In The Fitness Zone: Yamaha Equips Another New VondelGym

Owned by a consortium including Dutch television host Arie Boomsma, VondelGym is an expanding chain of fitness clubs in Amsterdam. Thanks to the success of the Yamaha audio system installed in VondelGym Oost, the latest VondelGym Zuid has also been equipped with Yamaha.

The first facility, VondelGym West, opened in 2015, with VondelGym Oost opening a year later. A third facility - VondelGym Zuid - has recently opened in the city’s Zuidas district, an area that is seeing rapid expansion.

Stan van Ettikhoven of Rock 'n’ Roll Engineering installed a Yamaha audio system based on the MTX3 matrix processor and VXS series surface-mounted loudspeakers at VondelGym Oost. He designed a scaled-up system for the new, larger gym. Divided into eight zones, it comprises 14 VXS8, 16 VXS5 and four VXS1 loudspeakers, plus an HS8 subwoofer. The system is powered by XMV8280 and XMV4140 power amplifiers, managed by an MTX3 and controlled by two DCP1V4S and one MCP1 panels.

The gym’s main fitness space is complemented by a raised food/drink and meeting area, a separate corporate meeting room and further rooms for Pilates and yoga.

MCP1 wall mount control panel

“The main fitness space is divided into four zones. It would be possible to have different music sources for each zone, but we were concerned that they might end up competing with each other and raising the volume level, leading to complaints from the rooms above. So it was decided that only the Pilates and yoga rooms would have their own inputs for different sources,” says Stan.

Like VondelGym Oost, the new VondelGym Zuid is located on the ground floor of a concrete office building, with structural pillars that are the ideal mounting locations for the VXS loudspeakers. However, this could create issues of low frequency vibrations travelling through the building, especially to the meeting rooms immediately above.

“With this type of building there is always some spill and here the noise restrictions are really strict,” says Stan. “Like the previous installation, I solved this by installing custom rubber fixings between the loudspeaker brackets and the pillars. They work very well, the only other thing you could do to isolate the sound is to build a room within a room, but that would be prohibitively expensive.”

The Yamaha system delivers high quality sound at a fairly low level during the day, which is increased in the evening when the offices above close and many employees move from their desks down to the fitness facilities.

Stan has also done a number of zoned restaurant and bar projects with Yamaha systems and, as with the VondelGym installations, both he and his customers are very happy with them. “I chose Yamaha for this installation because the previous VondelGym and all the other installations I have done worked so well,” says Stan. “In my experience, Yamaha systems are really high quality. They work very well and are so reliable. I haven’t had a single piece of equipment fail in the six years that I have been installing them.”

He continues, “Another thing I really like about Yamaha is the simplicity of the controls. You see other systems with small mixers and the staff don't understand them. The great thing about Yamaha controllers is that they are so easy for people to use. The MCP1 panel or ProVisionaire can be programmed to deliver really straightforward control and all the staff immediately understand it. That’s great for the customer.”

“Another thing I really like is that, if there is anything that I think can be done better, or I need help with, Yamaha is always there. It feels really good that I’m being taken care of and that my experience has some input to future product development. That means a lot.”

Amsterdam, The Netherlands