PUTTING THE INSTALLER’S NEEDS FIRST

A well-designed rack helps ensure that all the necessary equipment can be fitted and cabled quickly and neatly within a space. Getting this part of the project right, the beating heart of a home automation system, is also significant in making service, maintenance and upgrade visits as smooth and efficient as possible.

In recent years, we’ve seen installers shift towards a greater demand for flexibility in their requirements from an AV rack. There are two key reasons for this move – the first is accessibility.

Static racks can limit ease of access and make servicing and adding new AV equipment challenging, as well as unnecessarily timeconsuming. In contrast, moveable racks, featuring slide-out or rotating designs, make access much easier, whilst also providing a much more space-conscious solution.

At Snap One, we recently launched a new line of Strong in-cabinet slide-out racks, carefully designed so that integrators no longer have to sacrifice rack space for a slider base.

The second driver is the environment available for rack installation. As the market for professional smart home installation continues to thrive, it’s not always possible for integrators to find the right rack location, particularly on smaller renovation projects, or where there is competition from an architect or interior designer for use of the available space. Not every home has a dedicated rack room, or a perfectly flat floor, or an easily accessible area that can be the right home for centralised AV equipment.

Again, product innovation is helping to meet these challenges. Rack features, such as pedal-activated slide and rotation release, as well as multiple locking positions can ensure a stable rack platform for AV equipment. Alternatively, slide and rotation mechanisms can again improve versatility and be unlocked using convenient foot pedals to enable single-person operation in confined spaces.

Mounts are now delivering the industry’s lowest profiles to match today’s thinner TVs, whilst providing the key features needed to offer flexible placement and adjustment of screens for an optimised viewing experience. For installers, mounting options need to consider a variety of positions, including fixed, tilt, articulating, motion, ceiling and even outdoor.

We recently developed the Strong Carbon series, a range designed with installercentric features like post-install levelling, easy adjusting, magnetic pull cords on the locking mechanisms for easy cord management, and UL listing to meet these requirements with added reassurance.

Installers faced with organising hardware locally, such as, digital matrix switches, amps, players, processors, receivers and other devices recognise that aesthetics, as well as versatility, matter. To meet these demands, we have a purpose-built line of recessed Strong VersaBoxes which can be easily paired with

Strong mounting solutions to hide media extenders, power conditioners, or an AppleTV, creating a pristine in-room set up. Additionally, with a specially designed removable panel on the VersaBox Pro, power management tools, such as a compact WattBox, can be easily ‘dropped in’ for a fully integrated solution.

The Strong range of dealer-inspired racks, TV mounts, unique backbox solutions and accessories is available from Snap One to make every installation and maintenance project as smooth and straightforward as possible.