Great Sound in Fisherman's Paradise - NEAR - Case Study 609 Tech
- Oct 13, 2017
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 21, 2021
PROPERTY:
ANGLER HOUSE MARINA
Islamorada, FL
www.anglerhousemarina.com
Ph: (305) 664-5247
INTEGRATOR:
609 TECH
South Florida
www.609tech.com Ph: (305) 675-0127
Halfway between Miami and Key West lies the village of Islamorada (eye-lah-moh-RA-da), the sport fishing mecca of the east coast. The area’s reputation for world-class backcountry sport fishing and saltwater fly-fishing were founded by such legends as Ted Williams, Jimmy Albright, Cecil Keith, Bill and Bonnie Smith. Known as the “Sportfishing Capital of the World”, Islamorada has more International Game Fish Association (IGFA) records set (and broken) in its surrounding waters than any place in the world. And viewers of the Netflix series Bloodline will recognize Islamorada as the setting for the Rayburn family dramatics. But this story is about sun, salt spray, pool water and all the challenges of the harsh Florida Keys environment, as well as the need of a business owner to delight his clients with great sound.
In 2015 Florida businessman Victor Ballestras purchased the Angler House Marina from the new owners of the Siesta Resort & Marina complex. Victor’s vision was to make the Angler House a greater resource to charter fishing captains and private marina clients by offering more amenities and services as well as adding in a big dose of FUN to the facility. Soon after taking over the property Victor installed the first of his planned facility upgrades - a swimming pool in pace of an unremarkable concrete patio (Figure 1). But Victor knew he needed even more to attract and entertain marina guests – great sounding music.
Victor called in his former neighbor Ralph Yara to come up with a plan. Ralph’s company 609 Tech is a ten-year old integrator specializing in audio, automation, and security installations as well as IT Services for hotels, restaurants, offices and executive residences throughout South Florida and the Keys.
“I told Ralph that we needed a music system that provided clear, well-balanced background music around the pool area during the day but could crank out loud, high impact, high fidelity sound for social events and parties”, Mr. Bellestras recalled. “The speakers had to hold up under Keys weather. It gets really hot here especially during the summer months when temperatures can reach into the high 90s. Of course it rains a lot down here, and the sun is unrelenting. Plus we’ve got the salt spray from the Gulf and the chlorine from the pool. All of that can destroy outdoor equipment in a season or two. But I wanted to buy the system just once, not have to replace it every couple of years.”
Ralph Yara had met NEAR’s Bill Kieltyka at Tech Summit event in 2015 and spent a long time talking about outdoor speaker system design, NEAR’s history and unique product design approach
“I remember meeting Ralph at Tech Summit,” said Kieltyka, “he was the first appointment of the day and we talked for a fairly long time. He asked all the right questions and clearly had a good grasp of his client’s special requirements. And he helped me solve a network problem I was having at home. You got to love a dealer like that!”
“I came away impressed with Bill’s knowledge and NEAR’s combination of extreme durability and high performance sound.” Ralph said. “I had the Angler House project in mind and after talking with Bill I was certain I had found the perfect solution in the NEAR in-ground models. Given the location and design of the pool there were no places we could mount under-eave or post-mount speakers. In-ground made a lot of sense. The omni-directional dispersion of the IG6s ensured that there would be even coverage around the pool area with minimal ‘hot spots’ of intrusive sound. Adding in two IGS10 subwoofers and powering it all with the NEAR 6X amplifier gave us all the power and excitement Mr. Ballestras wanted for parties.
The speakers were mounted in-ground in the mulched and planted area behind the chaise lounges and sunning tables as shown in the schematic diagram of the pool area. 18 foot spacing between IG6 speakers ensured even coverage with minimal hot or dead zones.
And the result? When asked whether any marina customers had commented on the quality of the sound system, Victor answered: “ALL of them! I’m really happy with the way the system turned out”.
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