Audio & Video
A premier nationwide fitness brand opened a new 35,000-square-foot flagship gym in West Palm Beach, Florida, and broke from the speaker package already installed in more than 100 of its locations. Integrator Seamless Technologies recommended a full switch to SoundTube Entertainment loudspeakers, arguing the change would improve coverage and sound quality while cutting total hardware investment by about 18%.
Fitness facilities are hard Audio & Video rooms. The West Palm Beach site spans 17 distinct audio zones: high-energy cardio and functional training floors, boutique group exercise and cycling studios, spa, hydrotherapy and treatment rooms, locker rooms, restrooms and walkways. Each zone has different ceilings, moisture conditions and sound goals. A cardio floor needs even coverage and punch over a high, open space. A cycling studio needs instructor voices to cut through loud music. A treatment room needs quiet background audio that does not bleed in from the weight floor next door.
Before rough-in, Seamless worked with SoundTube Design Services on 3D acoustic modeling and coverage heatmaps to place speakers and avoid both dead spots and over-specifying smaller rooms. The commissioned system uses 184 SoundTube loudspeakers and subwoofers matched to those zones: compact in-ceiling speakers in low-ceiling treatment rooms and tight plenums, wider-dispersion in-ceiling speakers along circulation paths, training floors and locker rooms, and blind-mount 10-inch subwoofers in primary workout zones and group studios so bass does not require bulky floor cabinets.
Behind the speakers, QSC CX-Q network amplifiers feed the 17 zones. Processing is split between a QSC Q-SYS core for primary floor distribution and a Symetrix Radius NX DSP for zone equalization and isolation. Wall-mounted Symetrix controllers let staff adjust local studio levels and sources without calling a technician for every change.
The project also had to hit a rigid grand-opening date. When supply-chain delays threatened short-can speakers specified for tight ceiling voids, the integrator and manufacturer swapped in pin-compatible SoundTube models that kept the schedule without ceiling rework or budget overruns.
Mohamed Othman, vice president of Seamless Technologies, said recommending a different speaker brand across a 100-plus-location standard meant they had to be confident it would perform. Once leadership heard the commissioned system, he said, "the difference was night and day." After the walkthrough, brand executives noted clearer vocals, stronger bass and more even coverage than at their legacy sites. The client then announced plans to revise its national master specification, standardizing SoundTube loudspeakers and the flagship's design approach for upcoming builds and major system retrofits.
What multi-location brands can take from a flagship
A brand-standard speaker package is only as good as the rooms it has to cover.
- One spec rarely fits every room. The same box that works on an open cardio floor can overpower a spa or disappear in a high-ceiling studio. Zone-by-zone design is what makes a national standard actually usable.
- Design before rough-in saves money and rework. Mapping coverage before cable is pulled can mean fewer speakers in smaller rooms and the right hardware where ceilings are tight or wet.
- Staff have to live with the system. If volume and source changes need a technician, studios either run too loud or sit unused. Simple wall controls keep day-to-day operation with the people in the room.
- A successful flagship can reset every future site. Once leadership hears the difference, the next new build and the next major retrofit inherit that spec. That is why the first location in a new market, or a remodel used as a prototype, is worth getting right.
A practical checklist
Walk each room type and write down what it actually needs: speech, bass, background music or isolation from the space next door. Confirm ceiling depth, moisture and how speakers will look against the finish. Plan amplification, DSP and control so zones can run independently. Leave room in the schedule for a hardware swap if a specified model is delayed. And treat audio as part of the broader buildout, including the cabling and network that keep players, controllers and the rest of the room's technology stable.
How Vexitey helps
Vexitey designs and installs Audio & Video for fitness studios, retail floors and other busy spaces, from a single site to every location in a brand. Our buildout work covers the structured cabling and room systems behind a new or remodeled location, and we work with multi-location and franchise brands that need a spec that can travel. If your next opening or retrofit needs audio that matches the rooms you actually have, contact us or call (815) 749-0600.
Sources
- AV Magazine: SoundTube delivers 18% hardware savings at flagship gym (opens in a new tab) (Nov 4, 2026)
- Essential Install: SoundTube audio system transforms flagship fitness facility in West Palm Beach (opens in a new tab)
- Residential Systems: Case Study: Commercial Gym With 17 Audio Zones (opens in a new tab) (Nov 2, 2026)