Home Entertainment ANALYSIS: CUSTOM INSTALL


June 2024 ertonline.co.uk


The future of custom install 26


Stuart Tickle, MD of AWE, distributor to the custom install and smart home technology industry, shares his thoughts on the trends that are shaping the future of this booming market segment.


oday, the residential install market in the UK is still showing strength and buoyancy at the high-end, while the mid-market is more challenging compared to the highs of the post- COVID boom; this is exactly why it is important for retailers to maximise revenue opportunities and profitability on every sale.. According to a recent market analysis by CEDIA, the key areas powering growth in the residential install market include integrated control and home cinema. This is supported by the purchasing patterns and discussions we are experiencing from retailers who have enhanced their offering to include installation. There are several easily accessible and sustained areas of focus for electrical retailers that will drive the immediate future of the install market. Let’s look at some of them…


T Staying in control


Bringing all the home technology together, the future looks bright for home control too, with customers looking for a more simplified system. Many are limiting the “it must do everything” demands of before to focus primarily on installing a solution that offers convenience and control of the core systems only, or individual systems with a common control platform that pulls it all together. As such, we expect to see at least a basic level of home automation become standard practice for new build projects and renovations.


Entry-level solutions that are scalable, such as the new MRX-5 processor from URC (below right), provide a great sell-in opportunity with intuitive, reliable, and affordable control from just £500.


Content is king Currently, there are more sport, boxsets, music and movies being streamed directly into people’s homes than ever before. A family trip to the cinema is expensive, so even with budgets squeezed people see a home cinema of any budget an “investment” in their own future. All the main services now not only provide, but also finance and create, high quality content, so we can view an ever-growing portfolio at home in 4K HDR, potentially in Dolby Vision and Atmos. The level of detail and quality provided for use on a giant screen TV or a full projection system is better than ever. And it is relatively affordable. Obviously, you can also get some great high-end hardware for the purest experience for those that can afford it, but this is not a driver of content and growth in itself.


Media rooms


So, demand for home cinema rooms, or more likely a multi-purpose “media room”, is having a direct impact on the technology coming to market, and consequently how we approach installation. Take the new ISW-8 subwoofer from Bowers & Wilkins, which has been extensively engineered from the ground up to deliver the


full performance of its flagship DB1 standalone sub, whilst being thin enough to install within standard stud walls without shaking them to pieces. Want bass but don’t want to look at a big subwoofer or two? This is the solution. Not everyone has a room they can dedicate to entertainment alone, but consumers, integrators and manufacturers have seized the home entertainment opportunity by bringing more space- and cost-friendly screens to the market. For example, Hisense introduced its L9 Laser TV (above) last year, which utilises an ultrashort throw projector to deliver a 120-inch 4K screen for under £4,000. Packaged with an AV amp, speaker system and control and you have a superb solution for under £10,000 installed. At AWE, we have all requirements covered


from entry and mid-level Epson projectors, through to the high end Sony Native 4K SXRD Laser projectors.


Immersive audio


Another big topic right now is CEDIA’s new RP22 recommended practice for immersive audio. At AWE we are widely in favour of this best practice for installation and we applaud its introduction. However, there’s still a huge amount of work to be done in terms of how RP22 is rolled out in the market, real-life usage, product specifications and measurement. It is a great start though and we look forward to seeing it develop!


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