Another Church Heading For The Cliff…

We were recently called by a church that had contracted us to install a new digital audio console, room processor and speaker array.  Unfortunately, it worked too well because it was a couple of years of trouble free operation that led the ministry staff to forget about us. We could have pestered them a bit, but that’s not our way.

Recently, the church approved the renovation of additional space they secured in the same building complex.  Renovations were well under way when someone on the board of elders asked the new worship pastor about what was needed to outfit the new space.  We got the call not a moment too soon.

The stage and projection screen location was planned for one corner of the room—right next to a very large south facing window!  They immediately realized that they would need blackout window coverings or the projector would be useless at least 12 hours of every day.  We were able to guide them during construction to remember important items like electrical power where equipment would be located.  Not an insignificant miss!

As is quite common, the architect planned for a few pot lights to cover the stage, not considering that the poor light control of pot and track lighting will wash out the screen when the sun goes down, and not recognizing that stage lighting is an important part of a worship and teaching service.

Acoustics will be another concern, with the stage in on corner and the sound booth in the opposing corner, in a nearly cubic room with all drywall surfaces.  Architects design beautiful buildings, but they cannot succeed without an A/V specialist to guide the design for live sound acoustics, video and projection, and lighting integration.  We would probably all agree that most of the churches we have experienced suffer from poor intelligibility, feedback, echo, harsh sound, hard to see video screens, and washed out stage environments.

But we can fix it even if we don’t get in during the design stage. Call us for help.

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And Then There Was Light (sometimes)…

A recent new construction project we came across had a lighting system installed by unqualified individuals, in a way that was sure to cause problems.  In fact, the problems occurred from the moment power was turned on, well before the project was completed.  These individuals had committed the first sin of lighting control—they installed all of the dimmers in the basement and attic, and just installed a single multi-button keypad in each room.

The goal was clearly to prevent “wall acne” where rooms have several unsightly light switches or dimmers in long rows or sprouting randomly on the wall surfaces.  Sure, the single keypad is a clean look, but won’t work in this design.  Immediately, the various rooms were unresponsive. Signal repeaters were installed to attempt to correct the problem, but the individuals did not know that that would not solve the problem either.

Now there is a bigger problem—there was no wiring installed to allow dimmers to be installed in the rooms, so a centralized lighting system is required in the basement and attic. Really, that was the proper way to proceed from the start. The homeowner will be paying twice.

A systems integrator would have been the better choice to design an automated lighting system that was reliable and economical.
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Home, Sour Home…

We were called in to finish the network wiring in a construction project involving a beautiful house perched majestically overlooking a Toronto ravine.  The last contractor and electricians had been fired, and drywall was complete.  We could only hope that the raw data cabling was sufficient.  In a new home, the slower Category 5e data cable was the wrong choice, and did not even meet the slower speed qualifications.  This new construction project should have been minimum Category 6 to handle future needs.

But someone must have been thinking futuristically, since they thought that there was no need for coax cable to be installed.  The day the owners moved in, they found they could not get Bell DSL internet service, so they had to resort to cable internet, but without any coax cable in the house, there was no way to get cable to the  TV in the media room.  It required a signal conversion system that cost as much as installing coax cable throughout the house to solve the problem without cutting the newly finished drywall.

Low voltage data and A/V cabling is a specialty well beyond the capability of electricians, just as we do not mess with high voltage electrical. But it is essential to involve or consult an A/V integrator before construction begins, if only to be sure you are not going to run into staggering limitations.