With the strongest record of support for commercial and resi projects, the CUK Group has a uniquely powerful offer for your business at EI Live!. MD Stuart Thomson explains.
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Find out more about EI Live! 2024 here.
Having designed, specified and supplied AV systems for six Olympic venues, Premiership and Championship football stadiums, airports, world famous nightclubs and hundreds of bars and restaurants, as well as large scale residential projects and systems for high end super yachts, we know what it takes to turn extremely complex challenges on paper into successful outcomes on site. But don’t think we’re interested only in the big stuff. CUK Group is ready to apply our winning blend of product choice and wraparound technical support to your projects large or small.
Visit us at EI Live! 2024and we’ll show you how we can mobilise our core competences in Dante, AVoIP, HDBT, control, power, electroacoustics and amplification to generate industry leading services including system specification and design, acoustic modelling, programming, commissioning and full training, boosting your skillsets, helping you to win new work and making project success easier to achieve. We’re here to add value to your business, beginning with a conversation around our expanded residential product offering at the show.
JBL SYNTHESIS
Building on the original high-end home cinema systems created in the early 1990s, the latest JBL Synthesis systems are more versatile design solutions from a manufacturer with roots deeper in pro-cinema than any rival. Given this provenance, the products are 100% engineering-led, using transducer technology straight from the commercial playbook: high quality compression and cone drivers, crossovers and innovative horn designs. These are discreet, performance-led tools from engineers not marketeers, including speakers, processing and amplification, created to work together as a synthesised system, and with abundant data for RP22 design practice. With complete systems spanning £35k to over £275k, JBL Synthesis is a scalable turnkey design solution which fulfils its long-held potential, adding real value to the experiences of end users and integrators alike.
JBL MA SERIES AVRs
Developed at Northridge, California, the feature-rich MA Series spans a range of competitive price points from £499 to £1,899 inc. All five AVRs are equipped with Class D amplification, Dolby Atmos and DTS decoding (including DTS:X), high resolution 192kHz 24-bit DACs, a plethora of inputs, ARC and Bluetooth, complemented by rising power capabilities and channel counts from 5.2 to 9.2. Above the entry model (MA310), the lineup offers 8K video processing and connectivity (HDMI 2.1), HDR10+ and Wi-Fi for network streaming. In addition, the line topping MA7100 and MA9100 models are DIRAC Live ready and are compatible with all major automation systems.
What’s more, JBL has deployed its marketing nous to deliver new levels of user convenience through vastly simplified and intuitive controls. Calibrate in minutes using the free-of-charge EZ Set EQ mobile app for iOS and Android. And when modern décor is invariably neutral in colour, the slimline MA Series is available in coordinating white (latte) and black (expresso) finishes.
SIM2
Integrators can now harness the genius of SIM2’s engineering at more affordable £10 – £15k price points, in the process making them more compact and aesthetically pleasing than offerings from rival brands. In every SIM2, from luxury to entry levels, the same winning formula of excellent optics, laser hybrid light sources, large format 0.66in 4K UHD DMDs and proprietary HDR management software is at work. This means that SIM2’s acknowledged leadership in perfecting High Dynamic Range (HDR) can be utilised in almost every custom application, not just the large, luxury integrations for which it is justly famous. Realistically, SIM2 offers you the opportunity to enhance the great majority of your projects with a single high-quality brand.
We’ll show you the advanced Domino 4H projector, designed and priced to address a much larger community of film devotees, alongside the versatile, Ultra Short Throw Domino DTVs model and SIM2’s finest middle/high-end production product, the ‘SuperHybrid’ Crystal 4SH, combining high brightness (up to 3,600 lumens) and high contrast for a characteristically immersive HDR performance.
ARCHITETTURA SONORA
Outdoor audio is supplied with a bewildering choice of products, all of them challenged by free-air acoustics that can ruin best laid plans and reputations. Supported by matching subs, Architettura Sonora’s distinctive on-ground, Sphere, Cylinder, Cube and Cubino models and ceiling/floor Spherina models reflect full-range time-coherent sound outwards with integrity for up to 10 metres in all directions, delivering high volume levels without distortion reliably over many years. Unlike the standard sat/sub fair, nothing from Architettura Sonora is mass produced, everything custom finished. The brand brings something truly unique to your projects while meeting the demands for exclusivity and individuality from designers and customers.
LODE
LODE’s specialised multizone music streaming architecture is positioned in the market between mainstream multiroom solutions and ‘audiophile’ single room streamers. Designed and built entirely in the UK and with local support, LODE integrates with all the leading home control systems to deliver high resolution audio up to 32bit/48kHz, transforming the experience of music streaming in premium smart home projects.
POWERSOFT
As the scale of systems deployment in homes, cinemas, and gardens continues to grow, so does the demand for more agile high-power delivery. When a typical 1000W sub amp takes up 2U of space, the same space can house up to 24,000 watts of cool-running Powersoft amplification. Even though this is an extreme example, an 8-channel Powersoft amplifier like the UNICA 8K8, provides 1,000W per channel from just 1U of rack space. That’s 8,000W in 1U compared with 8,000W in 16U! No contest when power density is a significant element in large-scale residential and marine projects. Powersoft’s amplifiers also employ advanced power sharing, so rather than having to divide the budget evenly between channels, you can assign power asymmetrically according to need.
FOCAL
The high-performance audio engineering that has won huge respect from the world’s audiophiles is available in an all-encompassing range of architectural speakers, from the super high-end 1000 Series ‘Utopia’ IW/IC models for luxury stereo and home cinema applications, to the 100 series for discreet high-quality sound around the home, to the Littora range of outdoor systems.
NAIM
Exclusively, CUK is able to unite Focal’s high quality architectural speaker line-up with a matching range of flexible, CI-facing amplification and source products from sister company Naim Audio. Designed to dovetail with Focal speakers, the newly arrived Naim CI Series comprises a streamer/amplifier called the CI-Uniti 102 and matching mono and eight-channel amp platforms, the CI-NAP 101 and CI-NAP 108. Enabling easy set-up, Focal/Naim CI systems share ‘Focal & Naim Manager’ software and a ‘Speakers Profiles’ feature, created to help you customise single or multi-room installations. It’s controlled through the ‘Focal & Naim’ app and also compatible with home automation drivers for Crestron, Control4, RTI, Savant, and Elan.
VSSL AND TRUAUDIO
Fully integrated music streaming architecture is offered by VSSL’s audio streaming amplifiers and ‘SX’ wireless speakers, soundbar and subwoofer. Using proprietary native streaming technology, the system allows users to stream from Apps such as Airplay2, Spotify Connect, Chromecast built-in or Alexa Cast. Voice control is also possible through Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant.
From the same stable, TruAudio’s vast range of architectural speakers includes invisible, home theatre, in-ceiling, in-room, in-wall, surround, subwoofers, outdoor and multizone amps.
MAIOR
Maior’s range of silent motorised TV lift systems includes fully concealed ceiling mounted systems, flush mounted ceiling models, fixed telescopic ceiling-mounted systems, floor and furniture TV lifts. Each solution, which is compact and intuitive to deploy, offers architects, system integrators and customers the power to reimagine spaces within residential developments with the greatest freedom. We’ll be demonstrating the Levante floor mount TV lift at the show.
GARVAN ACOUSTICS
GARVAN’s avantgarde range of speaker designs promises to add artful sophistication to any audio installation and is typified by the extraordinary ‘Goccia’ hanging speakers.
NICE/ELAN
Powerful, scalable and intuitive, NICE/ELAN’s smart control systems combine wired and wireless infrastructure with propriety control protocols, integrating one-touch access, facial recognition and voice technology for a truly intelligent, fully personalised home control experience. We’ll be introducing the ELAN ecosystem at EI Live!, including the extraordinarily capable HR-40 remote control.
FURMAN
Furman’s industry-leading power conditioning units provide power and protection to entire equipment racks while its power sequencing products assist professional, high-performance installations by turning power on and off in an orderly fashion, preventing damage from equipment ‘popping’.
Stand 114 EI Live!
Join me and the team on the CUK stand to explore how we can add our experience to yours in the drive to deliver the best project outcomes for you and your customers. We’re looking forward to meeting you.