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Beatnik@Kaiserhaus

The "Kaiserhaus" is a historic Building in the heart of Bern, Switzerland . Right next to the goverment building and quite big. It was renovated for the last 7 years. In 2026 it reopend & became home of the first large scale Beatnik installation. (Full History here of the Kaiserhaus can be found in the Berner Zeitung here)

What the idea was

Requirements

The hof-bar is a bar in one big room. So no need to use Beatnik or multiroom audio here. But the Kaiserhaus Team had some ideas:

  1. Music that's played in the hof-bar should reach other areas of the Kaiserhaus too.
  2. Music that's played in the hof-bar should be embedded in the Website.

How it started

Background

I was contact by Simon from Varia Instruments. Simon & Marcel produce a handcrafted, very tactile, analogue Mixer, named RDM 20 & RDM 40 here in Bern.

Simon was asked by Severin to help build a fancy audiophile grade analogue System at the HOF-BAR @ Kaiserhaus.

HOF-BAR Radio Live Stream

Listen wich LP is beeing played now on the turntables @ HOF-BAR.

Click the play button below.

HOFBAR STREAM by Beatnik
00:00

People involved:

  • Simon & Marcel

    Varia Instruments

  • Sarah

    Of Goods & Kitchener

  • Severin

    HOF-BAR, Kaiserhaus & Cultivino

  • Me (Johnny)

    Beatnik

  • HOF-BAR

    Is the name of the new audiophile Bar at the Kaiserhaus in Bern. It plays music from Vinyl all day from 07.00 - 00.30. You can get coffee & drinks there.

    https://hof-bar.ch/ 

  • Varia Instuments

    is a manufacture that produces high quality analogue Mixers, named RDM 20 & RDM 40 In Bern. Switzerland.

    https://www.varia-instruments.com/ 

  • Kaiserhaus

    Is the umbrella organisation of the whole project. Orchestrating the whole house featuring ateiliers, manufactures, retail & gastronomy.

    https://kaiserhaus.ch/ 

  • Brasserie Kaiser

    The restuarant of the Kaiserhaus.They serve simple dishes made from high-quality, locally farmed products. Also featuring a bakery in the basement producing sourdough bread.

    https://brasserie-kaiser.ch/ 

  • Of Goods

    The retail section of the Kaiserhaus. Featuring manufactures, ateliers & shops. Focusing on sustainability and local production.

    https://ofgoods.ch/ 

  • Kaiser Deli

    A mix between a bakery and butcher shop that offers house-made bread and charcuterie.

    https://www.kaiser-deli.ch/ 

We did it, not because it is easy. We did it, because we thought it would be easy.

Find below the initial plan.

That was the initial plan

A Simple Radio Station

Basically a standardized Beatnik Line-In server should be used. And clients in the same Local Network (WiFi) would play what's on the the turtnables. Thats'what we thought.

It is

A Special case

We had already developed a sophisticated Line-In feature for Beatnik. Focused on old vinyl players and home networks though.

In the case of Kaiserhaus:

  • The music stream comes from an analogue Mixer. As DJs are in charge of that Mixer, they fiddle around with the signal. Beatnik likes a stable signal.

  • There is no shared local Network. Beatnik is (or was) built to play music in your local Network.

  • There are 3 Networks involved (Gastronomie, Bar & Retail) as those are phisically seperated locations. Also 3 different companies. 3 different IT service providers.

Brown = Retail
Red = Gastronomy
Bordeaux = HOF-BAR

Realized Software & Network Architecture.

While we where planing for one Server, we placed 3. We planned for a couple of devices. We installed 23. Find below the actual software architecture.

Gastro Installation

Part I: Ground Floor. Kaiser Brasserie, Kaiser Deli, Grill & Lounge.

Basement Installation

Part II: Restrooms, Bakery, Kitchen & Lounge

1 Radio Station. 3 Servers. 4 DACs, 17 Amps, 25 Speakers in Sync.

Built Hardware

We installed a variety of hardware in the Kaiserhaus. Based on their needs. We produced mostly B & A Amps. For Mixer Line-In and Radio Server, we built a custom B-DAC / ADC. All Devices where assembled in Bern.

  • Amp Pro

    Amp Pro

    Sold out

    Amp Pro

    From CHF 479.67
    From CHF 479.67
    Sold out
  • DAC Pro (ADC)

    DAC Pro (ADC)

    Sold out

    DAC Pro (ADC)

    From CHF 448.78
    From CHF 448.78
    Sold out
  • Amp

    Amp

    Sold out

    Amp

    From CHF 347.54
    From CHF 347.54
    Sold out
View all

Used Components

As it should be as Swiss & Audiophile as possible, we used Hifiberry 🇨🇭 Amps & DACs. Mainly HifiBerry Amp4 pro.

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What's next?

The Installation has allready been extended to more spaces. The Retail Section an the manufacture area in the top floor.

We monitor the stability & collected quite some Feedback for "Large System/Installation Usage".  Developped some new Features based on that.

For example. Volume  & Stream Presets.

Used to control the volume and stream settings of multiple devices with just one click.

I think we'll have to write part II soon.