Mach Speaker System at Brooklyn’s Southpaw

When looking for authentic New York, the genuine I’ve-lived-here-my-whole-life New York where accents are thick and so are the tough guys, come to Brooklyn.

Brooklyn, that New York borough with a legendary reputation, is the real deal. And entertainment and music venue Southpaw is the real Brooklyn.

Southpaw is locally owned by three resident Brooklynite’s. Not only are Matt Roff, Mike Palms (resident DJ) and Derek Wolman home grown Brooklyn boys, all three are genuine southpaws (that’s a left-hander to the unknowing).

“One of the best sound systems in New York City”
Managed by Matt and Mike (who grew up together in Brooklyn), the project was started some two years ago and opened last summer after a major remodeling that included the installation of a Mach speaker system. “We went to the headquarters in Florida to hear a Mach sound system and liked it,” states owner and ex-DJ Matt. “So we decided on Mach. It’s one of the best sound systems in New York City at the moment.”

The happening place
The owners, whose company is called Three Kings LLC, decorated the interior space themselves in an industrial lounge look. Filled with personal touches like a collage above the bar with pictures of famous southpaws, family members and others that have something to do with the bar, the 450 capacity venue has quickly established itself as the happening place.

An abundance of candles, a corner jukebox, photography, even a mascot, Remi the Rotweiler, adds to the comfortable atmosphere. “It’s a very down-to-earth place where everybody pitches in,” Matt says. “We treat people how we want to be treated.”

Mach speaker system
Southpaw hosts live music and DJs five times a week. Most nights feature a local or regional act, but the popular venue has attracted some big headliners like Joan Osborne and Sahara Nights.

Southpaw is outfitted with a Mach speaker sound system. Four Mach M12T full range speakers, flown dually from each side of the stage, combine with four M181T reflex loaded 18" subwoofers, two on each side of the stage, placed on the floor. Four Mach M1502T full range stage monitors are positioned on stage. Two compact Mach M72i 2-way near field installation speakers are located near the DJ booth as sidefill. The sound board is a Yamaha PM 3000.

An audio work out
Southpaw has its own in-house sound engineer in Craig Wehringer but sometimes bands will bring in their own sound guy, Matt explains. The Mach system gets tested. “We have either live music or DJs in here five times a week so the system really gets a work out. It handles plenty of juice. We’ve hammered the speakers pretty hard and they’ve never blown anything on the front end. They hold the power really clean. Patrons love the sound we’ve have some great write ups.”

Funny enough, with all that great sound, dancing is not permitted at Southpaw. “It’s easier to get a liquor license than a dancing license,” Matt explains. “It’s a zoning issue. Guilliani (ex-mayor of NY) wanted to crack down on strip clubs.”

Southpaw: Humorist and sportswriter Finley Peter Dunne coined the word for a left-handed baseball pitcher while covering sports in Chicago in the 1880´s. Home plate in the Chicago ballpark was then to the west, so that a left-handed pitcher released the ball from the "paw", or hand, on the south side. The word soon came to describe any left-hander.