East Race Muscle in South Bend, Indiana, started as a dream between partners Michael Baxter and Heath Lashmit. They formed a community around strength training which had outgrown their warehouse location. So they made the move to open a public gym, allowing them to expand their community and family. The mission statement was simple… “Strength. Community.” In Sept 2016 they closed the lease on a new building, loaded it with strength training gear, took on trainers, and opened their doors. As a start-up gym, they poured their capital into the strength training equipment for the facilities. The audio system was comprised of home equipment which they quickly realized didn’t quite fit their needs.

“Music in the gym creates the atmosphere and focus which is extremely important lifting. We needed intensity in the sound, and we soon found out that our current system couldn’t work as hard as we were. It would overheat and shut off so we added a fan to keep it cool, and then another” explained Mike. “Eventually we realized it just wasn’t cutting it. Simply plugging in a phone, getting a call, and overheating were interruptions that broke down the atmosphere. We had to fix it.” He continued.

Fitness studios, workout facilities, and gyms all have this in common. Music sets a mood and helps create focus. In some ways, it is subconscious. So when you need to create an environment, you need a system that reliably meets the needs of your space for consistent and quality sound. Yet, in most cases, there is a budget to consider.

The good news is, making the budget can be really quite simple. I worked with Mike and Heath on recommendations for a system that would give them what they need. As it turns out, it is a system that I have designed with others, almost to the exact specification. What are you looking for in a fitness room?

The simplicity of use. Quality of sound. Reliability. That is all, and it doesn’t take much to do it for many spaces.

 

After a quick review of the needs, the Electro-voice S44B system was the perfect choice for speakers. A Passive system is wiring friendly, high intensity, and easy on the budget. One wall mount sub is where you run your power amp lines and its four satellite speakers are included, ready to mount. This allowed us to distribute coverage around the room. Powered by EV amplification, all we needed was to add some basic on/off control and source input panels as well as a Bluetooth receiver.

All in now,  everyone who walks into the gym during day hours is greeted with controlled dynamic sound in all corners. After hours members can easily connect their phones and throw on their own mix.

With an MSRP of under of under $2000 total, this system can fit into just about any budget and cover a host of spaces.

Mike Baxter summed it up, “This new system does everything we need. We have no complaints and no issues from any of our growing member base. I don’t know if the audio system had anything to do with it, but our teams have set a record number of personal bests in the last three months…There might be something to it!”

My Gear List of Top Picks for Fitness Rooms

1 x EVIDS44B Speaker System

1 x Q44 Amplifier

1 x Echo Plus System Controller from Neets

1 x PIR Sensor from Neets (automatic system on/off based on occupancy)