If you love standing in a dark sweaty space with sticky floors covered in old red stripe and facing a set of speakers with tops racing through your ear canals and firing off all the miniscule pleasure receptors in your brain with each new tune; if you love to have a soundsystem as tall as the wallace monument that is built specifically focused on issuing only the warmest, fattest and purest of sub frequencies toward you, smashing your body like a mighty fuck-off dub-hammer in the guts, then you've likely thought about owning or building your own soundsystem... it's only natural.. If that all sounds like you, well you need to get to know Galloway Audio. We had a chat with the team behind the new venture about all things SOUND SYSTEM.
SVB: Bigups guys, to start, tell us a bit about yourselves, and the new venture, Galloway Audio
Galloway Audio has been founded this year (2020) by Roo Cunningham & Lewis Sturgeon, these guys are the driving force behind Cenote Sound System as well as being part of the road touring crew for Mungo’s Hifi.
Galloway Audio:Hand-built,professional,touring-grade speaker cabinets. Custom builds to suit car audio, home hi-fi and larger PA sound systems. All built in Dumfries & Galloway using local suppliers and quality components.
SVB: Sounds ace, so why did you decide to start the business and why now in particular?
Galloway Audio was started with the aim of making professional audio quality, more affordable for the business or personal market.
Due to the crisis of 2020 and not being able to enjoy music events in Scotland, we thought that we should bring the gig/soundsystem quality & experience to more intimate settings for everyone to enjoy in their home, vehicle or work-place.
SVB: Tell us about your own rigs and then what would be yer dream system setup?
Galloway Audio was founded after years of building up Cenote Sound System, which currently runs:
4x 18” Super scoops
4x 15” HD15s
4x mid-tops loaded with a 12” woofer and a 1.5” compression driver
The sub & kick section is powered by a Powersoft K20 & the mid-tops are powered with a matrix XT2000, with a total power of 20KW for the whole system.
This system has been designed to be toured by one person IF needs be, so all boxes are moveable by yourself if required.
Quite happy with where Cenote’s system is now after powering stages at Audio Soup & Solfest festivals as well as countless club nights (Jungle Testaments being the main stay)
However if we were to change anything, we would perhaps try some ES18’s on our kick section instead of our HD15’s as they play a slightly wider frequency range that would include high-bass frequencies, but this may affect our one-person manoeuvrability for stacking.
As for dream set-up, pretty happy with where we are,has been a ten year plan to get to this stage buuuut could always try those ES18’s, maybe another couple of scoops in some time as well as another we’d like to experiment with in future, but for now that’s remaining a well kept secret and a bit hush hush ;)
SVB: Haha always a secret weapon in the bag, I don't blame you ;) These are the important ones now Haha! In your opinion whats THE tune to break in any new system?
Its hard to pick just one tune! However in the sound-check list before lockdown there were 4 tunes that helped to tune and balance a system at every gig!
Mala - Alicia (Good for checking high end clarity as well as bass)
Eva Lazarus-Amsterdam (BD version) & Mighty Oak Sound system ft Ramon Judah- Signs (These two tracks are very good for distinguishing mid-range clarity with different instruments)
And finally Fat Freddy’s Drop - Cay’s Crays (Digital Mystikz version) (For really checking the low-end response from a system ;) )
SVB: Devastating selection guys, conversely what tune would you NEVER degrade your system by playing through it (can be any genre, era...)?
At Galloway Audio we like to keep an open mind and believe that all sounds are unique and special in their own way and that there is always something for a different mood.
That being said, If anyone was ever to play Oasis through one of our systems, we’re not sure they’d live to tell the tale.
SVB: Haha Quite right there are limits ;) Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us guys, and all the best with the new venture!
Check out the Galloway Audio Fam over at their
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