The Dali EDITION is the third EDITION hotel in Greater China and the first in Western China, set at the foot of Cangshan Mountain with uninterrupted views across Erhai Lake. Designed by CCD around a contemporary courtyard concept, the resort weaves aged timber, bluestone and cobblestone drawn from local Bai ethnic traditions into a series of low-rise buildings that follow the natural terrain, with a spring-fed stream running through its gardens, terraces and public areas. The property has 151 guest rooms, suites and private pool villas, each at least 60 square meters and with mountain or lake views, alongside four dining venues, a banquet and meeting space, a spa, a fitness center, semi-open terraces for casual drinks and outdoor lawns used for weddings and private events.
The project was sourced through an audio consultant, with K-array selected for how closely its loudspeakers could integrate visually with CCD's interior design without compromising audio performance. Shanghai JETA, K-array's official distributor in China, provided technical support throughout, from careful component selection after CCD's architectural and interior schemes were finalized through to on-site tuning. Jason Zhao, director of sales and operations at K-ARRAY.CN LTD, worked with the consultant to match speaker models, mounting solutions and coverage patterns to each zone's function and site conditions, coordinating with the architecture, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and hotel operations teams as the design developed.
As the hotel's dining rooms, lobby and pool areas rely on exposed timber and stone with minimal visual clutter, these zones use Tornado-KT2 point sources and KT2C ceiling speakers, chosen for their small footprint and even distribution of background music across large, open floor plans. The ballroom, which hosts conferences, weddings and live performances and can be partitioned for smaller events, runs on Kayman-KY102 line arrays paired with recessed Thunder-KS2P I subwoofers that extend response down to 35Hz while remaining hidden within the wall structure. This gives the room both speech clarity and the dynamic headroom a live band or DJ set requires. The terrace lounge and outdoor bar use weatherproof KGEAR GF82 I line arrays with GU210 subwoofers, sized to shift between soft daytime background music and higher-energy evening events, with external DJ input ports reserved for parties and cocktail functions. Their placement along the covered terrace perimeter keeps sightlines to the mountain and lake unobstructed.
Signal for background music, banquets and events runs through an audio matrix and zoning processor before reaching dedicated amplifier channels for each zone's K-array and KGEAR loudspeakers. Each space has independently adjustable volume and playlists, while the ballroom has its own digital mixing console linked to the matrix for live events.
The main technical challenge was concealing a full professional audio system inside an interior built around exposed natural materials. The solution also had to meet very different acoustic demands from zone to zone, from quiet, uniform background sound in the dining and lobby areas to the higher dynamic range and low-frequency output needed in the ballroom and outdoor bar. K-array's team worked with the fit-out and low-voltage contractors during early design reviews to fix speaker locations, mounting depth and cabling routes, then returned on-site to recheck placement and to tune each zone once installation was complete.
For Zhao, the project underlined how far K-array's range extends beyond the products the brand is best known for. "This project demonstrated K-array's strength extends far beyond compact, minimalistic hardware," he said. "K-array and KGEAR form a complete hotel audio ecosystem, solving concealed installation while delivering scalable coverage, dynamic range and low-frequency support for background music, banquet PA and outdoor entertainment alike.”
Unlike traditional standalone speaker installations, the audio system at the Dali EDITION integrates with architecture, interior finishes, landscapes and hotel operations. It balances visual subtlety, audio fidelity and operational flexibility instead of prioritizing sheer SPL or hardware specs. Every zone features tailored audio treatment unified under the resort’s core ethos – natural, refined, understated design harmonized with scenery. More than a sound installation, it is showcases the practice of embedding audio into premium guest experience at a luxury hotel nestled in nature.