Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona, a short distance from downtown Phoenix, is one of the state’s top destinations for visitors and locals. This historic, vibrant area offers shopping, art galleries, and various restaurants. The Hot Chick restaurant and nightclub opened in Old Town in 2019. This adult playground provides food, drinks, TVs for sports watching, and other fun activities such as video games, skee ball, air hockey and late-night dancing for the adventurous.
As the 7,000-square foot venue’s playful name suggests, chicken is the featured menu item at The Hot Chick, including chicken & waffles and sandwiches, including their hottest, the Disco Inferno. As the night rolls on and the kitchen retires for the evening, The Hot Chick turns up the volume and converts into a nightclub to allow customers to dance off their dinner.
Jocque Concepts, owners of The Hot Chick, continually look for new ways to delight customers and improve the venue. After five years of operation, the ownership team felt the venue’s audio system was lacking. Jocque Concept’s Entertainment Director, DJ Slippe, a DJ in the Phoenix Valley area for over 20 years and co-creator of The Hot Chick, was asked to help reimagine the venue’s approach to audio. During his research, he turned to Scot McKenzie, owner and lead engineer of Hybercube Audio, a Phoenix-based audio system integrator specializing in retail and nightclubs, to help consider the options.
“We have a dynamic environment at The Hot Chick,” said DJ Slippe, who is responsible for the audio and lighting at all seven Jocque Concepts venues. “At one moment, we may have a drag queen shouting bingo numbers on a wireless mic. The next minute we have a world-class DJ spinning a set with the place packed wall to wall. I wanted this new system to be able to handle both applications and create a better experience.”
The Pioneer Pro Audio Solution
Photo courtesy of Scot McKenzie / Hypercube Audio
McKenzie suggested a total audio makeover for The Hot Chick and worked with David Sullivan, sales manager at Pioneer Pro Audio, to recommend the Pioneer Pro Audio’s XY Series loudspeakers. “An entertainment venue like The Hot Chick needs quality audio, and after hearing the Pioneer Pro Audio system, they immediately realized the difference it could make,” said Sullivan.
The Hot Chick’s asymmetrical shape presented an acoustic challenge. When customers enter the venue, a large, circular bar lies in the center of the front restaurant space, with booths and tables surrounding it for seating and dining. Behind the bar is a retro-themed trailer where customers place food orders. The nearby DJ booth provides music creators with an elevated area to orchestrate the music for the venue, including the multipurpose gaming and dance area at the back of the venue.
“It’s a long space,” says McKenzie about The Hot Chick. “We needed to ensure even sound coverage in a uniquely shaped room. Without acoustical planning and testing, you have coverage gaps, which was the case with the previous system. The quality, size, and number of speakers with the original system were inadequate, and our goal was to address that with the new loudspeaker system.”
McKenzie and his team installed the system in phases overnight between shifts to avoid impacting The Hot Chick’s business operations. He surrounded the bar with multiple surface-mount Pioneer Pro Audio XY-101 speakers. These 10-inch, two-way, full-range speakers offered optimal sound quality for the diners and created a heightened listening experience.
In transforming the club area, McKenzie added multiple Pioneer Pro Audio XY-115S subwoofers in the center of the dance area to provide the deep bass reminiscent of any high-end nightclub. He then complemented the 15-inch subwoofers with additional XY-101s and a pair of XY-2E 8-inch two-way passive loudspeakers. The XY-2Es can be ground stacked into point-source arrays or flown like McKenzie chose for The Hot Chick.
Pioneer Pro Audio Elevates The Hot Chick with Superior Sound
Photo courtesy of Scot McKenzie / Hypercube Audio
“Pioneer Pro Audio loudspeakers sound beautiful out of the box,” says McKenzie. “You simply upload speaker profiles and mic the room, and you are good to go. With the Pioneer XY Series installed, you get high-quality sound even in an asymmetrical room.”
While summertime temperatures often reach over 100-degrees during the day, the Arizona desert is pleasant for much of the year, especially at night. On those days, The Hot Chick rolls up its large doors that lead to two outdoor covered patio areas on opposite ends of the venue to increase airflow and let customers lounge outdoors, enjoy food and cocktails, watch TV, or play games. McKenzie added XY-101 speakers in both patios and paired them with a single XY-115S subwoofer in each area to provide quality and balance. The XY-101s passive crossover board features separate cooling zones to ensure safe and continuous operations in high desert heat or any environment.
“We love the new system,” says DJ Slippe. “It’s a monster. We have a crazy layout inside the venue, and Hypercube Audio and Pioneer Pro Audio came through and leveled up our game. We will have no problem considering Pioneer Pro Audio for our other venues when it comes time to reevaluate our audio.”
