Flex Fitness: sound and video for four Auckland gyms

Project snapshot

• Client: Flex Fitness, Royal Oak, Manurewa, Manukau and Henderson clubs
• Location: Four gyms across Auckland
• Sector: Gym and fitness
• Scope: Gym sound systems, music and video distribution, displays and group-fitness rooms, 2024 to 2025

Four gyms, one standard

Since 2024 Audio Connect has fitted out four Flex Fitness clubs in Auckland. Each site is different, from a converted existing gym to a brand-new build, but the owners wanted the same thing everywhere: music that sounds good across the whole floor at a level members enjoy, screens that just work, and a system staff never have to think about. Getting the first one right gave us a template we could repeat and refine.

The audio design

The core of each system is a set of Martin Audio Blackline loudspeakers across the main gym floor with subwoofers for the low end, plus smaller loudspeakers in bathrooms, reception and side rooms so there are no dead spots. An Allen & Heath AHM16 audio matrix processor handles zoning, source selection and tuning, so the free-weights floor, a women's gym and a recovery room can each run at their own level.

Music comes from a Crowd DJ media player, hard-wired to the network and fed straight into the AHM16. That gives the club a licensed, curated music service and, where the owner wants it, a kiosk that lets members influence the playlist. At Manukau the owner chose to keep the floor on the club's own playlist without a member kiosk.

Video

At Royal Oak the video side was the bigger job: a set of displays fed from several sources, including a laptop for the club's own promotions, the music player and Sky, distributed over the network with Kramer video-over-IP encoders and decoders and switched from a touch panel. At other sites the second output of the Crowd DJ player feeds televisions with music video content, with commercial-grade displays specified for screens that run all day.

Site by site

• Royal Oak (2024). Full audio system, video distribution to the club's displays, and AV wiring for the Technogym Team Beats group-fitness room.
• Manurewa (2024). Audio system and Crowd DJ music on the same design as Royal Oak.
• Henderson (2025). A new build, fitted out alongside the other trades before opening: AHM16 processing, Crowd DJ music and digital signage.
• Manukau (2025). Main floor system with 15-inch mains, subwoofers and 10-inch fills on LEA Professional amplification, separate zones for the women's gym and the recovery room, and a projector for the class space.

Why this approach works

Gyms are hard on sound systems: high levels for long hours, hard surfaces, and staff who need to change a source and get on with their day. Putting proper install-grade loudspeakers on a matrix processor means the system is tuned once and stays tuned, limiting protects the equipment, and adding a zone later is a configuration change rather than a rebuild. It is also why the same owners keep coming back for the next club.

Our role

Design, supply and installation of audio and video at all four clubs, including coordination with the music provider, the network installer and the fit-out builders.

Opening or refitting a gym?

We can size a system for a single studio or a multi-zone club and integrate it with your music service. See our AV installation service, browse installation speakers, or get in touch.