The Client and the Site
When Haworth, the largest privately owned office furniture manufacturer in the world, chose to improve the audiovisual functionality in their London showroom, Crossover were asked to find the best ways to compliment a truly spectacular space, in a refurbishment that transformed this expansive site.
The Brief
- To design a system to enable large-scale projection of presentation material from both a laptop or local PC, as well as reproduce audio from either source, in the brightly-lit auditorium area of this large furniture showroom.
- The projected image must be 2.7m wide, and clearly visible in very high ambient lighting conditions.
- A second display system, this time a large, mobile touch-screen display. It should enable groups to collaborate on presentations and work collectively, digitally annotating & editing documents and manipulating software. It needs to be able to be easily moved to different locations around the premises.
- All the elements of the AV solutions must fit perfectly with the showroom's aesthetics and, where applicable, be mounted unobtrusively.
- To design a system that is very easy to control.
- It was absolutely crucial that the system was fully installed and operational in time for a high-profile event being hosted in the showroom (during which the projector system would play a key role). This deadline was 13 days from the date of receiving confirmation to proceed.
The Solution
After a site survey, product testing, and careful consideration, Crossover's System Design team agreed that the Eiki LC-WGC500 projector had the best combination of build & image quality, features, aesthetic design, and price point for the requirements of this project. Its 5000 ANSI lumens rating was enough to tackle the high ambient light levels, and the cost of a special lens could be avoided since the standard lens would deliver the large image size required at the available mounting distance. While some other manufacturers offered products with similar specifications, Eiki's outstanding reputation for reliability tipped the scale.
Due to the extremely high ceilings in the showroom, and a particularly heavy projector, a custom mounting method had to be specially devised; using a combination of custom-cut steel rigging and a host of Chief mounting hardware, the projector was suspended nearly 3m from the ceiling. This totally eliminated the need for any keystone correction (which reduces the quality of the displayed image). In addition, the following solutions were implemented:
- An AMX back-lit customised keypad was discreetly flush-mounted on a nearby wall and it was carefully programmed to provide incredibly simple control of the projector and audio system, as well as being a cost-efficient solution
- Martin Audio AQ5 loudspeakers and a Denon professional amplifier were chosen as the best solution for high quality & well-dispersed audio coverage of the large space.
- For the mobile interactive display solution, a Panasonic HD 50" display was chosen along with the SMART 400 series interactive display frame, and an aesthetically-pleasing trolley mounting solution.
Functionality Overview
- 5000 ANSI lumens projector with laptop and dedicated PC audio and video inputs.
- Powering on the different elements, switching between the different video/audio sources and adjusting volume levels is as simple and convenient as possible. This was achieved using an in-wall AMX Novara keypad.
- High-quality stereo audio reproduction.
- Discreet and conveniently-located laptop input point in floor box.
- Independent mobile Panasonic 50" plasma display and SMART interactive touchscreen overlay.
Project Highlights
Being part of a spectacular refurbishment of a prestigious showroom that culminated in an event to which the quality of our AV installation made a key contribution - and ultimately seeing that we'd left the client extremely happy as a result.
