Essential Install December 2022

A very happy Christmas to all our readers, we hope that you experience a great break and some muchvalued time with those you love to spend your time with. An equally loud shout out goes to those who we know will have to work over the festive period. EI knows there are people out there who actually like to work over the Christmas period, but for those that don’t and are having to put in some time, we hope it pays off and you get to spend at least some time with friends and family. In EI’s opinion, like it needed stating after the last few years, time with loved ones is so vital, it recharges us, makes us value the good things in our lives and underlines why we go to work in the first place. Equally, for those who are struggling in their relationships or have bad memories connected to this time of year, Christmas can be a really difficult time, if you know someone like that, an arm around the shoulder, phone call, or visit can mean a lot.

EI also knows that many people do not enjoy this time of year with its darker, shorter days, but EI has to confess a strong affinity for autumn and winter. It’s a ‘Circle of Life’ type thing. Disney quotes aside, the sequence of the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere has always carried with it a wonder and a mystery that has fascinated people for millennia. Way before Christianity, peoples who relied

on crops, game and their ability to gather food from around them, feared but also revered autumn and winter as to give birth to spring the land had to ‘die’ in the colder months to be born again. Different cultures and religions right up to modern times celebrated the seasons, older societies threw up massive stone temples to track the passage of the sun that still fascinate to this day, whilst later ‘younger’ religions also recognised the turning of the year with their ceremonies and symbolism. What they all had in common was a need to hunker down for the darker months and spend time with those close to them, taking stock and looking forward to the spring. If huddling up in a warm space and spending time with family and close friends feels particularly apt at this time of year, its because people having been doing it in this part of the world for a very, very long time and for some of the same reasons. To renew old allegiances, connections and bonds that sustain our relationships and our ability to cope with life and succeed in supporting ourselves and those around us. Whatever religion you do or don’t adhere to, we can all relate to that feeling. We are lucky in this industry that we can support at least some of that magic bonding time, who doesn’t love a good movie at Christmas? And our systems provide the perfect backdrop for families to get together and celebrate what is best in life. We wish all our readers a great Yuletide and a prosperous New Year!

GETTING IN TOUCH

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Daniel J Sait, dan@allthingsmedialtd.com

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Beatrice Lee, beatrice@allthingsmedialtd.com

SALES DIRECTOR

Ian Kitchener, ian@allthingsmedialtd.com

GROUP AD MANAGER

Claire Talty, claire@allthingsmedialtd.com

PUBLISHER

David Kitchener, david@allthingsmedialtd.com

STUDIO MANAGER Mark Weller, mark@allthingsmedialtd.com

ACCOUNTS susan@allthingsmedialtd.com

XS SIZE - XL SOUND

L-Acoustics leads the professional audio industry in the design and manufacturing of premium sound reinforcement and immersive technologies, delivering superlative and predictable performance across stadiums, performing arts venues, and nightclubs. When it comes to exceeding expectations, L-Acoustics Creations CEDIA Award-winning Fiji 2.1 sound system offers a size to power output that astonishes. At a mere 99 mm deep, the components of Fiji 2.1 are the perfect fit for discreet in-wall or in-ceiling integration, available in standard dark grey, white, or RAL colours.

Visit creations.l-acoustics.com to book an appointment in London, Paris, or Los Angeles.

A triple-motorized incline mech anism allows the user to operate the footrest, backrest and headrest INDEPENDENTLY from one-another. This allows the user to ensure maximum comfort by fine-tuning their preferred seating position.

LARGO - image courtesy of ExperienceCyberGroup.com

BANG & OLUFSEN LAUNCH FLAGSHIP STORE IN THE HEART OF MAYFAIR

Bang & Olufsen has announced a new home for sound, design, and sensory experiences on London’s New Bond Street in the heart of Mayfair.

Part of a 15-year redevelopment that restores a much-loved part of London to its former glory, Bang & Olufsen is located nearby the newly revitalised Hanover Square and the Medici courtyard. Spanning 4000ft², the store will open its doors in early 2023, giving visitors the opportunity to experience Bang & Olufsen’s audio and craftsmanship in person.

“Our New Bond Street home will provide a buzzing, vibrant environment perfectly placed to showcase our brand and deliver the magical sound experiences Bang & Olufsen is renowned for. With the Elizabeth line now open, we’re readying ourselves to welcome visitors from all corners of the country to join us in our new London destination, just a twominute walk from Bond Street station,” said James Simons, Head of Retail UK and Ireland.

“While longstanding retail partnerships are still core to our business, the Mayfair store gives new and existing customers a dedicated space to immerse themselves in the Bang & Olufsen universe of seamless connected audio and visual products,” he continued.

The store will come with a state-of-the-art demonstration space, delivering an immersive experience that will showcase the products at their best.

Rented on a multiyear lease, the store will also house an activation zone for a raft of curated events

that cater to customers’ passions, including live workshops, music, podcast recordings, special guests, and more.

“Bang & Olufsen of Mayfair has been designed to capture the senses as you move through the store, inviting visitors to see, hear, and feel nearly 100 years of audio-visual innovation like never before. Nestled among luxury apartments, 18th century buildings, and a new public courtyard, the new store will strengthen our presence in London, while complementing our existing locations in the capital, such as Harrods and Selfridges,” commented Scott Anderson, Market Director at Bang & Olufsen.

Bang & Olufsen

bang-olufsen.com/en/gb

It has been announced that Japan Audio Society (JAS), the internationally respected audio research organisation, has certified MQA’s new scalable codec for use with its Hi-Res AUDIO WIRELESS logo. This new codec carries the technical name of SCL6 and is coming to market as MQair.

Wireless devices account for a large segment of music listening over headphones, earbuds, and wireless speakers. In many devices, audio quality has been sacrificed for the convenience of Bluetooth connectivity.

Its creator said that MQair delivers detail and clarity by focussing on the time domain – a critical factor in the human perception of high-resolution sound. This fresh perspective enables an exceptional audio experience and responds to rising consumer demand for better wireless sound, said MQA. The technology supports

both MQA and PCM audio up to 384kHz, and the encoded data rate can be scaled seamlessly from 20Mbps to below 200kbps, covering Bluetooth, UltraWideband (UWB) and WiFi links. It offers low latency and high efficiency for extended battery life.

The idea is that MQair, powered by SCL6, means the listener need not sacrifice quality for convenience.

Bob Stuart, MQA Founder & CTO, commented, “We are very honoured that JAS has certified SCL6 for use with its Hi-Res AUDIO WIRELESS logo. This latest technology is born of our passion for the highest sound quality and an understanding that such quality brings us closer to the music. With MQair we can improve the listening experience for many listeners and extend the MQA ecosystem to wireless devices. High resolution isn’t necessarily defined by the big things – it is shaped by small elements in the sound that convey details, separation, colour and space. Our reference for transparency is air itself. We are excited to use these insights in the design of MQair to bring a more enjoyable experience to audio fans and music lovers everywhere.”

MQA mqa.co.uk

MQA CERTIFIED BY JAPAN AUDIO SOCIETY

More support for MQA

A new high-profile venue for Bang & Olufsen

SERIE S

Scan QR code to book a demo now.

Henley Audio has been appointed by Premium Audio Company to exclusively distribute the audio solutions of Onkyo and Pioneer in the UK. Henley Audio is already the official UK distributor for the Premium Audio Company’s speaker brands Klipsch and Jamo, and with over 25 years of experience in AV and Hi-Fi product distribution, it is well placed to reintroduce Onkyo and Pioneer into the UK market.

In September 2021, Premium Audio Company acquired the Onkyo and Integra brands via its joint venture with Sharp. Through parent company VOXX, it established a licensing and distribution agreement with Pioneer. The joint venture includes all intellectual property and responsibility for product development, engineering, sales, marketing and distribution of Onkyo’s home entertainment business. As part of the joint venture, Sharp assumed all manufacturing of these products, which includes a variety of AV and stereo receivers, amplifiers and Hi-Fi components under the Onkyo, Integra, Pioneer and Pioneer Elite brands.

“Demand for Onkyo, Integra and Pioneer products has been very high, and we expect this to intensify in the coming years,” said Paul Jacobs, President and Chief Executive Officer of Premium Audio Company. “We have been working very closely with Sharp to ramp up production and have grown our business significantly since the acquisition was completed. We have big plans for Onkyo and the other brands, and

as we build production and expand distribution, we believe sales will more than double in the near term.”

“The addition of the Onkyo and Pioneer brands to the Henley Audio lineup is tremendous news for all, including dealers and their customers,” said Nick Fuller, Henley Audio’s Sales Director. “Factor these classic Japanese marques into Premium Audio Company’s already potent lineup, including the Klipsch and Jamo brands, and you have a compelling proposition. We are thrilled to help bring Onkyo and Pioneer back to the fore where they belong.”

Henley Audio takes on the distribution of Onkyo and Pioneer with immediate effect.

Henley Audio henleyaudio.co.uk

Lutron Electronics recently hosted an exclusive event for interior designers, architects, and lighting designers in London’s luxury residential sector. This event was a continuation of Lutron’s mission to nurture the UK’s design industry, and thus building a community of design excellence. Guests came together to explore the power of light in action within the luxury home in Kensington, enhanced by Lutron’s state-of-the-art lighting and shading control solutions. These included Lutron’s Alisse wall controls – described as an elegant and versatile solution, transforming the atmosphere of this luxury house at the touch of button.

Bringing together leading names in the UK luxury residential sector, the event was hosted in partnership with Studio Indigo, a UK-based interior design and architecture firm. Held at the impressive Kensington VI, a model example of the studio’s approach to

technology-infused design, attendees also gained insight from high-end construction experts Seacon, award-winning home-automation leaders and Lutronapproved installer Cornflake, and LDI.

This latest event follows Lutron’s series of Prismatic experiential and immersive showcases. Designers and architects in London, Manchester, Paris, Madrid, and Milan had the opportunity to experience the transformation light brings to the built environment.

Reflecting on the event, Kiana Pourrahimi, UK Sales Director for Residential Products at Lutron, said, “We are constantly seeking ways to bring the very best of the design community together to share creative approaches and are delighted with the response we’ve received through our Luxury House Open Doors event. This unconventional event provided a fantastic opportunity for professionals to gain a unique insider’s view of one of the finest homes in London, to share their approach to residential design and to explore why lighting and shading is such a fundamental part of any home. This meeting of minds demonstrated the transformative potential of innovative lighting control in today’s best residential projects. We look forward to expanding our creative community further, with the help of our inspiring partners.”

Lutron Electronics lutron.com

K.S.C.P has partnered with Control4 on a project looking to redefine luxury living in Kuwait. The residential towers, Hessah Towers and Byout Hessah are landmark developments located in the Hessah District. Each distinguished development comprises a mixture of twoto-three-bedroom apartments, townhouses, duplexes and penthouses, all integrated and operated using the Control4 home automation platform.

Hessah Towers soars 40-floors high across a land area of 5,500m2 and a total built-up area of approximately 70,000m2. Byout Hessah comprises 40 luxury four-bedroom townhouses and two 12-floor residential building with 104 upscale two-bedroom apartments, which include seven penthouses. Both buildings are strategically located in Kuwait City by the Gulf Road.

The Control4 Smart Home operating system (OS3) will connect with different technologies, such as, lighting, audio, TV, shading and security alongside residents’ favourite brands and devices. This empowers each resident to have complete control over the technology in their home via one Control4 interface, available on touchscreens or via the mobile app.

The Control4 OS3 platform allows residents to choreograph scenes, whereby at the touch of a button or as per a set scheduled time, a desired mood is automatically achieved. Residents can mobilise motorised window blinds, revealing or concealing floorto-ceiling views of the Arabian Gulf and Kuwait City, adjust the temperature, and dim or brighten lighting.

In addition, residents have the peace of mind knowing that they are always connected to their home, even when miles away. The Control4 app allows them to lock and unlock doors, check on security footage, and fully manage everything happening in and around their home – whether they’re in the apartment itself, at the buildings’ health clubs, in the office, or on vacation across the world.

Managers of each development will use OvrC, the remote management and monitoring (RMM) software by Snap One, which is integrated within the Control4 platform.

Control4 control4.com

Webro has announced that it has been appointed as the Pan-European distribution partner for Norden’s connectivity and security solutions. Norden’s brand portfolio includes NCS, Eyenor, Secnor and NVS. Norden Communications is one of the fastestgrowing ELV (Extra Low Voltage) infrastructure systems manufacturers in the market, with innovation and sustainability at the core of its development.

With its team of experts, with over 350 years of combined industry experience, Webro will work in partnership with Norden to drive value-engineered solutions into the UK and Europe. Webro is fully stocked with the latest network and surveillance product offering across Norden’s multiple brands, these include cabling infrastructure, video surveillance systems and access controls. Ahead of the official market launch, the Webro team has undergone extensive training with Norden to ensure outstanding customer service. In combination, the proposition is clear – to support customers with the right product selection for each project, at the right price, and always on time, so that orders can be placed with total confidence.

Commenting on the appointment, Norden CEO Asif Ashraf said, “We’re joining forces with Webro at an important time in Norden’s development, and very excited about working with the team. Webro have extensive knowledge and experience, offer

exceptional service levels, and provide superb logistical capabilities. It’s the ideal partnership to ensure the ongoing success of our brand.”

Webro Sales Director, Chris Bacon said, “We’re delighted to have secured this exciting distribution partnership with Norden. We see it as pivotal to providing our existing customers and new prospects with innovative security solutions. We have an ambitious growth plan to achieve ongoing success across the Norden brand line up.”

Working in close partnership, Webro will drive an ambitious strategy to establish Norden as a key competitor in the UK and European markets.

Webro webro.com

Control4 will be installed in two major developments in Kuwait

Image credit: URC (united real estate company)

ESSENTIAL PEOPLE

TD SYNNEX Maverick has appointed Lian Cunliffe as Business Development Manager for Logitech across Europe.

With 10 years of experience in the tech industry Lian joins Maverick in a new role in its PanEuropean team, as a strategic lead for Logitech video collaboration solutions. She will work across all of the 15 Maverick countries to bring Logitech campaigns to the whole reseller channel. She will provide dedicated support for customers in each region enabling rapid deployment of new product innovations.

Lian said, “I’m thrilled to have joined such a renowned business and to be working with a market leading vendor like Logitech. With a focus on making hybrid-work work on a global scale, I’m proud to be part of an innovative movement that is working to make collaboration equitable, accessible and tangible for all.”

Simon Kitson, Smart Meetings Director, Maverick Europe Commented, “Lian brings experience, drive and a dedicated approach and will be a fantastic addition to Team Maverick. With a focus on developing and growing the Logitech business in partnership with our team, her role is a natural progression to help our global partners have a more streamlined and effective experience. She brings a deep understanding of the channel, solutions and key products which will be vital to build this new role.”

Hero Labs, the manufacturer of the awardwinning Sonic smart leak defence and water management device, today announced that Adam Williams has joined the company as its new CEO.

Adam, who succeeds Steve Moore when he retires at the end of the year, previously worked in the environmental space after gaining a degree in environmental management at university. He went on to develop a strong background in scaling operations and boosting revenues across multiple European markets whilst working for a number of large companies, including Samsung and Sony.

Adam has long been involved with the Smart Homes and Buildings Association, and his recent experience with scale-ups in the connected home space (including SmartThings, Lightwave RF and Mila) has ensured that he has the right balance of market knowledge and technical expertise to deliver the best results for Hero Labs and multinational investor WAVIN.

Krystian Zajac, founder of Hero Labs commented, “The management of water usage is critically important for many, and Sonic has been welcomed in the multi-family space, as well as in various specialist sectors. Hero Labs is now moving to large volume manufacturing to meet this demand, and will expand into multiple new territories, in partnership with WAVIN. Hero Labs is strengthening its team to best suit the needs and new priorities of its growing business, and Adam’s background makes him ideally suited for the CEO role. We are delighted to welcome Adam to the team.”

Adam Williams, CEO, Hero Labs, said, “One of my passions is for smart technology that genuinely improves people’s lives so therefore I am thrilled to join Hero Labs. It’s a very exciting time for the business, and I look forward to leading and developing it even further by continuing to delight our customers and partners.”

Adam Williams

Lian Cunliffe

THE KRIX EXPERIENCE

Invision UK are amoungst Europe’s leading distributors of professional technology solutions for homes, hotels, and business, supplying custom installers across the UK and Ireland. Responsible for brands such as Trinnov, Sony, Screen Innovations and Home Cinema Modules, Invision added Australian-made Krix speakers to its portfolio in November 2020. But who is Krix? Invision presents the history and product offerings from one of the world’s longestrunning speaker manufacturers.

KRIX, AT ITS ROOTS

Krix was dreamed up in a humble garage in the suburb of Hawthorn, South Australia in 1974 by a young, bright-eyed, long haired music lover – Scott Krix. Scott’s teenage years were predominately spent on a fruit orchard with his parents and five brothers, where he scavenged parts from old radios and the like to tinker with kit amplifiers and experimental speakers.

After completing his engineering degree in Adelaide, Scott’s launched ‘Krix Speaker Systems’ from his garage in Hawthorn, designing one-of-a-kind speakers for friends and family. Two years later, Scott took the opportunity to open his very own Hi-Fi store named ‘The Acoustic Foundry’, where he engineered speaker kits for enthusiastic music-lovers.

Requests for night clubs and live venues soon followed, and Scott realised he needed a purpose-built manufacturing facility to keep up with demand. In 1979, Krix purchased an acre of land in southern Adelaide and with the help of his brothers and friends, the 72m2 Krix factory was constructed. This site is where Krix is still manufacturing today – with numerous upgrades and new facilities being built over the years.

INTRODUCTION INTO CINEMA

In the early 1980s, Scott was approached by a local cinema owner to help diagnose audio issues with their auditorium. Scott, who loves a challenge, soon discovered cancellation and reinforcement issues caused by reflections from the cavity behind the screen. His solution was to construct the world’s first infinite baffle wall, which is used in commercial cinema installations to this day.

Knowing efficient speakers and some waveform guidance was needed, Scott saw the opportunity to integrate some of the horn designs that he had been working on over the years. Utilising two 15in low frequency drivers and his custom horn design, the first set of Krix commercial cinema speakers were born. In combination with the infinite baffle wall, the result had the Australian cinema industry talking. Word spread, and within years, Krix cinema installations grew to cover more than 90% of expansions in Australia.

Over the following decades, Krix invested heavily into loudspeaker innovation and constant directivity horn technology, gaining multiple patents on their design. Fast forward to today, more than 4500 commercial cinema installations in over 45 countries have been commissioned using Krix commercial cinema speakers.

BRINGING IT HOME

While commercial cinema was taking off, surround sound also started to gain popularity in home environments. With Krix continuing its residential offering of Hi-Fi and home entertainment speakers, the company was well placed to release centre channel and surround speakers to meet the growing multichannel trend.

It wasn’t until 2010 though, that the two worlds combined. With decades of research invested into cinema speakers, it made sense for the technology to ‘trickle down’ to a dedicated home cinema range.

The first range of dedicated home cinema speakers to be released was the Series X line (short for Xtreme), and the speakers certainly lived up to the name. Large cabinets, big 15in and 18in drivers and Krix’s constant directivity horns saw a whole new level of performance available to the residential market. Series X range suits rooms from five to 23m in depth.

A few years later, Series SX (short for Scaleddown Xtreme) was created as a more compact offering that still maintains the signature Krix cinema sound. Utilising the Krix-designed waveguide found in cinema surround speakers, this range is suited for rooms that are three to 8m in length. It’s also the home to many of the surrounds and subwoofers that are paired with Series X and Series MX systems.

Celebrating its seventh anniversary this year, Series MX (short for Modular Xtreme) consists

of five screen systems that each contain the three left, centre, and right channels, along with two subwoofers. Their modular nature makes installation incredibly easy, and the front baffle, complete with sound absorption panels, creates an infinite baffle wall - much like the one Scott created in his first commercial cinema. Series MX systems suit room from three to 14m in depth.

KRIX AND INVISION

Today, Krix is still family-owned. Scott Krix along with two of his brothers, Gary and Ashley, all actively work within the business and the Krix focus remains the same – continue to innovate and manufacture speakers that allow listeners to experience the magic of movies and music.

If you’d like to experience Krix – please visit Invision UK’s purpose-built demonstration room at Innovation House in Bracknell. Featuring a 22-channel system in a 11.1.10 setup with four subwoofers, the inspiring room consists of

an MX-40, Megaphonix, Phonix and Cyclonix speakers and subwoofers. These are controlled by a Trinnov Altitude 32 AV processor and powered by a mix of Trinnov and Altitude amplification. While watching in the comfort of Home Cinema Modules luxurious seats, a Sony projector and 168in cinemascope screen work together to provide the stunning visuals.

INTEGRATED SYSTEMS EUROPE 2023

Krix will also be exhibiting at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2023, held in Barcelona from Tuesday 31 January to Friday 3 February 2023. Krix will be partnering with Trinnov Audio, Officina Acustica and Sony to present an 18seat, epic home cinema demonstration. Visit the team at stand 2D150.

For any Krix enquiries, please contact Invision UK on sales@invisionuk.com or 01359 270280.

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR FOR HVAC FROM AIRZONE

Pulse Cinemas is excited to present another new brand to its family in the form of Airzone, a global player in the HVAC world that allows simple control of AC and heating from the same interface. Tom Hawes, Technical Sales Manager, takes up the story.

There are some strong players in the world of HVAC helping installers create and integrate modern, controllable AC and heating systems. So why have Pulse teamed up with Airzone?

Kapes Patel, our COO, explains, “Well, we strongly believe the company is bringing something new to the market and the solutions we are going to be offering are tailor-made for our sector.

“We showcased the new brand at the recent EI Live! Show and the reaction was great, dealers recognised a product that fits perfectly into their world and allows them to confidently add a full heating and aircon service to their portfolio.”

Airzone belongs to Corporación Empresarial Altra, a business group focused on the research, development and production of innovative products designed to boost comfort and rationalise energy consumption globally. All the company’s products have been designed and created at company HQ in Spain from a location in the Andalusia Technology Park (Malaga) since

1997. The company has a strong presence in the United States, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Jordan, Kuwait, Mexico, Portugal, and has now partnered with Pulse Cinemas to begin its journey in the UK market.

The company’s wide range of products allows installers to create new AC and heating systems, but also retrofit control onto even the oldest AC units. The world of integration has been turned on its head with the appearance of Airzone’s Aidoo range. This includes a collection of devices that make it possible to integrate different HVAC equipment, whether modern or old, into home automation and building management systems. These devices can be controlled remotely from a smart phone or other home automation control points.

Aidoo Wi-Fi, fastest and easiest way to add Wi-Fi control to an Inverter/VRF HVAC application

Aidoo does not require integration with code, which frees installers from hours of work and complications. It is an easy to install, and, depending on its model, fulfills the objective of one type of air conditioning or another.

Aidoo Wi-Fi: is the Airzone device that allows remote control of direct expansion and aerothermal equipment, either through a smart phone using the Airzone Cloud app or from voice assistants. It can be integrated with the Modbus and API port.

Aidoo Pro: allows the integration of air conditioning in building management systems through: Modbus port, using a specific communication language; local API, integrating the various Airzone drivers available for Fibaro, Lutron, Control4; and cloud API using the Internet. It is used for direct expansion air conditioning units.

Aidoo Pro Fan coil: makes it possible the integration of all types of fan coil equipment in Building Management Systems. It integrates through BACnet, Modbus, local API, and API Rest ports.

Aidoo KNX: this is a solution that allows the integration of HVAC control in KNX. It is configured via KNX or ETS.

Aidoo Z-Wave: offers to incorporate the complete control of heat pumps from Z-Wave systems. It can be integrated via Modbus port or local API.

Another attractive and useful point of control can be offered by the Airzone Blueface touchscreen thermostat, the company’s most high-performance and fully functioned wall mounted controller. The unit offers an attractive full colour graphic interface with 3.5in IPS capacitive display and 24-bit resolution. Other wall mounted control options include the Airzone Think, which delivers an e-ink graphic interface with front light and polarizing filter

complete with electronic capacitive sensors. Lastly the Airzone Light is designed to be a simple interface for turning systems on/off or raising/ lowing performance.

One the of key reasons for taking on Airzone as a brand is its ability to control both AC and heating from the same interface. It also has over 25 years of global experience delivering HVAC and heating controls with a huge catalogue of products for every type of heating and cooling application possible.

The company also has current integration drivers for Creston, Contorl4, RTI and Lutron, so is perfect to bring to our dealers as a simpler solution both for installation and programming. Yes, there are other solutions out there and they are good, but most of them usually only control heating or only AC and not both. Airzone has also recently employed a dedicated sales rep based purely for the UK, so we are confident the company is here to stay and certainly sees the UK as a growth market.

Like the entire Pulse Cinemas family, dealers can come and see the system in full operation at company HQ. An Airzone system controls all of the AC and heating throughout the entire building. Airzone and Pulse Cinemas are of course offering full training and technical support for the brand. Get in touch to find out more.

Pulse Cinemas pulsecinemas.com

Airzone Lite, Think and Blueface controllers offer a wide range of options

OPTIMISE AND REPEAT

In 1983 George Lucas recruited audio engineer Tomlinson Holman to ensure that the sound of his third Star Wars epic ‘The Return of the Jedi’ could be reproduced accurately in the best theatres, whatever their size and shape. The resulting THX standard required upgrades to crossover and sound system design, and laid down specifications for acoustic and architectural modifications in order to create a ‘predictable playback environment’. In essence, THX defined the rules for building the same giant demo room in hundreds of commercial cinemas in the US, as well as first-run cinemas in the UK and Europe. And even though the room treatment elements of Tomlinson’s blockbusting ideal got lost in the move to Home THX, their role in creating the conditions for predictable playback has never been more important to high-end home cinema design.

THE LARGEST SIGNAL PROCESSOR IS THE ROOM

Decades on from the dawn of THX, designers of the most sophisticated home cinemas are realising that the key to success is the ability to physically control room reverberation and repeat the results in different rooms. Fix each new environment for optimum audio says the

logic and hey presto, voices are more intelligible, imaging and panning three-dimensional, and the sound more accurate top to bottom. All at once disbelief is easier to suspend and the immersive impact of big-screen cinema can be fully rendered in any space, again and again, from one project to the next.

And here’s the rub: when the very best experiences always sell themselves, the crucial cash converter is your ability to recreate the magnitude of that unforgettable first demo in every customer’s home. You could sell them the demo hardware - or a scaled version of it - but in an untreated space, I guarantee it would sound like a shadow of the original. Only by recreating the acoustics of your demo room on site can the compelling power of that first encounter be brought to life. Which is why, at the very apex of contemporary home cinema design, companies like CinemaTech have built their success on the promise to deliver predictably immersive experiences, and why we’re delighted to be representing the brand to UK CI as part of our end-to-end cinema design service.

Exclusively, our partnership with CinemaTech gives your business access to its patented Acoustic Room System of wall treatments, and for the highest-end projects, the option of choosing its industry-leading Design Service Program, which, through meticulous consultation, generates a unique interior design for the space, followed by accurate 3D design renders.

THE CINEMATECH ACOUSTIC ROOM SYSTEM

Proven in luxury cinema builds all over the world, CinemaTech’s key acoustic technology is a wall treatment effective to 100Hz from just 3.175cm of profile depth. The company’s proprietary software produces a custom treatment plan involving reversible wall panels (operating down to 100Hz), and diffusion panels effective above 1kHz. Working in combination, these panels deliver a precise balance of absorption, reflection and diffusion to generate maximum performance from the audio system you install.

CinemaTech technology delivers a precise balance of absorption, reflection and diffusion

Physical room EQ is the first step to flagship cinema performance time after time says Habitech’s Craig Wheeler.

With CinemaTech the sound from the system becomes optimised, naturally immersive and repeatable

On the reversible panel, patented acoustic core materials are deployed for absorption and reflection. The soft side (insulation) gives excellent high frequency absorption, and the hard side (sheetrock) contributes three functions to overall design success: low transmission loss to prevent sound from escaping into other rooms; the right amount of high frequency reflection to boost speech intelligibility, fidelity and clarity while stopping the space becoming too ‘dead’; and low frequency absorption through diaphragmatic dampening, resulting in the elimination of bass boom. Meanwhile, the companion diffuser design comprises a random series of diamond shapes varying in height within the system’s 3.175 cm profile. Operational from 1kHz up, the diamonds produce scattering in both horizontal and vertical planes, their rounded edges avoiding the high frequency snap flutter that affects straight-edge designs.

PROVING THE IQ OF EQ

And does it work? You bet. As part of our product research, we documented the power of optimal acoustics to transform cinema sound quality while building the Sonance Reference theatre at Basingstoke. We called in leading pro acousticians Veale Associates to measure the space before and after CinemaTech treatment. Its independent report found that “The wall finishes dampened construction resonances and resolved the room acoustic effects to provide a more consistent and even reverberation with a faithful sound field over the listening area”, recording “a reduction in low frequency reverberation time around 60Hz”, along with “general improvements across the lower frequencies”, improved sound pressure levels and “better defined” speaker dynamics. In other words, when the influence of the room is mitigated, the sound from the system becomes optimised, naturally immersive and, of course, repeatable.

PROJECT SUCCESS WITH CINEMATECH

We’ll work with you to deploy this magic with design support that adjusts to meet your needs. If you’re already experienced in the market, you may elect to buy-in CinemaTech’s acoustic tech alone, but if you’re taking your first steps in luxury theatre design, we can project-manage the entire shebang, co-opting the proven systems versatility and performance of our flagship cinema brands if that’s what you want. Right through the planning, design and build stages we’ll be working in the background to offer you backup at an appropriate level. For example, CinemaTech’s Design Service Program makes perfect sense as a small percentage increment to the cost of flagship projects, but if the budget won’t stretch, our one-stop cinema design resource can recommend ready-made room treatment/system packages for presentation to your clients free of charge. This means that when you work with Habitech, you won’t have to build a team of specialists, we’ll provide one for you!

WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS

Best of all, we can boost your marketing by exposing your customers to the most persuasive sales conversion tool of all: the ‘being there’ demonstration. With no fewer than four replicable living environments including CinemaTech treatments at Basingstoke - as well as our reference cinema at Regent’s Park - we’ll help you to sell high performance cinema, not with specs or system configurations, but simply by letting the magic of that first demo do all the work.

Point is, CinemaTech’s technology gives you the power to emulate the extraordinary look, sound and feel of a luxury Habitech cinema virtually anywhere. By selling the experience of our high-end cinema brands combined with optimal acoustics in a single compelling and transferable package, we’ll supply the ‘wow’ that makes every decision simpler. In the space of a few hours, Habitech can make perhaps the biggest contribution of all to your project, because in answer to the question ‘can I have this in my home?’, you can simply say ‘yes’, emphatically, every time.

For further information, please contact the sales and support team on 01256 638500; sales@habitech.co.uk Habitech.co.uk

DOES IT MATTER WHICH AVR YOU USE?

At the heart of the home cinema is the AVR. This essential bit of kit is a necessity, but sometimes an afterthought, with any old brand sufficing for customers’ installations. And, of late, it’s understandable that installers have bought whatever is available, due to the unprecedented supply problems that have beset the industry. That said, there are distinct differences between brands in terms of features, benefits and audio quality.

That’s why, for many years now, our weapon of choice in the hotly contested AVR market has been Yamaha.

Sure, all the major brands have similar features – Dolby Atmos, DTS-X, 4K or 8K, HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 etc. – but what Yamaha brings to the party that has cemented its position in our portfolio is music.

Put simply, music is the advantage that Yamaha has over the other brands and the one that truly sets it apart. Ever since founder Torakusu Yamaha made his first reed organ in Japan in 1887 the company has been inextricably linked with every element of music production.

No other company can say it makes the drums, pianos, guitars, flutes, cellos, keyboards or trumpets that the musicians play every day and use to record their music.

No other company can say that, as well as the instruments played in the studio, it also makes the interfaces, mixers, DAWs and monitors used in the studio to capture the recordings.

Plus, all the equipment needed to facilitate live music playback.

And no other company can say that in addition to the instruments and studio gear it also makes the domestic playback systems –streamers, turntables, amplifiers and speakers.

And that’s one of the primary reasons that we recommend Yamaha to our customers - the full cycle of playing, recording and playback is only owned by Yamaha, so it’s fair to say they know a thing or two about music and how it should sound.

With such a vast array of products and business specialities, the technologies developed and employed are trickled down and across each of the disciplines.

For example, the laser interferometry used to identify and harness the wanted vibrations in the design of an acoustic guitar, is also used in the design of domestic loudspeakers to help identify and remove the cabinet vibrations that are not wanted. The DSP utilised in a Yamaha AVR is closely related to the DSP found in the company’s pro mixers that recreates the sound of classic 1970s Rupert Neve consoles. The YPAO acoustic optimiser that enables quick and easy setup of an AVR in the room, shares technology with the system deployed in Yamaha’s Unified Communications conferencing products. With this level of interaction and cooperation between the various product categories, it’s easy to see why the Yamaha AVR range is superior in so many ways to other products.

The results we’ve been getting with Yamaha over the years, in the smallest to the largest installations, have been nothing short of superb. And with the range covering everything from compact 5.1 systems to 11.2 channels, so there’s something for most domestic installs.

With every AVR you need some speakers of course, and with our recent appointment as exclusive distributor for Aurea we have a match made in heaven for your cinema installs. Take a brand that understands music and a brand that understands cinema speakers and the results have to be heard to be believed. If you caught our demo at EI Live! you’ll know what we mean by that – “It’s like being in the Odeon” – said the first visitor to our stand.

Give your customers our ‘Cinema In The Home’ experience with Yamaha and Aurea.

Connected Distribution connecteddistribution.com

Connected Distribution’s product director, Mike Bonnette, suggests it does and outlines why Yamaha is its brand of choice for quality home cinema installs.

DIVERSIFICATION IS THE FUTURE

The residential technology industry has seen its ups, downs, and everything in between over the past 30 years. The pandemic changed the market in ways never seen before. There’s been a surge of new customers who need technology in their homes, and upgrades to existing infrastructure to support their new lives. This boom shines a spotlight on integrators and technology professionals as necessary workers who are critical to life at home. Many saw record levels of business and expanded as quickly as possible.

At the same time, product shortages and shipping costs have created difficult situations - with clients waiting and integrators being stuck in the middle. For some, this has become a perfect opportunity to diversify services in emerging trends. The fastest growing trends are in power and energy, wellness, consulting services for the DIFM (direct-to-consumer) market, and service programmes.

Power and energy can be a bit intimidating, especially if you don’t have an electrician on hand or a current partnership with an electrical team. With energy costs continuing to grow globally, climate change, and an aging infrastructure, personal power and energy independence has never been more attractive to consumers. This

includes energy management inside the home where the customer can see how much and what devices they’re using the most.

With newer technology, such as connected and ‘smart’ power distribution panels, the homeowner is empowered to take control of their own power grid and manage the usage. As solar and wind performance improves, and battery technology becomes cheaper, more efficient, and uses easy-to-acquire materials, future homes may not be connected to a grid.

Wellness technology or ‘WellTech’ is somewhat new to the integrator channel, but has deep roots in the design and wearables community. The pandemic catapulted indoor air and water quality into discussions (and rightfully so) since we know in most homes, the indoor air quality is much worse than it is outside. We’re at a point where air and water must be monitored, managed, and filtered as they come into the home so that those living in the space can lead healthier lives.

WellTech crosses into other areas such as sleep, exercise, accessibility, sound, and light. Light is a perfect sub-trend for integrators to incorporate into their businesses. It’s growing exponentially and, when done right, makes a significant, positive impact on the lives of

those in the home. The key is to work with a lighting designer - or incorporate one into your business - who can design human-centric lighting systems to mimic natural light colours, patterns, and timing.

Consulting services and the DIFM (Do It for Me) market can be a touchy subject, so we’re only going to discuss business potential and opportunities. The word integrate, or integrator, is a testament to what we do in this industry. We take a variety of technology and make it work together through proper design, installation, and configuration processes. It takes years of experience, education, and training to do what we do.

This is new for those using direct-toconsumer products. These products have the potential to work together, but the consumer isn’t trained to know which devices work best with the others, or which manufacturer protocols are best for their situations - they shouldn’t be expected to. It’s caused years of frustration for these consumers and created doubt that any home tech will work easily and consistently. These customers are likely to have a better experience with guidance through consulting services.

Ian Bryant, Technical Consultant for CEDIA, looks to the future and sees diversification as a key trend.

Through the integrator channel, they can find someone they trust to give them advice and work with them on setting up new devices. The integrator can help educate them on security, privacy, and how to use the devices. They can also provide customers with preventative maintenance, firmware, and hardware upgrade discounts through RMR models.

Parks Associates previously reported that, “Approximately 30% of smart home device owners report that a service advising them on the best/most appropriate products to purchase is appealing.” These consumers will come to their local technology integrator as a trusted advisor for all their needs. This model isn’t for everyone and could require separate divisions with specialised technicians and project managers. Keep in mind that the middle and DIFM markets are growing because home technology is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.

Servicing electronic systems and their components have always been a key to the integrator channel. The consumer tends to think an electronic device in their home doesn’t need the same maintenance. But, like a vehicle, these systems are made up of complex components which require preventative maintenance and servicing when they aren’t working.

Raising consumer awareness requires an integrator to explain required maintenance, which is generally easiest through preventative services for when things go wrong. A recent study by Grand View Research found that the smart home repair service sector is expected to grow as much as 11% per year. This is the perfect opportunity for integrators to expand their service offerings and diversify their business with RMR options for the preventative service work.

Finding a model that fits the size of your business and clients is key. For instance, a white glove service package that includes quarterly site visits to clean, test, and monitor components may not be affordable for customers with smaller budgets. Likewise, a custom package that monitors network speeds, up time, and performance may be perfect for customers who work from home. If this is new to you, spend some time drawing up a business plan as if it were a stand-alone business and pitch to a few repeat customers, you have a longer-term relationship with.

The core business for integrators will always be there: entertainment, infrastructure, networking, control, and AV distribution. Those who can diversify and support all areas of technology in the home may find business growth they never expected. Connected technology in the residential space is approaching full saturation, encompassing electrical, HVAC, plumbing, kitchen and bath fixtures, appliances, beds, lights and shades, and everything else.

The integrator and technology professional will ultimately take the lead, delegate, and manage the entire technology build out process for a home. They will partner with the trades, liaise with the builder and designer, and consult with the customer to create custom experiences with technology.

Photo

by Sona

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’

Why did you go to visit PRO and Theory?

It was PRO Audio Technology (PRO) and their sister company Theory Audio Design (Theory), who both make speaker systems for residential and commercial applications. Many of the Hollywood stars have PRO systems in their homes, I wish we could share that list!

Plus, no trip to California is complete without a stop at Stewart Filmscreen, often considered the gold standard of screen manufacturers, for cinemas, aerospace, theme parks and residential projects.

Jamie Pullen, CAVD MD, says “California is the beating heart of the film industry, everything happens here from the creation of the movies through to screenings, launches and playback in the homes by those who created them! It’s a hotbed for AV manufacturers who know this space inside out and have the ability to build products that truly deliver.”

The PRO and Theory showroom, in Lake Forest, California had just recently been extended with audio zones and another home cinema demo area. So, we just had to get out there to experience the upgrades for ourselves, plus spend some quality time with our partners, the MD, Paul Hales, and VP of Sales, Mark Goldman.

What did you see?

The improvements to the whole facility were exceptional and it was easy to understand why PRO dealers in the sunshine state regularly bring their high-net-worth clients here.

Paul and Mark treated us to demonstrations in the Theory ‘room’ which had systems ranging from a 2.0 stereo layout, up to a Dolby Atmos 5.2.2 configuration. Next door in their R&D centre we heard a Theory system that was set up as a mono distributed audio system for

Who are the suppliers you went to visit recently in California?

Wayne Hyde, Technical, Sales & Marketing Support at distributor CAVD shares a special factfinding travelogue about the company’s recent adventures state-side.

The Theory demo space was mightily impressive

Jamie Pullen, Harry Fukushima, July Yepez (Stewart Filmscreen) and Wayne Hyde

SAY GOODBYE TO SERVICE CALLS

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commercial spaces, based on high-impedance pendant speakers combined with a tall slim subwoofer.

Jamie comments, “I love the Theory Atmos demonstration we run in the UK, however, we’ll add in the 2.1 version next as I believe no one is offering such a solution for distributed audio that’s as amazing as this.”

There are two PRO rooms as well, one midlevel system, as 9.2.6 and an epic top-of-therange system as 9.4.6. Jamie says, “How can I describe what I heard? Well, each delivered a very intense and immersive experience, it was just incredible.”

PRO also have a new loudspeaker added to their range, that’s been wowing all those who heard it at CEDIA Expo, and already its receiving industry awards. The SR-28212ai, is a 6in deep, tri-wire multi-application loudspeaker that can serve as a wide bandwidth full range speaker or the subwoofer section can be used for surround bass management or lastly, used as the main LFE woofer in a system. The 28212 can deliver a massive 130dB SPL at 1m!

The showrooms were beautifully presented and embraced luxurious aesthetics with a performance to match. CAVD plan on taking UK dealers out there in 2023 for full PRO and Theory training, to understand why their systems are the best way to deliver music and cinematic audio at home.

What were your biggest takeaways from visiting PRO Audio Technology and Theory Audio Design?

At the PRO Audio Technology R&D facility, they’ve invested in the Klippel Analyser loudspeaker measurement system. This incredibly valuable tool plays a key part in why the sound you hear is so good from PRO and Theory sound systems. The Klippel can take measurements all around the loudspeaker and aids the designer, Paul Hales, to fine-tune the drivers, cabinet design and which DSP amplifier settings are required.

And it’s worth noting that the measurements are also published, which can be a rarity in the home cinema industry. You’ll find this data on the website and crucially it can be used as

part of your engineering calculations when designing a system. For example, in the soonto-be-released CEDIA RP22 paper (Immersive Audio Design Recommended Practice) measurements and data like this will play a key role in achieving parameter targets set in the new Performance Levels section. Achieving these targets gives you a higher probability of a better sound when it comes to your client’s experience when they sit down to enjoy their new home cinema room.

Why did you go to visit Stewart Filmscreen?

Stewart Filmscreen has a new CEO, Mark Schelbert who we were looking forward to meeting, plus it’s been a while since we saw the operation there. It’s always good to see the sales, design and support crew at Stewart that we’re in constant touch with across the pond. Visiting also means we get to see what new products are coming, what plans they have and how they’re implementing the latest materials and technology in their manufacturing process.

What did you see?

Mark Robinson, VP of Technology, gave us a full tour of the facility. He’d only just returned from an early start that morning at Disneyland where he and his team had been servicing one of the many Stewart screens across the park. This one played a part in Minnie and Mickie’s Runaway Train ride!

As we made our way around the vast complex, every corner we turned revealed craftsmanship of the highest calibre. Frames are being trimmed from scratch and velveted, masking bars and motors are being tested, and screen materials are being cut to size and perforated.

One area, the matrix plant, really stood out. Three rooms approximately 20 x 20m, where Stewart’s award-winning projection surfaces are created. The optical layers are sprayed on by robots, towards the roof of the room and

are gradually built up until a surface such as StudioTek, FireHawk or Phantom HALR has been born. This in-house control of this process is why Stewart has the most comprehensive range of surfaces.

What were your biggest takeaways from visiting Stewart Filmscreen?

During the tour, we took time to speak to Mark Schelbert who has been the new owner since April 2022. Mark enthusiastically explained how inspired he was by the history of Stewart Filmscreen but also recognised the modern challenges of a projection system. He is therefore making it a priority at Stewart to lead a team that constantly thinks about innovation, improving the operation and above all making the whole process easier for customers, from specification to installation.

At CAVD we’re particularly looking forward to fine tuning of the configurator section of their website and revised design specifications and manuals.

It was a simple reminder of why they’re considered the Rolls Royce of screen manufacturers. The operation was immense, with screens of all shapes and sizes regularly dispatched worldwide, many heading for home cinemas in the UK, Hollywood and other critical applications.

Above all, it was the attitude and mojo of everyone we met, from the guys building the shipping crates to the committed and proud new owner of the corporation. This energy, whether you subscribe to this idea or not, does make its way into the products for the end user to enjoy.

CAVD cavd.co.uk

Pro Audio Technology collection

Stewart Filmscreen quality control is extreme

A FINE AFFAIR

Who are Fine Sounds UK and the McIntosh Group?

Andy Oattes (AO): Fine Sounds UK is a McIntosh-Group-owned distribution company, responsible for all sales, marketing, and support of our group-owned portfolio, including McIntosh and Sonus faber. But also, very select partner brands that emulate our view on excellence such as Isotek. We focus on the residential integration Ci-Fi, independent Hi-Fi and consumer channels across UK and Ireland.

McIntosh Group is a leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of high-end home audio equipment worldwide. The company offers a broad suite of premium audio products across multiple brands, catering to a highly loyal base of audio enthusiasts and music lovers. The common denominator of all the McIntosh Group brands is the goal of bringing sound to life through quality products built to perform. McIntosh Group strives to ensure the long-term development of each of its brands in keeping with their identity, their heritage, and their expertise.

Our project went live in August 2020, marking the McIntosh Groups first foray into owning distribution outside of North America. Our plan was to create a company that passionately cared for our community of dealers and worked hard to be the very best business partner day in and day out. We developed our strategy with a customer-centric view from the outset, and so trying to give the dealers what they really need to provide excellent service to their clients. We are always going to aim to be more like a brand than smaller scale distributor and so think big and ambitiously. But each member of the team came from integration companies, retail, or Hi-Fi/AV distribution and so we have been able to take our experiences and form a cohesive plan that excels in service and support.

We started out small-scale like any other new company but have been building quickly and scaling out the team to ensure we give the very best-in-class support.

High-performance brands McIntosh and Sonus faber are on the rise in the UK. But who are they? Who are the team behind them? And what are their plans? EI spoke with Country Manager - UK & Ireland for distributor, Fine Sounds UK, Andy Oattes and Roberto Gamba, Sales Director at Sonus faber.

It looks like growth has been strong for you, is this the case?

AO: Yes, thankfully! When we set-out in 2020 to build up our dealer network regionally across UK and Ireland we aimed to work top-down with like-minded businesses that understood quality, shared our values and also believed in long-term relationships and going the extra mile to build excellence into the business. The reception from the market to what we were doing with all of our brands was excellent and so over the last two years, we have seen very strong foundations cemented and are now developing the next phase of growth for the business.

Critically, it’s worth saying that we worked very hard to build an offering that returns great ROI ongoing to our partners, with UK stocking, same week shipping, immediate access to people and support, and all assets including specification, images and .dwg files available at the click of your fingers. So the business case was obvious and well worth the investment.

Regarding opportunity, we think that despite the current negative backdrop, the integration space is looking really strong and set for significant growth over the coming years, especially in the luxury and premium audio and cinema spaces.

What are the key focus’s for residential integration for 2023?

AO/Roberto Gamba (RB): We have quite a lot of exciting developments planned for next year!

Drilling down a bit, we completely align across the group with our Ci-Fi message. Which is fundamentally about creating emotional experience at the heart of residential integration (also applies to yacht and commercial). It’s fair to say that we truly believe in the power of designing and engineering systems that excel in their ability to solicit emotional reaction. It’s what we get out of bed every day to achieve, and it takes incredible engineering to provide the very best experience. The result of the Ci-Fi message for the client is something which we truly believe should be the goal of any company in our space - happier customers and better profitability - what’s not to like?

Between McIntosh and Sonus faber, we have over 110 years of design and manufacturing capability, and so we are really blessed with incredible capabilities across the group (Mc 70 years old and Sf 40). If you look at the incredible statement we set for showroom spaces with the townhouse in New York (https://www.worldofmcintosh.com), you can see that we truly believe in putting excellence and emotional experience first.

Reflecting on the launch of our spectacular new flagship luxury cinema speaker range, Arena at CEDIA Expo 2022. Roberto Gamba, our global CI development lead, worked with the group and incredible like-minded partners such as Trinnov, Officina Acoustica and Barco (along with others), to create a world leading and truly mind-blowing 11.12.6 immersive cinema experience. The queue to get into that demo was constantly 1-1.5 hours for the duration of the show and the overwhelming feedback from peers, press and dealers was that it was the most impressive cinema demonstration of any show, anywhere in the world in the history of our industry - very, very, very cool!

Interestingly, despite McIntosh and Sonus faber being legends at what they do, we entirely believe in the ‘totality of the experience’. Put simply, to ensure that the client gets the very best solution, we should be working together as closely as we can with third party brands that share our vision, and we 100% subscribe to CEDIA’s brilliant cinema grades project (CEB22, CEB23 and Designer facts). The closer we understand and work as an industry to remove jargon and align on excellence, the better the potential for the community and our clients. It’s a simple concept, but with a powerful outcome.

Following on from the dizzying heights of Expo, we plan to have an incredible and unmissable immersive cinema experience for ISE. We will also be unveiling some epic new products that we believe offer ground-breaking performance and value for our space.

We will also be exhibiting at EI Live! 2023 and really look forward to showing integrators and friends some of our latest technology.

Fine Sounds UK finesounds.uk

The Sonus faber Arena series has been making waves since launch

Supported with Reps from

HVAC AND HOME AUTOMATION: UNIQUE CHALLENGES, COMMON PROBLEMS

Pini, Director

CRESTRON

In order to understand how a HVAC system fits into home automation – or presents challenges in that regard – it’s probably wise to first zoom out just a bit.

When you’re a company that’s been historically known for control systems (as Crestron is), the goal for any technology integration is the simplification of controls. ‘Less stuff on the wall’ has been the mantra. That goal, of course, becomes more and more important as we’re able to add technologies to any smart integration. To grossly oversimplify the situation, we’re able to glue a lot more things to a system.

The tension here? A lot of consultants are very traditional in their approach to smart homes: if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. With the pace of new technologies in the market, they tend to stick

with older designs, forsaking the new. What then tends to happen is that the integration pathway breaks down during the design process, and one winds up with standalone systems within a building that don’t necessarily work together. These disparate systems hadn’t necessarily been looked at in the greater scheme of things. It was all done in isolation.

And all of that is certainly true for HVAC systems. These are systems that are expanding rapidly in their complexity – especially now, as issues of smart control, alternative energy sources, and sustainability come to the fore. Energy savings are quite top-of-mind in Europe, especially given the rising costs driven by rampant inflation. Net zero buildings are also becoming more prevalent, and that’s not going to change.

When a system includes solar, ground source heat pumps, gas – or a combination of

all of those things and more – you’ll need a very clever ‘brain’ that exists somewhere in the plant room that’s handling all of those functions, and you’ll need to have a control system that can communicate with that brain.

Phil

of Residential Sales (UK), and Dan Sanderson, Senior Business Development Manager, Residential and Hospitality, at Crestron offer some HVAC insight.

That brings us to the next problem: the traditional home automation experts have backgrounds in AV/IT, and the HVAC contractors know their trade and their trade alone. They’re likely wary of dipping a toe into anything that’s referred to as ‘smart home technology.’ From the technology integrator’s perspective, they’re probably unfamiliar with BACnet, for example – why would a control company or installer concern themselves with that standard?

There are two solutions that begin to bridge the gap between the parties.

First, it’s incumbent upon control and automation companies to educate our potential partners on just what can be done and how easy these integrations have become. With most

control systems, there’s a misperception among HVAC technicians (and other trades) that one needs a software engineer on site to program all of the systems properly. That’s no longer the case – integrating these systems into a platform such as the Crestron Home OS has become much simpler.

The other solution is something that’s made its debut in the UK recently: the introduction of the MSI, or Master Systems Integrator.

The MSI’s responsibility is just that: they’re seated at ‘the middle of the table’ during the design process, ensuring that all these disparate systems – including all of those that are part of modern, complex HVAC solutions like we’ve described above – are working in

concert with all the other systems and controls. This individual understands everything from lighting and shading to HVAC to entire building management systems and has the ability and technical know-how to ensure there are no holes in the scope of work; that an intelligent building is working for the client, not against them.

Ultimately, it’s critical that the entire technology integration is mapped out at the very beginning of the design planning, and that’s part of the reason that an MSI is such a valuable contributor to the process. The old saying holds true, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” and that’s certainly applicable to the installation, automation, and integration of today’s complex HVAC technologies.

A HVAC HELPING HAND

HVAC. It’s a funny thing. On the one hand it’s arguably one of the most important services within a residential dwelling, or any building for that matter, as it ensures we are able to live comfortably and remain healthy. But on the other hand, it’s just one of those things that’s expected, a given if you like, and doesn’t add a great deal of fun or excitement to a project. Unlike AV, it’s not sexy. Couple this with the fact that controlling HVAC services properly, and therefore designing and installing an appropriate control system, is far more complex than many realise, and what you end up with is a situation that proves to be a regular pain point for those in the business of either building luxury homes, or those in the business of designing and installing home technology solutions.

So why is it so difficult to get right? Well, heating and cooling is about moving air and water around a building, and you would be forgiven for not understanding that this in itself is a rather complicated thing to do. There’s a considerable amount of expertise and theoretical application required in order to

design the mechanical infrastructure required for larger homes, and that infrastructure needs a control system that has sufficient clout to manage it all. Cue the infamous BMS or Building Management System. There continues to be much debate about the application of BMS systems in a residential property, but the fact remains that a BMS system is often an essential part of the technology infrastructure within prime and super-prime properties. With the right professional team involved an appropriate control system, such as a BMS, will be designed into the project or ‘specified’ as part of the mechanical and electrical services specification, however that is often only half the story and one of the biggest challenges with ensuring the right control system ends up on the job, at the right price, is making sure that those influencing the early designs for a property such as the architects, interior designers or developers understand what will be required from the HVAC or BMS control system and that it is a critical piece of the puzzle.

Chris Thorne, Director at install company Imperium, discusses the often-tricky subject of HVAC.

The hard reality is that BMS and HVAC control is still considered a ‘back art’ and people tend to shy away from it if they can. To ensure the best possible outcome for large residential schemes it’s vital that early engagement with an experienced and credible BMS company takes place, and preferably one with experience of working on residential projects. Imperium Building Systems are one such business providing BMS and AV solutions in this sector and have considerable experience in navigating the complexities of managing both commercial and technical expectations around residential

HVAC control. Whilst it’s not the ‘exciting’ part of building a beautiful residential property that makes people stop and say ‘wow’, we are able to review a project design and quickly advise on what type of control system is required. Where a home automation or AV control system is also being provided we ensure that the best method of integration is achieved so that the end user or building occupants can manage their comfort levels in the most intuitive and user-friendly way, often via the AV control interfaces.

There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to controlling HAVC services in luxury

residential properties, but understanding the importance of choosing the right solution, ensuring it can manage the demands of the property and provide a simple user experience should always be the focus. The best way to achieve this is to think about the control system earlier in the process. Don’t treat the HVAC controls as a problem someone else can worry about. It should be an integral part of the early design process and has a habit for becoming a pain point that affects all of the supply chain when it’s not managed correctly.

The Imperium team is lining up to deliver well designed HVAC systems

Samsung

A colossal HDA system of nine stacked MHUB S units is behind the flawless 4K content delivery at the stunning new Samsung Dallas Executive Briefing Center.

HDANYWHERE MHUB S was selected for it’s ability to dependably deliver 4K video content to over 70 of Samsung’s first-in-class portfolio of visual display products, including The Wall All-in-One, Samsung’s Interactive Display Line up, as well as its full line up of lifestyle products including The Frame, Premier and 8K Neo QLED displays in Samsung’s newest US showroom.

HDANYWHERE’s James Trumper, says “True to that old saying that everything is bigger and better in America, I can say that this is the biggest HDANYWHERE installation in the world. We’re very proud to be behind Samsung’s amazing experience centre and we look forward to working on more projects with this inspirational company.”

CELEBRATING SAMSUNG’S DALLAS SHOWROOM

Samsung’s Dallas EBC is the first of its kind in the US to feature a full suite of visual display products for the custom installer channel and a

HDANYWHERE 4K content delivery MHUB S stacked system.

“The Dallas EBC is equipped to showcase Samsung’s latest display products and solutions, and is designed to enhance customer and partner engagement,” says Harry Patz Jr., Senior Vice President and General Manager, Display Division, Samsung Electronics America. “This showroom demonstrates our commitment to channel partners in our top performing sales state for the custom install and reseller market.”

40 DECEMBER 2022 ESSENTIAL HDANYWHERE /Essentialinstall @Install_mag essentialinstall.com

THE RISE OF VOICE CONTROL

to its benefits. However, in an attempt to offer a little bit of everything for the DIY market, most voice assistants today have only scratched the surface of integration and meaningful functionality. Instead, opting for a skill-based approach that requires the memorisation of trigger phrases for assistance and control. The goal going forward is to continue adding value and increased accessibility for specific use-cases.

By focusing on the niche of smart home automation, Josh.ai is leading the charge to legitimise voice control from what some perceive as a novelty to a primary user interface. The key to doing so is ensuring user experiences remain simple while assuaging concerns around data privacy and security. As long as a comfort level is established with voice control, it is the most natural and empowering interface for all user demographics.

The team at Josh.ai is slightly biased, but it is our belief that voice control will be prevalent in every smart home within the next 10 years. While surging consumer demand slightly cooled during the pandemic, 95 million US adults have at least one smart speaker and 50% of device owners use them daily according to a Voicebot.

ai report from March, 2022. The data proves that people not only want to use voice control, but are also intensely loyal once they have adopted it.

The data also shows that the mass market smart speaker providers have done a fantastic job proliferating voice and exposing consumers

On top of requiring less education as a supplementary interface, voice control allows users to simplify their living spaces. Not only do consumers prefer having less wall clutter with switches, knobs, remotes, and screens that they need to learn how to use; interior designers and architects desire technology that truly integrates into its surroundings.

As innovators in the US on voice control, EI asked Josh.ai for the company’s thoughts on the now and the future of voice control.

Microphones can be discreetly installed when desired, blending into the background to create elegant and intelligent environments that suit the needs of every stakeholder in the designbuild process.

While we are working our way towards the AI-powered future envisioned by the last century’s greatest science fiction marvels, technology adoption takes time. Voice control today is more capable and enabling than a lot of people realise. However, we still have a long way to go before the experience reaches the level that is often desired and associated with the technology in films like Star Wars or shows like Westworld. Right now, we are still limited to a command-and-response type of interaction as opposed to the conversational AI that has been depicted by Hollywood.

In the meantime, seemingly simple technology still needs to displace its predecessor and gain market acceptance. We have seen the beginnings of this evolution take shape at a rapid pace and it clearly suggests voice is the next interface wave following the touch revolution brought on by the Apple iPhone. It is inevitable that research and development will catch up to the demand that we are seeing across residential, commercial, hospitality, automotive, healthcare and more industries.

As we look at the landscape of voice and AI, not every voice assistant is created equally or needs to solve everything for everyone yet. One day, there will likely be general-purpose assistants that can handle most functions. In the meantime, voice control needs to set expectations properly and execute what it says it is capable of. Today’s assistants have a wide variety of skills and capabilities, with merits and faults that illustrate none are created equally. For example, some might be able to handle accents or multiple languages better than others.

In Josh.ai’s case, using voice control in the home, there is a lot of engineering that goes into contextually accurate and reliable automation of the ecosystem. From lights and shades to TV, music, HVAC and more, we understand our purpose and are continuously optimising it while exploring other environments where our expertise can apply. Office spaces and hotels use many of the same technologies, and we are already seeing voice control enter these verticals as well.

The last big hurdle for growing voice control’s usage is the element of trust when microphones are installed in private areas. Many of the voice assistants available today are built by large companies known for utilising data in opaque ways. Some users are weary of who is listening in and how their data is being utilised. Fortunately, Josh.ai and others are taking the opposite approach, building privacyfirst assistants that never distribute or sell data. It will take time for this movement to grow, but it will certainly get there.

Today, voice control is at its beginning, opening the way for true automation and intelligence. In the future, our surroundings will not only respond to commands, but will also make recommendations, pre-emptively call for services when needed, remind users about upcoming events, and become a vital part of our day-to-day lives. We are of course biased, but the Josh.ai team is in this field for a reason. We are passionate believers that AI will dramatically and positively impact our world.

At this time, Josh.ai does not have a timeline for entering Europe. Our team needs to determine the right strategic business opportunity and identify areas where engineering development will be required before we are able to accommodate the European market and the GDPR. Although we are unable to operate outside of North America today, anyone can join our mailing list at the bottom of https://www.josh.ai/ to stay up to date for when Josh.ai expands internationally.

More voice control means less and more subtle wall controllers

LET’S TALK!

As work, study and play continue to blur in today’s busy lifestyles, increasing functionality and connectivity is crucial at home. The latest innovations for home automation are all designed to bring greater ease and luxury to the modern home and more recently, more convenience, thanks to highly intuitive voice control technology.

It is these types of systems that are unlocking even more potential for both home and user, creating a uniquely personalised environment where users can set the mood and link devices at the push of a button or by talking to a digital assistant.

As more and more people embrace smart home life, we are delighted to see so many new features and functions for the UK smart home. For instance, users can now ‘link and synch’ different elements so they can start the day with blinds being raised as favourite music plays on the sound system.

Designed to be user-friendly, voice control solutions make it easy for homeowners to control the smart home with their voice. Most smart home systems will have an integrated skill for Amazon Alexa or manufacturer app giving access to Google Assistant or Google Home.

We are finding that combining functions such as lighting, heating and blinds in control panels as well as new opportunities like voice control, are giving people more freedom to create a

comfortable environment with minimum effort – vital if someone in the household has limited mobility or suffers from chronic fatigue.

HUMAN CENTRIC

I think the greater desire for personalised technology into the home means that regardless of age or background, we will want lighting controls which support the way we want to live our lives. For the older market, this might mean an extra emphasis on clearly configured controls, voice commands and call systems, and for a young family – ensuring that controls can be child-proofed would make sense.

The sheer variety of switches and components available is triggering all sorts of ideas in terms of future integration, so the smart home possibilities that we see today are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of having highly individualised interior spaces, which know exactly what we like and when we like it.

Each design line by Gira is able to support more than 300 functions, so flexible indoor lighting can come to life for the end customer with ease and provide an infallible solution for professional electricians, installers and system integrators.

Jessica-Lee van der Walt, Sales & Marketing Manager, Gira UK, has her say on voice control.

“M&K makes the best home cinema speakers money can buy. I’ve built my business around them.”

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A SOUND PROPOSITION

A genuine hot topic this one, how has the market evolved in recent times?

Confinement brought about a few sudden trends - a lot of us were confronted with the need to create a comfortable environment to work from home - this means not just creating a level of privacy, but improving speech intelligibility to hear and be heard in all those zoom meetings.

Exploring new forms of home entertainment also highlighted a lot of issues in home cinema and listening rooms, not to mention simply creating more relaxed living spaces that had to suddenly deal with more people, all at once.

This was especially harsh for Pro Audio professionals, that had to suddenly find a way to create the same quality of output as their professional studios at home.

All in all, confinement forced us to interact with our homes in new ways and showed us

that with a little effort we can really improve our home systems, our comfort, and ultimately our wellbeing.

The acoustic treatment market has seen a paradigm shift over recent years. There has been an increase in the use of acoustic treatment products and services in a wide range of settings, including office buildings, restaurants, retail stores, and residential. This has led to a greater awareness of the need for acoustic treatment and the benefits it can provide.

As equally important as performance? Short answer, no. Or at least, they shouldn’t be.

Acoustic treatment is a science. There are quantifiable issues that need addressing in specific ways. We can have the best-looking

products and designs in the world, but when the lights go out and the room sounds awful, what’s the point?

A good example: when we are watching a film, we don’t really mind a bad picture – broken pixels or reflections off the screen, or a lack of colour depth. It’s not ideal, but our brains learn to ignore it. Having bad sound makes it immediately unwatchable.

Hi-Fi listening rooms can be very technical spaces, but it is more about creating a full experience – the same can be said for residential spaces – we work towards creating a full ambience. What we experience in a space is the result of all of our senses, mainly what we can see and what we hear, each part is important. A well-designed room takes everything into account to create a space that is both beautiful and functional.

Are aesthetics equally important now?

Nathaniel Bailey of the Artnovian R&D Department addresses some of the acoustic treatment sector’s key questions.

At Artnovion, we focus on creating highperformance products, which means you don’t need to use as many to get the same result. This combines with using creative designs and premium finishes to create an acoustic solution that adds to the design of the space – you can treat your acoustics with a tailored design centrepiece. Long gone are the days when acoustic treatment is something ugly and technical that needs to be hidden behind stretch fabric.

What are the main principles when trying to improve a room’s acoustics?

The objective is to design for sound quality. This means creating a balanced, predictable environment.

Each room is unique and requires a studied approach, but there are always common issues to address, such as treating first reflections and controlling the overall reverberation time and the low-frequency response of the room.

If you imagine a listener in a room, in the instant after a speaker emits sound they are first going to perceive the direct sound from the speaker. A few milliseconds after this, they will perceive the first reflections from the wall, floor and ceiling. A bit later, they will hear high-order reflections - waves that have bounced multiple times off different surfaces before reaching the listeners’ ears.

All of the energy that reached the listener within the first 50ms will be perceived as a single sound. This means that we hear the result of the interaction of the direct sound and all of these reflections.

At any given frequency, there is a possibility that the sound reaches our ears in the opposite phase. This creates destructive interference, cancellation at the given frequency, and all of its higher harmonics. This can lead to more severe cases of flutter echos, but normally it has one main effect - destroying speech intelligibility.

Reflection is usually treated with absorption. Porous or fibrous materials convert the kinetic energy from sound waves into heat, reducing the amount of energy reflected back into the room. Dedicated absorbers, and bass traps, are used to control low frequencies.

Diffusion is also used, but for a different effect - they are designed to reflect energy evenly

over a larger area, which helps to create a more balanced sound field and larger sweet spot.

Most projects are created using strategically placed absorption and diffusion, but the goal is always the same - creating good sound quality in those first milliseconds.

A properly treated room will sound better because?

If you’ve ever been in a room with tile floors and bare walls, you’ve probably noticed how live it sounds. Your voice echoes and every little noise is amplified. Now imagine that same room with carpets, drapes, and furniture. The sound is completely different. The room feels warmer and more inviting.

I like to use an analogy for home cinema: You can buy a top-of-the-range 4K projector, set it up in your room and then project it onto an unfinished brick wall. We can all imagine it’s not going to go very well. You’ll lack definition and have a bad overall picture. You need to project onto a screen.

Acoustic treatment works in very much the same way. No matter how good your system may be, your perception of the sound is dictated by the quality of your room.

It can be easy to identify certain issues in a bad room. We’ve all been through the experience of turning the volume up to hear a conversation, and then having to turn it down again at the next action sequence. More likely than bad mixing, this is likely caused by poor speech intelligibility.

What does a good room sound like? It should be immersive. You should perceive a rich, full sound, with good intelligibility and a strong bass ratio. You should be able to enjoy exactly the same experience, no matter where you are in the room.

It isn’t so much a case of how a good room sounds, a perfect room is completely neutral, allowing the rest of the system to shine.

Large and more compact spaces can benefit from treatment

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ANDY’S CHILDREN’S HOSPICE HAS A CINEMA!

At Andy’s Children’s Hospice they care for children and young adults whose lives will sadly not be as long as they should be. They help families to ‘make each day count’ and enable every child to live life to the fullest, creating lasting memories and leaving their mark on the world.

They offer free palliative and end of life care to children living in North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, Hull and the East Riding, both at the hospice and in patient’s homes. They welcome children from birth to the age of 25, when they transition to appropriate adult services.

Andy’s offer a number of services to meet the needs of all children and their families in their catchment area, who are affected by a life-limiting or palliative condition throughout their journey and tailor the care provided to each child as an individual, always remembering to inject a healthy dose of fun and laughter.

In August 2021 TFC was contacted by the Estates and Facilities Manager at St. Andrews. He had heard about our work via the Together for Short Lives newsletter and also the children’s hospice ‘grapevine’ and wanted to know more. There was initial surprise at what we have achieved, and almost a feeling of ‘surely this is too good an offer to be true’. However, after I explained what we do and how it has developed over the years, there was great excitement.

Installer wise, I contacted Steve Carter at CEDIA to see if he knew of anyone within striking distance of Grimsby, Steve had no hesitation in

recommending Ben Cook at Sonic Vison. Even though Sonic Vision are a fair distance away from Grimsby, Ben immediately agreed to take a look. We met with Michelle Rollinson, the Chief Executive at St Andrews, and Jacqui Hall, the Director of People and Operations. After some consideration, Ben identified a storage room outside of the main building as the ideal candidate. Basically, the room was a 5.3m x 5.8m (almost square) room with double doors on two sides.

Ben outlined his vision for a top end cinema and even with just a brief explanation created a wow factor with the team at St Andrews. There may have been a little disbelief as well…, ‘are these guys really going to do all this for free?!’

Ben and I got together and drew up the preferred kit list. Ben’s fabulous vision led to a fabulous kit list, but with the amazing support that TFC has from our industry I was optimistic that we could secure all the items that we needed. The initial requests went out and to the industry and I’m delighted to say that very quickly we secured most of the items. A few items took a little longer to secure but I was always confident that our wonderful industry would collaborate to help make this room happen.

Ben explains, “This was an opportunity to create something special for children that have had their opportunities minimised, as such, our goal was to create a space that provides amazement, enables some valuable family time and hopefully helps to make some smiles as well as memories.

Ian Morrish, Founder of Together For Cinema (TFC), introduces another successful installation project, this time created by Sonic Vision at Andy’s Children’s Hospice, part of St. Andrew’s Hospice, just south of Grimsby.

“On our initial visit we found an old paint store, an almost square 5.5m x 5.5m area with two sets of double doors, a lot of hard surfaces and a very ugly ceiling! Our design needed to ensure accessibility and comfort, whilst delivering a hefty dose of cinematic impact in a fun and engaging space.”

Ben continues, “One doorway would need to be blocked up to allow the room to be oriented correctly to enable easy access. We decided to raise the floor at the rear, thus maximising the size of the screen and providing two rows of seating with clear line of sight. Additionally, we decided to drop the ceiling at the rear to accommodate lighting control equipment, the star ceiling projector, and allow some height speakers to be included. At the front we included a timber frame to accommodate the 4x3m star ceiling, adding a stunning effect and a real sense of height, whilst also concealing some of the rooms’ less favourable features. The colour scheme was put together to keep the space vibrant, whilst also reflecting the St Andrews branding.”

Ben adds, “One of the key components of the room are the acoustic panels. These both aid in keeping the audio controlled and defined, whilst working in conjunction with the custom printed speaker grills to create a children’s movie theme. The artwork is complemented by four circuits of DMX colour change lighting, coupled with the DMX controlled star ceiling to create some interesting effects which make the space an entertaining place to be, even when the film has finished! We loved working on this project. It was amazing to see the industry pull together to provide such a brilliant space and we’re really pleased with the results.”

Michelle Rollinson, Chief Executive, St Andrews Hospice, comments, “We are so very grateful to everyone for the generous donations of technology, time and expertise that came together to create an amazing cinema experience. For children and young people living with a life limiting illness and their families, taking a trip to the cinema can be challenging and not always an enjoyable experience. Having the cinema here at the hospice provides opportunities for families to enjoy special times together, watching their favourite film, in the comfort of their own private space. The special memories that will be created are magical and will bring comfort to families at sad times. A huge thank you to Ian, Ben and everyone involved.”

NOW OPEN!

The opening reception took place on 12 October and was attended by a group of about 20 people. From our industry there was me, Ben Cook and Ben ‘Stan’ Stansfield from Sonic Vision, Peter Broome from Rako and Chris Pinder and Colton Halls from HDANYWHERE.

From St Andrews Hospice there were various members of the children’s services team and two families with their children in attendance. There was also representation from three local companies who kindly helped prepare the room by supplying carpeting, electrical help and building services.

We were also joined by the very lovely Joanne Clifton of Strictly Come Dancing, who kindly gave

up her time to add some ‘dance floor sparkle’ to the opening event. See the image below of Joanne with the Sonic Vision team. After a few words from the care team, Joanne kindly took the stage and thanked all those involved for making this amazing cinema room happen.

I was lucky enough to talk to one of the Dads of a young girl who is wheelchair bound and blind. He made it very clear to me how much this new cinema facility means to his daughter. He said that the change in her behaviour, based on the audio stimulation alone, is instant and hugely impactful to her and all around her.

Donated Kit List

• Araknis / Snap AV: AN-KIT-110WRTINTL Router, AN-110-SW-R-16 Network Switch

• Control4 / Snap AV: Neeo Remote, EA-1 Controller and C4-EA1RMK1-BL compatible shelf

• Denon / Sound United: 9.2 channel AVR

• Future Automation: PM-UNI

• HDANYWHERE: 10m Active wire max 18GBPS. 1.5m Super Slim

• Instyle LED: 3 x LED Circuits

• Monitor Audio: 6 x Soundframe 2’s with custom grilles, CP-WT 240 in wall centre. 2 x C265 FX in ceiling

• Monitor Audio: 2 x Radius 390’s

• Officina Acustica: 10 x Custom printed 900mm x 600mm panels with suitable children’s movie graphics

• Pakedge / Snap AV: PE-08I

• Penn Elcom: 20U floor rack with shelves and fan

• Projecta / Legrand: 2.39:1 111in (125 x 276) acoustically transparent / fixed frame

• Pulse Cinemas: 2 x Fortress Seating electric reclining cinema chairs

• Rako: RK-HUB Network Bridge, RMT500 Dimmer, RLED30CVA RGBW Control, 2 x RLED30SLAVE RGBW Control, RMS-800 Switch, RK-EOS-6 Wall Control

• Sonic Vision: Installation consumables, curtains, LED extrusion, Roku media player, DMX bar light

• Sony: UBPX800M2B Smart Blu-Ray Player, VPL-VW290es projector

• Starscape: 12 square meters of Infinity Lighting ceiling panels. Mini LED600

• Surge X: Surgex SX-AX16Ei

SMC SOURCES STEINWAY LYNGDORF FOR HOME CINEMA HIDEAWAY

SMC gives EI the tour of this high-performance home cinema for a long-standing customer.

The brief was simple, having loved his Steinway Lyngdorf cinema that SMC installed in his last property, the client wanted to replicate it in his new one. This time however, he upgraded to include Atmos channels, and a projector that enables 120Hz sources. The seating layout and screen size were to be kept the same, and a few tweaks were made from lessons learnt from

his previous cinema: projector in a hush box, acoustically isolating cinema from the rest of the house, games machines in the same room and a fixed screen, rather than drop-down.

SMC started modelling the room in AutoCAD. Being a basement room, the ceiling height was non-negotiable, and there were several niches in the space that the install team

took advantage of. One of the first tasks was to strip the room back to its concrete shell to claw back as much height as possible. After taking its true dimensions the, team came up with a design incorporating a raised rear seating platform, a separate section at the rear of the room that incorporated the projector booth and a rack that had the clients’ local sources within it.

There was a pre-existing control system in the property which was extended over to this space to allow for continuity throughout the house. The benefit of utilising the spaces in the structure that were pre-existing kept the cinema as large as possible, whilst ticking the client’s brief boxes.

Ceiling height was an issue, there was not enough void within the ceiling to house the rear set of Atmos channels. SMC presented two solutions, drop the newly installed Alcantara wrapped panelled ceiling or mount the speaker

with a custom solution, allowing it to be slightly lower than the ceiling itself. With the client’s agreement, the speakers went into a custom mount that was also wrapped in Alcantara and you wouldn’t notice the difference!

Initially the room was specified with a different projector, during the project SMC became aware that an updated version was in the pipeline so suggested moving to this model giving greater functionality. There was not much time between availability and project end date however the install team placed a pre-

order ahead of time and managed to get one of the first of these projectors in the country!

The cinemas audio system was made up of Steinway Lyngdorf’s P300 Processor, three A2 Amplifiers, an A1 amplifier, seven x S-15 speakers (FL, Centre (inwall version) FR, SL, SR, SBL, SBR), four x IC-16 Speakers (Atmos front & Rear) and two x LS R212 woofers. The projection system consists of JVC’s NZ8 projector, Display Technologies AT Frontier Fixed frame screen, Port Hole Glass, two x Mistral 150 Fans and a Mistral commander.

The customer is a big fan of a certain high-performance AV brand

The source inputs include Apple TV 4K, SKY Q, PS5, XBOX Series X and a Sony 4K Blu-ray. Control is provided by a Control4 Neeo Remote and an EA3 Controller, and the network uses Cisco’s SG350X 24 Port Switch. All of this is housed in a Middle Atlantic 42 U QAR RACK with Surge X surge protection and Aten IPPDU.

SMC says, “This client is a longstanding customer of ours. We have worked with him

on three previous projects and with the same builders, 800 Group. He recently moved as a property that he and his family have always wanted to live in went up for sale on their road. One thing they didn’t want to leave behind however was their cinema that we had installed previously.

“Our client wanted to replicate the cinema, with some tweaks from lessons learnt from the previous one, and with some newer tech.

With some remedial works to the basement room, we were able to install an incredible 7.2.4 Atmos cinema while marrying it in with the property’s global control system. Our client was amazed by the room, and the neatness of the work, and was pleased to have spent the extra money on isolating the projector from the room.”

A neat solution was needed to house the rear speakers

Immersive

ISE is the world’s leading show for professional audiovisual integration. Discover the latest AV solutions that deliver unforgettable experiences.

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All brand names, product names, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Certain trademarks, registered trademarks, and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Crestron disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. Crestron is not responsible for errors in typography or photography. ©2022 Crestron Electronics, Inc.

Available from Karma AV, the new MoFi

SourcePoint 10 speakers are the result of 18 months of research and development led by speaker designer, Andrew Jones, designed with the aim of ‘breaking through a crowded speaker market with a model that stands out sonically and visually’.

Andrew and MoFi decided to develop a twoway speaker using an original 10in concentric driver, its diameter selected as the size for minimising cone movement while producing deep bass. Having evaluated a variety of materials, Andrew opted for paper – having the combination of properties for the size of the cone needed. The team worked from a paper pulp mix and devised a cone shape that both optimises resonant behaviour and meets the requirements of the tweeter waveguide.

The tweeter is a 1.25in soft dome with a wideroll surround and large-diameter voice coil, capable of working at the 1.6kHz crossover point. The wide surround extends the low and high-frequency response of the tweeter, while the loading of the waveguide increases the low-end efficiency.

SourcePoint 10 is driven by a magnet system called ‘Twin-Drive’. After months of running magnetic field simulations, high-flux neodymium magnets for the woofer and tweeter were precisely coupled to create a compound effect: each aids the other in driving the flux across the woofer and

MCINTOSH TAKES TWO

tweeter gaps. The Twin-Drive magnet structure was also built to create a symmetrical magnetic field, which eliminates flux modulation for low intermodulation distortion (IMD) and reproduction.

Thought was also given to the cabinet and shape of the 2in thick front baffle. The sculpted, multi-faceted baffle stands in front of the mid-century-inspired cabinet frame to reduce diffraction. Made of 1in thick MDF panels for the sides, top, bottom, and back, the cabinet itself has an internal volume of 50l, or almost 2ft. This size offered MoFi the combination of ‘bass extension and efficiency’, with a sensitivity of 91dB, lowfrequency point of 42Hz, and true eight-ohm impedance with a minimum of 6.4ohms.

Karma AV karma-av.co.uk

McIntosh has launched the MI502 two-channel digital amplifier, a Class D power amp that’s set to expand the company’s Ci-Fi (Custom Install Fidelity) portfolio.

The MI502 is described as extremely flexible, offering a substantial 500W of power into 8ohms or 800W into 4ohms, making it attractive for premium custom installed home audio or home cinema systems.

The amplifier uses closed-loop digital switching technology with resilient power supplies to produce performance levels for custom install audio; McIntosh’s sound quality ‘comes as standard’.

The MI502 can be configured flexibly, too: it can be used to power the front left and right speakers in a home cinema system, drive two inwall subwoofers, a pair could drive the three front channels of a home cinema plus one subwoofer, or even power a pair of outdoor speakers, multiple

MI502s could also be used to power a distributed home audio system.

Rack-mountable with a 2U height, the MI502’s Class D amplifier means the amplifier does not require noisy cooling fans to maintain nominal operating temperature, despite its powerful 500W output.

The front panel features two blue McIntosh Watt Meters that display the power output of each channel, while multi-colour LED indicators display the status of each channel. The rear panel includes a pair of balanced and unbalanced inputs to connect to preamplifiers, and a pair of McIntosh’s standard five-way speaker binding posts are also included.

Also included is a black-glass front panel, an illuminated McIntosh logo, and a familiar form factor, highlighted by silver trim.

The MI502 also benefits from several proprietary McIntosh technologies including Power Guard signal overload technology that prevents overdriving the speakers, and a Sentry Monitor short-circuit protection circuit that disengages the output stage before current exceeds safe operating levels and then resets automatically when operating conditions return to normal.

McIntosh mcintoshlabs.com

The unit has an eco-friendly on/off signal sensor that turns the unit off if no input signal has been detected for a set amount of time

JAMO RETURNS WITH THE STUDIO7 SERIES

Studio7 is Jamo’s new range of passive loudspeakers and owes its name to the sevendegree tilt that makes its look and sound distinctive.

An new 1in tweeter featuring a copper faraday ring which increases sensitivity and reduces nonlinear distortion, carries out the high-frequency duties. The tweeter and surround are made from fabric and exhibit strong distortion characteristics and wide bandwidth for a non-fatiguing yet detailed sound.

The High-Frequency waveguide was optimised using Jamo’s exclusive COMSOL software model. The Danish maker validates the waveguide and tweeter performance through countless hours of real-world testing to ensure consistency, reliability, and performance even at high sound pressure levels for extended periods.

To ensure a coherent sound stage, Jamo has time-aligned the acoustic centres of the drive units by tilting the cabinet back and mounting it on a plinth that houses the speaker crossover.

The bass drivers feature embossed paper cones, high strength motor assemblies incorporating aluminium inductance shorting rings that enhance power handling and lower distortion. The aluminium shorting ring lowers distortion for clean, dynamic bass and increases power handling as the aluminium ring acts as a heat sink. The embossed paper cone with ‘Thor’s Hammer’

detailing increases the rigidity to improve the transient response for snappy yet natural bass.

Jamo houses the crossover in its sealed plinth to minimise the possibility of any interaction between the large bass driver magnet and the inductors in the crossover. The Studio7 design also pays particular attention to the topology and component selection. Using Mylar and nonpolarised electrolytic capacitors, along with iron and air core inductors and 25 W resistors, blends the speaker drivers delivering the highest level of transparency throughout the audio band.

Studio7 Series Comprises Six Models: Two sizes of floor-standing speakers (S7-27F, S7-25F), two types of bookshelf speakers (S7-17B, S7-15B), two centre channel speakers (S7-25C, S7-43C).

Jamo jamo.com

Jamo chose the Studio7 range’s colours from the chromatic palette of Scandinavian landscapes.

GET CONNECTED WITH NEW LINDY DOCKING STATION

Lindy Electronics has launched the DST-Pro 100 USB-C Laptop Docking Station with Triple Display (Full HD) or Single Display (4K) and 100W Power Supply.

Designed with pros in mind, this product allows for easy, fast and reliable charging of devices, ensuring installers can perform power-hungry tasks with ease.

The docking station comes with HDMI and DisplayPort connections, all with 4K capability. With one extended display connected, users can expect Ultra HD 4k 60Hz. This product is also capable of supporting 4K at 30Hz for dual displays (using HDMI ports) and crisp Full HD at 60Hz for triple display setups.

Providing all the ports and card slot options needed for a professional-grade workspace, this desktop delivers SuperSpeed (5Gbps) USB ports as well as some unique audio connectivity options. Through a single USB-C connection, access four USB Type A ports, two USB-C ports, Card Readers (SD and Micro-SD), separate 3.5mm audio and microphone jacks, two HDMI ports, a DisplayPort, Gigabit Ethernet and an optical TOSLink output. The TOSLink output is well suited for connecting high-end audio equipment such as soundbars and with a wired ethernet connection and SuperSpeed data transfer, users can expect to have a fast and reliable desktop experience says the company.

With a 100W PSU (Power Supply Unit), the station has the capability to ensure any device is always fully charged and ready to deal with powerhungry, demanding tasks. Connect the docking station with one USB-C cable and be confident that any laptop is being charged whilst continuing to work. This also leaves more available ports both on the device and docking station for connecting additional USB accessories and peripherals.

Lindy Electronics lindy.co.uk

The next generation of architectural loudspeakers with tool-less installation, a unique pivoting system, and 21 speakers that fit into the same cut-out of 222mm, the Director Collection provides full-bodied, reliable sound from room to room.

M&K SOUND REVEALS D SERIES

compression tweeters, the same found in the company’s reference 150 Series loudspeakers. These Danish-built tweeters enable neutrality and sonic detail, and timbre-matching across all the company’s loudspeakers.

M&K Sound has introduced the new discreet and design-conscious D Series of loudspeakers, comprising the D85 and D95 models. Optimised for placement on walls, on stands, inside bookshelves or flanking flat-panel displays, the maker says the D85 and D95 loudspeakers are décor-friendly music or TV loudspeakers.

The maker underlines strong volume intensity, accurate and transparent music and film sound reproduction, despite small dimensions. M&K Sound says the D series is capable of high-output, profoundly accurate and non-fatiguing audio, encapsulating all the hallmarks of M&K Sound’s entire product range.

Both the D85 and D95 include M&K Sound’s signature 1.1in coated silk dome, low-

LOEWE

REVEALS

Each D Series loudspeaker has an integrated keyhole mount and 100 mm x 100 mm VESAcompatible interface for easy fixing to a wall or matching hardware. The low-profile wall mount and recessed binding posts on the rear allow for a minimal 2mm clearance from the wall. The D 85 and D95 are available in a choice of White, Black or Grey matte and non-reflective luxury finishes with colour matching magnetized grilles. With three colour options, the D Series loudspeakers can blend with any home décor palette and double as works of art in their own right, says their creator.

“With our history of producing reference loudspeakers for the enjoyment of music and film, it seemed natural to offer our customers a chance to hear M&K’s acclaimed sound from smaller speaker enclosures around the home,” says Per Becher, Chief Executive Officer of M&K Sound. “The D Series speakers are a beautiful complement to a stylish home and, in terms of performance, punch well above their size and weight.”

M&K Sound mksound.com

THE ICONIC

Loewe Technology has revealed the iconic; high-end, 4K ultra-high definition OLED TV, claimed as the world’s first consumer electronics product to be built from Syno-Stone, a solid surface mineral material. Crafted from locally sourced recycled materials that can be recycled again, the iconic is described as truly sustainably produced while delivering unparalleled audiovisual qualities that Loewe is known for.

Created to be a marriage of sustainability and style, the Loewe iconic is built using Syno-Stone, a durable, hygienic solid surface material that creates an eye-catching concrete aesthetic.

Available in 55in and 65in models and Graphite Grey and Clay White colorways, the iconic adds to its minimalist appearance with a hidden sound bar that is integrated behind the fabric panel.

Boasting an ultra-high definition 4K OLED display, the maker says iconic is the result of decades of optimised algorithms that achieve a natural, harmonious picture so home cinema can be enjoyed at the highest possible level. HLG, HDR10 and Dolby Vision, high-contrast images and a wide colour spectrum are in place to elevate the viewing experience at class-leading heights, says the TV’s creator.

Seamlessly integrated into the design, Loewe says iconic’s soundbar offers a natural audio experience with impressive, room-filling cinema sound and excellent speech clarity. With a power of 360W, the soundbar is a 3.1 sound system that can be expanded to a 5.1. The iconic supports Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Multiroom via Play-Fi, WDAL, AVR adapters. In addition, two front and two rear speakers as well as a subwoofer (e.g. Loewe klang mr1/3/5, Loewe klang sub1) can be paired wirelessly. The product is available now to authorised dealers.

Loewe

loewe.tv

The iconic is a premium, sustainably produced, syno-stone 4K OLED TV with a ‘state-of-the-art’ sound system’

The design conscious M&K Sound D Series

AMPLIFY INSTALLS WITH MONITOR AUDIO

Monitor Audio has announced the release of four powerful new models within its Custom Installation Amplifier series.

The four new DSP amplifiers are engineered to support the demands of the installer: flexibility, usability, intuitive functionality, easy set-up, superior build quality and outstanding sound performance, are key attributes underlined by the maker.

All four models offer impressive levels of flexibility, says their creator. They all feature both ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing installers to fine-tune the DSP and set up advanced settings prior to connecting to a network. DSP configuration is available on all models and ensures that the EQ settings work well with selected Monitor Audio Architectural speakers. All four are fully customisable to ensure precision high-fidelity audio is delivered effectively and with realism across even the most challenging interior or exterior environments.

Montor Audio says a new web configurator extends the intuitive and simple installation experience, and ensures the amplifiers are easily integrated within most familiar control systems such as Crestron home, Crestron, RTI and Control 4. A full API is also available for wider custom integrations.

Each amplifier features power sharing technology, with high-voltage rails to allow a single output stage to deliver the full output power of the system. This means that for low

and high impedance 4 and 8ohm speakers the channels do not need to be bridged to deliver the highest power levels, and all four amplifier models provide 70v and 100v line support, ideal for garden system applications. This improves overall sound transmission quality and allows the power to be dynamically allocated. Their high-power density designs enable more channels to be placed into less space than ever before. This keeps overall dimensions

smaller for enhanced convenience. Amplification within the four models is delivered via thermally optimised class-D amplifiers, ensuring smaller physical profiles, cooler running and lifelike sound.

The range consists of the IA60-4, IA125-4, IA750-2 and IA750-4 models.

SNAP ONE LAUNCHES IP-ENABLED WATTBOX SOLUTIONS IN EMEA AND APAC

to use the power protection, surge protection and OvrC remote monitoring compatibility that Wattbox is known for to build stronger businesses.

Snap One has announced the launch of all IP-enabled WattBox SKUs into the APAC and EMEA markets for the first time since the brand’s inception. These new devices are available for immediate purchase in the EMEA region and APAC regions. International availability will enable partners across the globe

“We look forward to bringing Wattbox’s well-known IP control capabilities, versatile form factors and OvrC integration internationally following its success in the US,” Emily Jones, Snap One Senior Director of Product Management says. “Power conditioning and surge protection are required components for nearly all jobs–which is why WattBox is often the first product considered by our partners when designing systems. Plus, the Wattbox product line is the gateway into the OvrC remote monitoring ecosystem, which enables Partners to build recurring-revenue opportunities with existing customers.”

Snap One recently introduced the WattBox 800 Series 1U 8-Outlet IP Power Conditioners, which provide greater installation flexibility and control. With individually controlled and metered outlets, OvrC functionality, and an innovative LED faceplate that displays crucial power and connectivity info, the 8-outlet model delivers powerful benefits for

In June of 2022, Snap One released a new OvrC Connect app that replaces OvrC Home to strengthen control of OvrC systems, available through Wattbox solutions, for both commercial and residential clients, along with a newly redesigned OvrC Location Dashboard that simplifies Partners’ customer service workflow.

For international compatibility, current Wattbox IP-Enabled SKUs are now capable of operation in 220V-240V regions. Models launching in EMEA and APAC throughout the rest of the year include the WB-800I-IPVM-6, WP800I-FP, WB-800ICH1U-IVPM-8, WB-250IIPW-2, WB-800IVPS-IPVM-12 WattBox SKUs.

Snap One snapone.com

Monitor Audio monitoraudio.com

The Installation range will be available from January 2023

First released in the U.S, these systems are now available in Europe