10 minute read
CEDIA
IMPROVEMENTS AND ADDITIONS TO THE CEDIA DESIGNER CREATE EVEN MORE VALUE
One of CEDIA’s most valuable benefits — accessible for free if you’re a member — has gotten better, explains Dan McGowan, CEDIA Public Relations Specialist.
The big picture features of the powerful CEDIA Designer (TCD) software — particularly, the time and money savings — are highly valuable, but it’s everything else packed inside that really makes it worth your while. Add a kaizenesque dedication to making the programme better and more relevant to home integration professionals, and The CEDIA Designer could become an indispensable tool for business.
TCD creator, Guy Singleton, says the home cinema and media room design software was developed out of necessity — combining a myriad of spreadsheets, calculators, and other measurement implements to not only save time, but save the need to tie up three or four colleagues to lend their expertise on proper and precise documentation.
In addition to developments like virtual, 3D renders, an ever-growing array of exceptional brands and high-quality CAD drawings, Guy draws on a racing performance analogy to illustrate what’s recently come down the pike for TCD, which CEDIA members can access for no charge. “I always refer to this as a supercharger or a turbocharger that’s going to bolt onto our big block engine,” he said during a recent edition of the CEDIA Podcast. “You know, we already had something that was great, but now we’re just going to give it a few more horsepower, we’re going to make it a little more flexible.”
Whether already available or in the pipeline, Guy offers detail on a slate of features that show how TCD’s muscle is in the details. As is the case with so many features in TCD, they’re built with the future in mind and will play nicely with any new industry standards that come down the line.
AMPLIFICATION REQUIREMENTS ARE DIFFICULT - BUT TCD IS HERE TO HELP Determining just the right amount of amplification needed for the room is a headache that doesn’t necessarily need to be. TCD has a new way of dealing with tweaks to this part of your project.
“You may well say: I’m sitting this far away from the screen. I would like to hit a (sound pressure level) of ‘X,’ but to do that, I need a speaker that is this efficient and an amplifier that has got this much power delivery into the speaker,” says Guy. “So, there’s a little
triangle: I sit further away, I can either lower my expectations — I can either say, look, I don’t need to hit 105 decibels, I’m happy at 98db. So, I can do that, I can sit closer, I can have a more efficient loudspeaker combined with a more powerful amplifier, so there is a little kind of Rubik’s Cube that goes on there. Every part of those is an interactive process.”
TCD now handles these adjustments onthe-fly. Previous versions used to take users through the whole process before indicating whether the proper positioning or equipment selected would jive.
TUNING THE SETUP FOR EVERY SEAT IN THE ROOM We know — as you know — that each seat’s experience could vary. Now, TCD will help you understand these variances, so you can deliver the best to everyone in the room. The programme will tell you the SPL for each seat in the project, giving you more information to control layout and equipment adjustments that will positively impact how your home cinema guests will experience the movie, show, or performance.
KNOW WHERE YOU ARE AS YOU WORK THROUGH EACH PHASE “The Performance Progress Tracker is exactly what it says,” Guy says. “It’s always nice to know if (the project) is in the discovery phase, or if it’s in the first fix, or if it’s in the engineering phase… If we won the project or lost the project, if we had to requote or do a redesign, or if we lost that project to a competitor. The Performance Progress Tracker feature allows us to do what I would consider housekeeping. It allows us to keep our house in order so that we know ’Hey, we thought we lost it, but we got another shot at it, but we’re going to do a revision and we’re going to go back and relook at that.’ And it just really helps, I believe, from a project management and a structured documentation point of view, it helps keep your house in order.”
DEALING WITH THOSE PESKY ROOMS NOT SHAPED LIKE A BOX Guy says a more robust way of handling calibrations that account for non-traditional room shapes is coming soon: “I think something that we’ve always sort of tried to overcome — that kind of L-shape, that kind of dog-leg (shaped) room, that little alcove… the seating area, the bar area… Currently, what we do is we say ‘When you’re designing a room, we tend to square that room off.’” The TCD team, Guy says, is working toward a new approach, allowing users to type in the length of each wall in non-square-shaped or non-rectangularshaped room to help in these circumstances — particularly in a media room setup, which often involves rooms that don’t fall into the traditional box-shaped space category.
TCD is a tremendous tool for previsualisation and provides opportunities for integrators to showcase a home cinema or media room plan with a high degree of technically-sound, timetested specifications, but your knowledge of how the whole project will come together in the real world will still be the key to a winning outcome for your clients. “In sort of calibration terms, you can try to create what that room will be like. You can talk about (and TCD will help you factor in) absorption, diffusion, reflection, coefficients,” Guy notes, “but ultimately, rooms at that level aren’t built on spreadsheets. They’re not built on CAD drawings. They’re built by engineers and people on the ground with skills that can overcome problems and create solutions.” TCD will take care of the geeky minutia so you can more efficiently get to the portion of the work where your expertise shines.
CEDIA members receive complimentary access to TCD’s Media Room level (a $650 per year value) and savings on higher tiers of the programme.
CEDIA thecediadesigner.org cedia.net
The CEDIA Designer continues to develop. Image supplied by Perfect Integration
EL PADRINO: CLARKE INFINITY CREATES THE GODFATHER OF HOME CINEMAS
Clarke Infinity has been in the installation market for over 25 years and was already a major player when EI interviewed company MD Simon Clarke for our Day In The Life Series way back when the magazine was first established.
This particular project underlines the company’s longevity as it was carried out for clients (Martin and Lisa) who the firm has worked with before on several projects and properties over the years. The couple called Clarke in when their new home was in the very early stages of planning.
The couple wanted El Padrino (Spanish for Godfather) to be a fully integrated smart home where every detail was considered and central to the family’s plans was a home cinema; a room where they could relax and celebrate their passion for music, movies and entertaining.
Clarke Infinity was entrusted with making the clients’ dreams a reality – designing and creating a truly luxurious cinema room.
Clarke Infinity explains that the couple’s vision was a large home theatre that delivered a fully immersive big screen experience for the entire audience. The room needed to be both luxurious and comfortable with air conditioning throughout, but without the cinema being negativity impacted by the air-con noise and unsightly equipment.
Clarke Infinity used its extensive technological skills and industry knowledge to deliver exactly what the client had envisioned and then some. The team used acoustic modelling during the design stages which allowed a full treatment plan to be devised and implemented. Every element of the design was considered, from heavy access doors with noise control seals, to the creation of a sound lock corridor preventing the sound from travelling beyond the room.
The client wanted the room to be extremely comfortable and ambient which meant both the cinema and AV room required air conditioning. Clarke Infinity’s cinema design included a Barrisol stretched fabric ceiling and finishing to the interior walls; the Barrisol Clim ceiling is the first of its kind in the UK and demonstrates a number of technological advantages over alternative approaches.
The perforated stretched fabric evenly distributes the air, ensuring the ceiling becomes a diffuser for any sound coming from the air conditioning – as well as keeping any unsightly equipment out of view. The Barrisol Clim ceiling ensures that the HVAC equipment remains unseen and people using the room cannot feel it (as the velocity in the occupied area is around 0.2m/s and human beings cannot feel the air movement when the velocity is less than 0.3m/s).
In a little more detail, the air con system, in summer or winter, delivers conditioned air flowing gently over the outer walls. This eliminates any unpleasantly hot or cold walls and a natural flow of air develops throughout the space inside the room. Heat radiates through the entire surface of the ceiling, providing pleasant, gentle heat or cool air.
The design is also silent due to the unique approach – yet it delivers a luxurious finish and allows the air conditioning to keep the room at the perfect temperature.
The Clarke Infinity team worked closely with the air conditioning company and specified every detail, from the placement of equipment and pipework, inclusion of broadband absorbers and creation of void to deaden sound. The result of the various acoustic solutions Clarke deployed is less than 15db of audible external, background noise, which is inaudible from any of the seating positions.
As well as the cutting edge air treatment system, the team also looked to the high-performance end of the market when considering the audio visual equipment installed.
Control4 offers ease of use and control for the cinema which includes a Kaleidescape content delivery system partnering a Sim2 projector. Lutron lighting is also present as are a compliment of Wisdom speakers and amplification. Striking seating from Fortress completes the look and offers total comfort when enjoying the room.
Simon from Clarke Infinity says, “It is always lovely to assist a client over the years and to be a part of their property journey. The Barrisol Clim ceiling and acoustic solutions takes the cinema to the next level in luxury, with HVAC you can’t see, feel or hear! The cinema is sensational.”
Importantly, the client agrees, “The end result has blown me away – just wonderful. We have been thoroughly impressed by the work of Clarke Infinity; they really care about every single detail. I am enjoying all our old movies
again, along with the new ones. The cinema is easily our favourite room of the new house.”
Clarke Infinity also recently announced that the cinema has been shortlisted as a finalist within the EMEA Home Cinema category of the 2020 CEDIA Awards.
Essential Kit List • Barrisol Cinematech Acoustic treatment • Control4 C4-EA5-V2 EA-5 Entertainment and Automation Controller • Sim 2 Nero 4S DLP 4K UHD Projector • Kaleidescape 4K Ultra HD movie player • Lutron lighting • Fortress Kensington seating • Wisdom Audio Sage Cinema Line Source
Planar Magnetic Cinema speakers • Wisdom Audio STS RTL subwoofer • Wisdom Audio SA-3 amplifier
Now every integrator can deliver the world’s most sensational home cinemas.
