Sound & Vision and their KNX Success Story

Sound & Vision (UK) LTD discovered KNX when 1^st fixing their first ever Lutron system. The project had lighting, heating, blinds, cinema, 6 TVs and a value of £120,000. Their client visited 100% Design, the UKs largest design tradeshow, where they met staff from Ivory Egg holding a piece of green cable and were instantly sold on the Gira design and KNX. Andrew, the Director of S&V UK was a little less convinced, but after talking to the technical sales team at Ivory Egg he was given the confidence to change the project to KNX.

The next step was to attend the KNX Certification course at Ivory Egg HQ, which provided them with the knowledge they needed to carry out the project, and also created a long lasting relationship with the team at Ivory Egg. The certification course ran for 5 days, delivered key KNX/EIB theory and concepts along with practical hands on training in ETS (the manufacturer independent programming tool), and everything trainees need to know to get ready for their first KNX Project.

After completing the certification course, they were able to complete the design for the project which included 60 channels of lighting, 12 zones of heating and 10 channels of blinds - an incredibly large project for a fresh KNX graduate. However, as daunting as it was for the team, the support they received from Ivory Egg and the wider KNX community meant they executed the client brief and delivered the project successfully.

As new projects came in, S&V UK found the most suitable solution was usually KNX. The extensive range of possibilities with multiple manufacturers all providing devices that communicate over the same bus and via the same software – ETS, was one of the core deciding factors for S&V UK. Although each KNX project for S&V UK is different and varies in levels of complexity, choosing products for projects is simple. Sometimes its based on what will achieve the wow factor and offer optimum functionality, whilst for some products such as timers and dimmers, it’s how they are to install and program and their reliability. Lighting control with KNX is something they enjoy in particular due to the array of control keypads that are available, whereas they found other solutions didn’t seem to have as much choice.

The S&V UK team continuously expands their knowledge and skills through Ivory Egg training, manufacturer training sessions and attending industry events and trade shows. As well as being KNX Professional Members they are part of the Gira Partner Program, which has helped their knowledge development and exposed them to new clients and architects.

KNX has enabled S&V UK to grow from a partnership delivering AV systems to a 4-6-man team, capable of running multiple projects simultaneously. Their project values have increased over the years, partly due to the fact that they can now control additional sub systems under the KNX umbrella.

A lot has changed for S&V UK since discovering Ivory Egg and KNX, and the then two-man partnership are glad they did – “Over the years Ivory Egg have been so supportive of S&V UK. We’ve made great relationships. During the financial downturn, Ivory Egg passed us a couple of leads at the most difficult time, which kept us going and brought us fresh revenue.”

Ivory Egg has supported S&V UK on their KNX journey - “Through picking up the phone every time, shipping goods late in the day, through great support, the personal touch, getting the beers in, networking, helping to find solutions, introductions to other likeminded businesses as well as some really good advice when it seemed there was no clear answer. Ivory Egg is a great source of information and support, much more than a supplier”.

www.savavs.com