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Soundweb London Triggers the Ultimate in Luxury

BSS Audio is at the hub of a creative installation with a difference.

In these days of enhanced corporate expectation, met by extended luxury vehicles, UK-based Dream Machines probably thought they had the ultimate in onboard hospitality with their two Land Yacht 19 Elites, equipped with plasma screens, DVD, iPod connections and PS2’s.

That was until long-term BSS Audio customers Green-I came along. The company’s founder Ian ‘Woody’ Woodall is famed as much for his quirky evolved solutions as for conventional bar/restaurant fitouts. And when he found himself using one of the early generation Land Yachts (conversions of 29-seat Mercedes-Benz Medio coaches) for presenting a series of unique ‘atmosphere training days’, he knew he could improve on the vehicle’s infrastructure.

“Essentially the first two had been fitted out by a car stereo company — but we knew that by looking at what the professional market offered we could create a mobile corporate boardroom.”

The third 19-seater needed to have all the features of its predecessors, but with wireless access, and address all the safety features laid down by the vehicle safety division of VOSA (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency). This was a challenge that Green-I could barely resist.

Woody knew instinctively that a Soundweb London BLU-80, and a pair of BLU-10 touch screen wall controllers would function as a complete one-button environmental control, generating their own rigid start-up (and restart) procedures. The brief was clear in that it needed to offer a simple solution.

But it required some inspired programming on his part. Using the Logic functionality offered by Soundweb London devices — coupled with Green-I’s own ‘black box’ electronics — the BLU-80 has been adapted to function as a complete show controller, operating the electric blinds, coloured LED roof, foot and bar lights. The video source select is also controlled by Soundweb London using a Logic Serial Trigger/Table object to control the Kramer VS-5x4 video switcher via RS232.

All the Land Yacht driver needs to do is operate a simple rocker switch on his dashboard to put the Soundweb London BLU-80 and BLU-10’s, connected via Ethernet, through the start-up procedure.

With the factory-fit interior stripped out, Green-I developed a solution whereby they could fit the multimedia devices discreetly into available space (the 1U Kramer video switcher and BLU-80 signal processor nestling in over the coach driver’s head), with a BLU-10 touch screen placed at either end of the coach (the rear one, under the command of the driver, but with both being activated via a proximity sensor).

A 40in Samsung LCD screen forms the main media display, with two 17in Samsung satellite screens at the front completing the all round viewing experience. Sources include a Sony PS2, Freeview TV, AKG radio mic and a variety of available inputs for iPod, MPEG media players and laptop computers. Sound reinforcement is via a series of ultra-compact cube speakers with bass speakers evenly distributed under the seating throughout the interior.

All of the BSS Audio and AKG Acoustics components were supplied by Harman Pro UK.

“With a little bit of magic we can use the Soundweb London device to operate anything and everything,” says Woody. “The beauty of the BLU-10’s is that they are designed for use within a multitude of environments, including bars and clubs. With the potential for drink flying about they have the perfect pedigree for an environment such as the Land Yacht! However using it as a system controller is great, operating external equipment is always a challenge — but doing all this whilst driving through the City of London does make me smile!”

Green-I was able to reuse the original Emergency Stop buttons; these trigger a tone from Soundweb which in turn automatically ducks the music and switches on the lights. Two minutes later the system resets and returns to its previous state; the driver can override and control any of the functions available to the passengers thus making the system trouble free and above all very easy to use.

Also retained from the factory fit out are the LED reading lights, the radio — and of course the obligatory ‘tour guide’ coach mic, “Although it will never get used, I just didn’t have the heart to remove it — they are iconic!” says Woody.

But Soundweb London has one other valuable function to perform — the monitoring of the low voltage power supply to the AV equipment. With an on-board split charging system it has the intelligence to shut down the AV system when the voltage is low and allow the remaining battery power to run the vehicle’s engine — although there is enough power to run the AV equipment for a minimum of five hours without having to start the engine once.

Realising that they would need a stable 240V supply to run the LCD screens and other mains appliances Green-I studied other markets where similar challenges exist before evolving their own solution based on a series of batteries (which can also be used as a full back-up for the vehicle). With the vehicle having a 24V DC supply, the Soundweb London BLU-10’s can be connected directly to the coach battery, without the need for a separate power supply.

Dream Machines already has an enviable roster of celebrity clients but director Kevin Wing anticipates they will be queuing up to use the new 19-seat luxury vehicle, which comes complete with all necessary PRS and Cinematographic performance licenses.

“It is vital that we have walk-in height interiors which can safely carry more than the eight passengers to which you are restricted in a conventional limousine, such as a stretch Hummer,” he said. “It was crystal clear our coaches needed to have a corporate entertainment feel, with a much higher spec.

“We favour the Medio as it’s built entirely by Mercedes, not by a coach builder on a Mercedes chassis — it’s all been carefully worked out.”

Summarising, he stated: “Green-I has done a magnificent job; the Soundweb is very flexible, and all this, coupled with being able to use local suppliers, means that we are very excited by the potential of this vehicle.”

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Soundweb London Triggers the Ultimate in Luxury

9th August 2006

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