Articles and whitepapers

Planning an Installation (1/10/2004)

By Martin Noar, Libra Solutions

With decreasing costs for plasma displays and projectors, the opportunities have broadened for more people wanting to enhance their viewing and listening experience at home. By installing a large screen display together with a surround sound decoder, amplifier and speakers, they can enjoy a cinema experience without giving up the comfort of their own lounge.

Flat screen viewing in the kitchen

The icing on the cake is lighting. Using a programmable dimming system, a combination of down-lighters, up-lighters and wall lights can be arranged to light your room. Several 'scenes' can be created to transform the mood of a room to suit the occasion - whether you are enjoying your favourite movie, dining at the table, or reading a book whilst relaxing in your favourite armchair.

It will then dawn on you that it would be great to be able to listen to music whilst you are in the kitchen or relaxing in the bath - and what about those summer days in the garden? One could of course, purchase a small CD/radio system for each area, but these would sit there, looking untidy on a shelf or work top, taking up valuable space. And then imagine all of those empty CD cases, and not knowing who last listened to the Robbie CD or which room it might be in!

An elegant solution would be to install a multiroom system which allows your music, whether it be from a CD player, DAB radio or MP3 from your computer, to be shared by piping it around the house. In each room, the sound would typically be played through small flush-mounted speakers installed into the ceiling, and by using a small control panel on the wall, you could select the desired music and then adjust the volume to suit.

By adding a media server system, your whole CD and DVD collection could be stored onto a hard disk allowing each zone to operate simultaneously and independently. In other words, if you are listening to a CD in the lounge, and upstairs and your daughter decides to listen to the same album from the start, she can do this without affecting your listening - just as if she had her own copy.

When to plan

Whilst the equipment itself is readily available, careful planning is required to ensure the correct cables are installed between the rooms and the controller. If you are renovating your home, this would of course be the best time to install cabling to each room. Given the rate at which technology is advancing, and considering the upheaval and implications of installing additional cable throughout your home, it would be prudent to think about possible future requirements whilst planning your immediate requirement. I would recommend that an area, such as the garage, under stairs cupboard, or space in a utility room or loft, be designated as your technology centre.

Centralised lighting dimmers in cupboard

What to consider

Consideration should be given to:

* Home cinema - decide if you want to have the equipment in the room or tucked away, decide on locations for the five speakers and the sub-woofer - your installer will advise.
* Remote control system - these systems can be used to consolidate all of your remote controls into one unit. This unit could also control lighting, curtains, heating - the list is endless. The larger the screen and the more facilities you require, the more expensive these systems become.
* Multiroom audio - consider which rooms you would like to have access to the central music - would you prefer discrete ceiling mounted speakers or more conventional hi-fi speakers?
* Lighting system - in which rooms would you consider using mood lighting - top contenders would be lounge, dining room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.
* Computer network - would you like computers in different rooms around the house to be able to share broadband Internet, printers and music files?
* Telephone system - in a large house a small telephone system is a real "must have" - the ability to route calls, have an intercom and paging between room and connection to a door entry system is a real boon.
* Door entry system - consider if you would like to a voice-only or video and voice connection to the front door. It can be very reassuring to see who you are talking to before you open the front door.

Once you have established an outline of your requirements, you should draw a plan of each floor and mark the positions in each room for each of the desired services:

* Telephone point.
* Computer point.
* TV point.
* Speaker position.
* Wall controller for the multiroom system.
* Lighting controller.
* Power points.
* In the case of your home cinema, location of any furniture, seating and screen.

Whom to contact

Before choosing a custom installer, it is important to establish some criteria:

* Are they members of a recognised trade association such as CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association)?
* Can they provide references, or even better, can they show you one of their installations?
* Who would be the point of contact if the installation should go ahead.
* What after-sales support and service will be provided?

Before calling an installer, give some thought as to what you would like have. This can be in very broad terms for example, a plasma in the lounge, lighting in the lounge, music in the kitchen and dining room, four computers connected to the Internet and a video door-entry system. If you have a budget in mind, do indicate this to the installer as this will give them a head start in pitching their proposal for your requirement. I always liken this to walking into a car supermarket and stating that you would like to buy a car, you don't know how much they cost but you would like a recommendation. Does the salesperson talk to you about the new Corsa for £6,995, the Saab 93 for £25,000 or the Porsche 911 turbo for £87,000? It is exactly the same when choosing audio and video equipment, so please bear that in mind.

The proposal

To offer an appropriate installation proposal and quotation, it is important for your friendly custom installer to survey the property in order to understand its construction and layout. If this is not practical, such as with a new build, they should have view of the architectural plans so that an approach for the design of the cabling backbone may be developed. An understanding for how the property will function should allow the installer to offer advice to ensure that you achieve the maximum from your installation - this does not necessarily mean spending more money.

Armed with this information, the installer should meet with you to offer advice and suggestions in each area such that you reach a working specification. The installer should then retreat back to their office and prepare a comprehensive document, detailing the installation overview, equipment required in each area and a full analysis of costs. This should be presented to you in a clear and straightforward manner such that every pound can be accounted for.

The installer should advise you of their strategy for managing the installation and especially working with other professionals such as the builder, architect and electrical contractor.

Managing the project

Should you decide to proceed, it is important to meet the person who will manage the installation - this should be a single point of contact for you, the client. Remember, you could be spending a lot of money with this company and so you should feel at ease with, and have absolute confidence in, the person nominated to look after you.

Once you give the go-ahead, your installer should make contact with your builder, architects and electricians to brief them on their involvement with the project. They should also arrange for the required phone lines and broadband facilities with your chosen provider, and also arrange for any satellite or cable subscriptions and installation that may be required.

The installer should detail the cabling plan, equipment locations and any requirements for in-wall speakers. Logistically and financially, it can make sense for the electrical contractors to install the structured cabling whilst they are installing any electrical wiring - making sure that the electrical and structured wiring is kept well-separated of course! Prior to the cable installation, the custom installers should show the various cables to the electrical contractors and should explain issues such as minimum bend radius, maximum pulling force and separation from power cables. Also, they should explain the importance of clearly marking each cable with its unique identification number. Time spent at this stage can help prevent cable nightmares later on!

Two or three site visits should be made during the cable installation to ensure that the agreed scheme is being adhered to. Once the electricians have completed their work and the plasterers have left, the installers will begin terminating the cables in each room.

Final tasks

The main rack can be fixed to the agreed location and the cables rationalized, tested and dressed into the rack, ready for termination.

Main rack housing audio, video, telephone systems and network switch

If equipment is to be housed in joinery, it is important for the installer to communicate with the designer or suppliers to ensure that there is enough depth for the equipment and the cables. Most importantly, consider a ventilation scheme. Amplifiers, and especially satellite decoders, can generate a significant amount of heat, and poor ventilation can cause reliability problems as well as possible damage to the joinery.

The final tasks for the custom installer are fitting the displays, players and amplifiers, supplying the remote control and commissioning the systems so that everything works perfectly when demonstrating operation to you for the first time. The systems should not be complicated to use and should not require any technical ability or know-how.

The nature of these systems is that you 'grow' into them after 2 - 3 weeks of use and inevitably, you will want certain things to be changed. A good installer will always be there to support you and will have allowed for a courtesy visit to check that everything is well, and to make any small adjustments or changes which you may require - do forewarn them of any desired changes so that they arrive armed and prepared.

A professional job

The nature of custom installation is that each project is different, and therefore costs and installation times vary greatly. Realistically, one should have some budget in mind, whether it be £10,000 for a simple home cinema set-up, or upwards of £30,000 for more comprehensive facilities around the home.

As outlined in this article, there are many areas that require careful consideration prior to embarking on a technical installation. By using a CEDIA-certified designer, you will be drawing upon the expertise and experience needed to give you, the client, the most appropriate solution for your specific requirements and budget.

Martin Noar is a CEDIA-certified professional designer, and owner of Libra Solutions Limited.

www.librasolutions.co.uk