Electrical Installation Services Home-Cinema-Systems-Installations-

AV Installation Guidelines

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Key Considerations for AV Installation Projects

AV equipment is now used in every conceivable setting, from the home, to our place of work, to our schools and our shopping centres. This technology is also becoming increasingly sophisticated and connected, enabling us to do things that would have been impossible a few years ago.

AV Installations Have Become UbiquitousHome Audio Visual Installation London | Home Cinema Systems Installations

 

Technology now touches virtually every aspect of our daily lives, and AV equipment is a core part of that.

  • Office – In our places of work, TV screens are now common place, include as digital signage or showing news streams around the office. Technology allows us to collaborate in previously unimaginable ways, with screens and conferencing facilities in meeting rooms making it easier to share ideas.
  • School – Tech also plays a larger role in education nowadays, with interactive whiteboards becoming the norm. Projector systems are widely used to present to large groups.
  • Retail outlets – Our shopping centres, and other public spaces are similarly awash with technology. Advertising is show on screens all around us, and public announcement systems make it easy convey information to the masses.
  • Home – At home technology is becoming increasingly connected and increasingly smart. This includes everything from multi room TV and audio experience, to home cinema and security systems. This is being integrated with the latest developments in voice and gesture control.

AV Installation – The Right Way

If you’re making a significant investment in AV equipment, whether professionally or personally, it is beneficial to consult with professionals in this space. They will be able to advise on a number of key issues that will help to make sure your project is a success, including:

  • Power and cabling – As part of the AV installation it is essential that you consider the best way to connect equipment to the existing power circuits and network infrastructure. Concealed cabling is an excellent way to create a sleek modern look.
  • Secure fitting – It goes without saying that surfaces need to be assessed and properly prepared to ensure that they can take the weight of the equipment. This is doubly important in public, or work environments where health and safety is a key consideration.
  • Integration with other systems – To maximise your investment, it is wise to understand how well your AV equipment can integrate with other systems.
  • Future proofing – Technology is constantly changing, so it is important to make sure that where possible, you’re building your AV system in such a way that it is possible to upgrade components over time.

If you are interested in starting a new AV project and would like more information to help make sure it goes as smoothly as possible, don’t hesitate to get in touch to speak to one of our technical experts.

Call our Sales office on 01923 888588 or sales@nmcabling.co.uk for your free AV survey and quotation
Audio Visual Installation -Sonos

Sonos tips, tricks and features

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11 Sonos Top Tips

Sonos tips, tricks and features to help you set up your Sonos system. How to set up your Sonos music system.

The attraction of a Sonos system within your commercial or residential building is its ease of use and various options on instillation to suit a new or existing installation environment.

These Sonos tips will tweak your system to work even better and more efficiently

1.    Music Servers – Adding your music services

Tidal, Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, Google Play and many others are possible to link to your Sonos system and stream directly through your Sonos standalone speakers and amps.

 

Select “Settings”

“My Music Services”

“Add Another Account”

“Choose Music Service and sign in with log in details”

2.    Playlists – Creating a new playlist

Creating a playlist within Sonos allows you to save various songs and tracks to a single playlist for later playback

Select “Song or Album”

Click “3 dots to right of Song / album”

“Add to Sonos Playlist”

Click “3 dots in top right hand corner of screen”

“New Playlist”

3.    Playlist from Various Sources

Create a collated playlist from various music services. Choose music within your favoured music service and add song to a chosen Sonos playlist that can then be played seamlessly directly from the playlist

4.    Direct Playback from music services

Several music services allow for direct playback to your Sonos system from your music server app. Music services such as Google Play Music and Spotify connect with more being adding constantly

5.    Play music directly from your own device

 

As well as playing music from streaming services you can play directly from your own devices.

Select “Room”

Select “Browse”

“On This Mobile Device”

Choose album / artists / songs etc

6.    Sleep function / Fall asleep to music

Sonos has the capability to set a sleep timer that automatically turns off your Sonos system after a set time as a sleep function or automatic shut off

Select “Room”

Click “3 dots to right of track listing”

Click “Sleep Timer”

7.    Wake Up Alarm

Opposite to the sleep function your Sonos system will also wake you up at a set time and to a set music.

Select “ More”

“Alarms”

Select “Time / Room / Frequency / Volume”

Select “Music”

Select “Radio / Playlists / Music Service / Chime”

8.    Sonos White Light On / Off

The Sonos light on a connect or play unit can be very distracting is within a sleep area such a bedroom. The light is manageable to turn on or off

Select “ Settings”

“Room Settings”

Select “Room”

Check / Unchecked “Speaker Status Light”

9.    Fine Tune Sound

Each Sonos unit has the ability to fine tune the Loudness, Treble and Bass

Select “ Settings”

“Room Settings”

Select “Room”

Select “EQ”

“Adjust Treble / Bass / Loudness”

10.    Crossfade

This function allows for a smooth transitions between your playlist / song queue

Select “now playing song”

Click “3 dots to right of song listing”

Toggle “Crossfade on / off”

11.    Shuffle / Repeat

These functions allow you to shuffle or repeat the songs in your current music queue

Select “now playing song”

Click “Lines” to right of volume selector

Select  in top right of screen

Click to Shuffle all songs in queue

Click to repeat song list – can click again to only repeat once

 

Call our Sales office on 01923 888588 or Sales@nmcabling.co.uk for your free survey and quotation

Electrical Installation Services -RELOCATION-OF-COMMUNICATION-ROOMS

Designing Communication Rooms

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Communication Room Design

When designing a communications room the space required needs to take into consideration, the current requirements and expected overall requirements should the tenant space have the ability to add additional data outlets in the future.
ANSI/TIA-569-D provides the outline for these spaces and the allowances that best practise should allow for.

Communication Room Size

The communications room should be built to provide enough space and cabinets for the largest amount of expected data outlets that the communications room will service. For example if the tenant space could potentially have 500 employees and 1200 data outlets the space should be built for that allocations even if 400 staff and only 1000 outlets are first installed.

As an outline of size against number of data outlets in the building the following guidelines apply:

Number of Data Outlets Recommended overall Floor Area Representative Dimensions
 <100 9sqm    /    100sqft 3m x 3m
100-200 13.5sqm    /    150sqft 3m x 4.5m
200-800 36sqm    /    400sqft 6m x 6m
800-1600 72sqm    /    800sqft 6m x 12m
1600-2400 108sqm    /    1200sqft 9m x 12m

Note: future requirements to be estimated for room size allowance

General Requirements for Communication Room Design

The following general considerations for communication room design allow the room functional use, the ability to take and remove equipment and the flexibility of mounting equipment

  • Only equipment relevant to the communications room should be present in the room. No services for the rest of the tenant space should pass through the communications room
  • Ceiling height should be a minimum of 2400mm with no obstructions. 3000m minimum is recommended to allow for overhead containment
  • Overhead Containment should have a minimum of 200mm clearance from the finished ceiling
  • Floor consideration (solid, tile) should be designed for the expected current and future floor loadings
  • Access door should be a minimum of 900m wide and 2000m high. The door should hinge outwards. A double door 1800 wide and
  • 2300mm high is recommended if large equipment is anticipated
  • No external windows are recommended
  • Allowance of 19mm fire retardant painted plywood to cover at least one communication room wall.
  • Fire protection as per main building plan and code to apply

Mechanical and Electrical Requirements

  • Lighting should be a minimum of 500 lux in horizontal plane and 200 lux in vertical plane. (measured 1m above finished floor level)
  • Minimum of 2 dedicated un-switched power sockets on a dedicated circuit separate to the rest of the building sockets
  • A dedicated cleaners socket should be installed to avoid the use of the cabinet power sockets
  • Temperature range must be 18-27 Celsius (64-81F)
  • Minimum dew point must be 5.5 Celsius (42F)
  • Maximum dew point must be 15 Celsius (59F)
  • Maximum relative humidity must be 60%
  • The temperature and humidity are as the ASHRAE Class B standards

Data Cabinet Requirements

  • A maximum cabinet height of 2100mm is recommended for installing and accessing top racked equipment
  • Cabinets should be planned for future and present equipment to be installed. Depth is the main consideration and a minimum of
  • 150mm space should be allowed for over the deepest equipment to be installed
  • Cabinets should have front and rear rails and be recessed a minimum of 100mm to allow for cable management and patching
  • PDU (power distribution units) should be installed in all cabinets containing active equipment. They should not be switched to avoid accidental switch off
  • Cabinet clearances should be as follows
  • 1000mm clearance at the front of the rack (1200mm preferred)
  • 600mm clearance at the rear of the rack (1000mm preferred)
  • Cabinet feet can either be solid feet or wheels. Wheels must be lockable if installed

Other General Considerations

The communication room should be a dedicated room for technology equipment and services for the network throughout the tenant space. The following considerations should be considered as general advice

  • Communications room should be a restricted access area by code / key or access control
  • Sign in and sign out is recommended for troubleshooting should a failure occur
  • The room should not be used for general storage
  • The room should not be used as a general office area.
  • When working in the room the door should be left open due to the presence of recirculated cooled air