristó are ever the same. From the first sip of an aperitif, through dinner and dancing to the last drop of a late-night drink, guests experience a blend of music, food and entertainment that’s carefully tailored to each event held here. It’s all wrapped up in traditional Italian hospitality and passionate attention to detail.

“With our experience in the industry, we knew it was important to have the best in every aspect of Cristó,” explains Co-Owner Liguori. “That’s why we chose to work with Pioneer Professional Audio.”

Cristó’s versatility means it can feel nicely full with 200 guests, but when the furniture is rearranged, it can comfortably hold up to 500. The venue comprises several connected zones over two floors including the mezzanine upper level. With a welcome area, lounge and live music space, cocktail bar and a two-room restaurant overlooking the main part of the venue, it’s a large and unusually shaped building. In short: an audio technician’s nightmare.

Local installation company Masti Eventi was enlisted to install a sound system with a request to place speakers high in the room. “It needed to be balanced and harmonious, with excellent diffusion in all areas,” says Maurizio Prestileo of Masti Eventi. “And we needed to make sure sound didn’t leak from the building because it’s in the center of the city.”

After an in-depth study of the location, Prestileo collaborated with the Pioneer Pro Audio team to specify a system comprising XY-81 8-inch two-way loudspeakers and XY-115S 15-inch bass reflex subwoofers driven by Powersoft Quattrocanali amps. “We know that in the past, this configuration has proved particularly effective in terms of performance and quality,” says Prestileo.

“Because it’s a historic building with very thick walls, we had to find a way to distribute the sound with several points of diffusion in order to evenly cover the various rooms,” Prestileo explains. “The configuration we chose guaranteed an enveloping and soft sound you can hear clearly in every part of the venue, and it adapts well if you want to create a lounge or nightclub atmosphere.”

With thick internal and external walls, high ceilings and the presence of difficult materials – not to mention the need to avoid noise pollution outside the venue – it’s fair to say the installation was challenging. “Because there are so many rooms in Cristó, the sound delays seriously compromised the quality of diffusion. We had to do the calibration several times to acoustically align the rooms and eliminate delays,” says Prestileo. But the process was a valuable one, he goes on to explain: “Thanks to the Pioneer Pro Audio team, we’ve acquired know-how that will enable us to optimally manage any multiroom installation in the future, ensuring quality in terms of yield and diffusion.”

Cristó officially opened to the public in October 2019 and has quickly become a hotspot on the Brescia nightlife scene. On the experience of working with Masti Eventi and Pioneer Pro Audio, Liguori says the Cristó Co-Owners felt, “They showed great attention to the space as well as our needs and requests. We could talk to the project managers anytime we wanted to.” And what did they find most impressive about the system? “The sound is powerful, but it remains inside the building, without creating disturbance outside.”