For all of the amazing technology that is available today for sophisticated AV systems, it is the foundational, core-system items that everything else depends upon. That wisdom is not lost on Audio Visual Associates, a Denville, New Jersey full-service AV systems design and integration provider, founded in 1968 and specializing in the design, sale, service, installation, and rental of equipment typically found in the corporate, hospitality, education and other AV environments. That’s why virtually every project the company takes on utilizes in its design one of the Contractor Series of SmartSequencer™ products from Furman, the leading provider of power management systems.
“About sixty percent of our work comes from the corporate sector, and another ten percent from education, with the rest in other types of environments,” estimates Seung Yoon (DMC-E), System Engineer at Audio Visual Associates. “But virtually all of them will use one of the CN Series of sequenced power management units, the CN-1800 or the CN-2400. These are at the heart of our designs, because they protect our clients’ investments in their AV systems. It’s critical to protecting them that every component in every system be turned on and off in a very specific sequence. The CN Series products make certain that our programmed sequences are followed exactly, every time. This is becoming especially important as AV and IT systems converge — more of the systems we design and install include elements like network switches along with components such as DSP processors and amplifiers. To function correctly they need to be powered up and down in a controlled manner. Furman makes sure that happens.”
Two recent projects underscore how Furman SmartSequencers are critical to protecting the rest of the components in both AV and control systems. The Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy, in Livingston, NJ is a private school that serves 736 students in grades PK/K-12. The school puts an extraordinary emphasis on a low teacher to student ratio, with eight students for every full-time equivalent teacher, compared with the New Jersey average of 13 students per full-time equivalent teacher. Teachers at Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy need to focus on education, not on running projectors and sound systems, and the Furman CN-2400 units that Audio Visual Associates included in the AV systems they installed in the school’s auditorium not only provide excellent system performance, with features such as Furman’s Linear Filtering Technology (LiFT) that ensures maximum performance from connected equipment by reducing AC noise evenly across the audio & video bandwidth, but also protect the entire system with functionality like Furman’s Extreme Voltage Shutdown. EVS safeguards AV systems from catastrophic under-voltage (under 80V sustained) or over-voltage (over 145V sustained) conditions. And Furman keeps it simple: Security covers and sequence on/off keyswitch prevent unauthorized personnel from running/shutting down system or tampering with DIP switches. “We installed the CN-2400 as a critical part of the entire AV and control system so that everything in the school auditorium’s racks and control room start up and power off in the correct sequence,” Yoon explains. “It protects their investment and lets their teachers concentrate on their educational tasks.”
Another Audio Visual Associates project slated to take place in the near future will see several CN-1800 and CN-2400 units installed in practice and ensemble rooms at New York City’s legendary Carnegie Hall. These will power-up AV systems in each of the rooms in the proper sequence, allowing teachers and students to concentrate on their studies while vigilantly protecting those systems. “As with any of the systems we design and integrate, the user simply presses a button on a touch panel,” says Yoon. “The Furman controller turns on and off components like amplifiers, DVD players and DSP processors in exactly the right sequence with exactly the right interval between them. The great thing is that the user never knows it’s even in there. But it is, protecting their investment and making their lives easier. The CN Series is the one element of the system that makes sure all the rest of them are safe.”