ESSENTIAL HABITECH

POWERING YOUR PRO AV PRODUCTIVITY

Adapt your skills for a Pro AV market that needs the things you’re good at and reap the rewards, says Habitech’s Technical Sales Manager John Perry.

Networking competences are bringing the worlds of commercial and residential AV together.

Motivated by the need to stream from licenced music services, integrators from Pro

AV and residential CI are now reaching for the same networking toolkit.

Today, for instance, you’re as likely to see AVoIP in homes as you are in retail, hospitality, clubs and bars. Truth is that post-lockdown, rising consumer expectations of quality and capability are speeding installers toward the same discreet design conclusions.

For small to medium sized commercial projects at least, technologies and skillsets are becoming interchangeable, which means you’re ready to tackle the Pro AV challenges that come your way as soon as you appreciate that the acoustic demands of commercial spaces are different from the ones you’re used to. There’s a learning curve to be travelled, but the journey will be easier with the pro team at Habitech for company. We’re here to help you every step of the way.

No question that the prospect of big new business is well within your grasp. Pro clients needing AV in ‘sensitive’ architectural spaces and high-end brand retailers for instance, will never want to see a loudspeaker; they’re looking for the discreet design skills that have defined your playbook since day one. Similarly, a new wave of ‘boutique’ businesses are seeking the seamless integration of high performance AV to differentiate their offer, and that’s where you come in. Opportunities abound, especially because your clients don’t distinguish between pro and resi. As the line between home and work continues to blur, the CEO whose home you just transformed will want the same thing at their restaurant, office or retail premises. They won’t appreciate that the enhanced scale of the project and its demand for different attributes - like higher Sound Pressure Levels (SPLs) to overcome ambient noise - will require new methods and products to achieve the same flawless results. But that’s not a problem. The good news is that you can embellish your residential repertoire with these tools when you partner with Habitech.

END-TO-END PROJECT SUPPORT

In recent years we’ve invested energetically to become as proficient at serving the Pro AV market as the CI sector, complementing a much wider product choice with a wealth of design experience gained from decades in key roles with major commercial brands. This means that we can help you to ‘think professional’ with training on workflow, technologies and products to ensure that your preparation and your solution choices are optimised in a plan that you can present to the client. Whether you’re designing for subtle restaurant atmospherics, large reverberant spaces, SOHO environments, Unified Communications (UC) or high SPLs in nightclubs, Habitech’s experience and proven professional-grade product range will be at your service, value-added, end-to-end.

PROVEN PRODUCTS FOR EVERY APPLICATION

Our Pro AV range embraces audio and lighting design, video, security, Wi-Fi, power management and conferencing solutions, as well as racks and the means to connect it all up, in fact, everything you’d need to deliver high performance custom AV in any commercial setting. For example, Nexo’s speakers and amps are purpose-built for high SPL applications,

whereas Sonance’s Pro series of 100V/8 ohm selectable in-ceiling, pendant and surface mount speakers - and its all-weather outdoor systems - are perfect for discreet wideband sound, especially when teamed with the proven capabilities of Yamaha Commercial Installation solutions including Dante-enabled processing and amplification. And when it comes to curating the perfect ambience for intimate dining, the subtleties of Lutron’s lighting and blind control will place you way ahead of trad CAV installers.

Then again, distributing light of the 4K kind to Samsung’s spectacular new QLED displays is as easy as AVoIP with Netvio’s brilliantly intuitive JP4 Series architecture alongside Wyrestorm’s established Network HD systems. For the best in Wi-Fi, scalable for high density deployments and budgets, choose from our versatile new ProNet range of Ruckus, Draytek, Cambium and Netgear network solutions behind WatchGuard’s plug-and-play firewalls. Believe me, your clients and their customers will love what our custom network designs can deliver. And when there’s a demand for conferencing solutions, we have that covered as well. For single or multi-person UC speech reinforcement in local or worldwide streaming scenarios within SOHO environments to huddle spaces to boardrooms and beyond, our powerful new product line-up, including Sennheiser, Vaddio, Yamaha and Wyrestorm, has all answers. In other words when you’re pulling those discreet, high performance design levers in Pro AV, we’ll help you to reach top gear with the knowledge of decades from our new team of seasoned pros.

BESPOKE DESIGN PLANNING AND EXECUTION

From the get-go we’ll create a system design for your project with the aid of simulation software. It will detail such things as optimum signal processing and power relationships, speaker type and distribution - supported by audio ‘heatmaps’ for each space - as well as video schematics, security camera positions and Wi-Fi coverage. What’s more, we’ll back the plan to completion with our fabled technical support and training.

BEST PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Although pro install raises a different set of design challenges for residential integrators, including larger projects and spaces, ambient noise and speech intelligibility, you’ll discover how to master them on a full day’s training at Habitech. The ‘Introduction to Commercial Audio’ course handles the workflow disciplines you’ll need, and how to select the most appropriate solutions for music, speech and sound reinforcement. With this course under your belt, the more specialised ‘Commercial AV integrator’ course provides an insight into digital signal processing, amplification, control and microphone technologies for audio and integrating AVoIP technologies for video.

There’s plenty to explore, but as in CI, every commercial application has its own custom solutions. We’ll help you choose the best, and when you win your first commercial project, we’ll ship your products from our warehouse to the training room and show you how to set up and configure the system before it reaches the site. At Habitech we don’t sell boxes. Instead, we offer you a full value added service that starts with the right product strategy and ends with satisfied customers.

ADD HABITECH TO YOUR CAV DESIGN TEAM

For instance, we worked with Lux Integrate, the CI arm of established resi retailer Bang & Olufsen Wilmslow, to transform the hospitality at Macclesfield FC with spectacular high quality video walls and evenly distributed wide bandwidth sound through an eight-zone AV network. This was Lux Integrate’s first largescale commercial venture, but we created the proposal that won them the job and stayed with them to ensure a great result for their client.

Similarly, we joined the team at Potters Home Digital to reimagine the entertainment experience at The Coachworks near Ashford, Kent, which mixes bars, ‘street food’ catering concessions, event and office spaces within several distinct social hubs. This installation involved Sonance all-weather Omnis and Mariners driven by Yamaha Commercial processing and Provisionaire iPad controlled streaming from online and local music libraries. PHD Director Alex Jones, says: “the staff find the system effortless to use and have commented on the heightened level of audio detail available in each zone, even when the system is driven hard. “We’ve always enjoyed a close working relationship with Habitech, whose service through product range, supply and support is, in our experience, second to none.”

Sonance Pendants provide wide bandwidth sound in the main bar and gyms at Macclesfield FC

YOUR PARTNERS IN PRO AV PRODUCTIVITY

The message from this evangelist is that today, on every important level, your skills are as relevant to clubs, bars, restaurants and hotels as they are to home owners. All you need is a little help from your friends at Habitech, because with our Pro AV products, training, experience and support in place, the opportunities for your talents in commercial spaces are boundless.

For further information please visit habitech.co.uk or call the Pro team: 01256 638500