16 | May 2017

Essential Install | Habitech

The Greatest Sound On Earth When every garden is fertile ground for sound, make your pitch with Sonance, the world’s original and most innovative custom speaker brand. Habitech’s Jonathan Pengilley surveys the winning options.

Here’s a bigger business no brainer. You’ve been building great relationships with your best clients: winning their trust, cultivating their appreciation of your skills and professionalism. So why not convert all that goodwill into new business with an irresistible plan to extend the range of your work beyond the walls into the garden. My hunch is that when it comes to pitching the idea of entertainment al fresco, you’ll be pushing at an open door.

This is because your wealthy baby-boomer clients are already on-message. Together with their ‘Garden Force’ brethren they will no doubt have contributed to the £5 billion* invested in UK gardens annually and be among the 45%** of garden shoppers who treat the garden as an ‘extra room’. What’s more as upgraders – according to the 2016 UK Houzz Landscaping Trends Survey – their top targets for improvement will be outdoor structures, systems and equipment, rather than things horticultural, because, says the survey, the Brits are more likely to be found resting on their derrieres in gardens rather than on their knees cultivating them.

Complete The DreamSo here’s your opportunity on a platter: if your clients have already transplanted their home comforts with a built environment of hardscape, decking, patio, lights and the full barbeque ensemble, you’re in pole-position to complete the upgrade with glorious sound quality. And if, as the market suggests, they’re about to order in the diggers, now is the time to be planting your skills alongside.

Either way your vision of discreet, controllable, full-range audio in any space will be more vividly rendered and more successfully delivered if you’re quoting from the book of Sonance, America’s favourite custom speaker brand.

No Garden too big, no planter too small...The vast selection of design tools available from Sonance Outdoor is engineered to embrace every install scenario. Ruggedly built and expertly-voiced, its all-weather on-wall, in-wall and all-terrain sat/sub speaker options – together with custom-equalised amplifiers – can be combined in systems offering dynamic, detailed and consistent full-range sound quality at virtually any volume level in any space. Whether you’re designing for a small patio garden or a golf-course-sized estate, Sonance Outdoor will scale to meet the challenge. It’s tested and approved by the world’s most demanding market, so don’t be distracted by imitations: bring us the terrain and we’ll cover it with the performance of a genuine audio original, complete with a provenance that extends back to the very first architectural speaker.

Sonance has consistently been voted best outdoor brand by US integrators (source CE pro)

Sonance amps combine lots of power with EQ curves custom designed for its speaker systems

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Larger Gardens And Estates The Sonance Landscape Series (SLS) sat/sub systems are designed to disappear into the foliage in multiple 70V speaker arrays, daisy-chained for ease of installation and scalability. Two 4in satellites and a high power output 6in satellite can be positioned in trees, hidden in planting beds or along walkways to generate a controlled audiophile-quality sound fi eld with minimal hot spots and dead zones in any landscape at extremely high sound pressure levels. Twin 10in and high power 12in below-ground subwoofers provide superior bass while blending seamlessly with the environment. For large patios or rooftop terraces a 10in ‘Hardscape’ subwoofer integrates with satellites adapted for surface mounting or installed in pots or planter boxes. And for added design traction, our free-of-charge SLS custom design service will map system permutations on your outdoor plan, calculating sound coverage, power and zone confi gurations for presentation to your client. Drive the systems with the Sonance DSP 2-750 amplifi er equipped with hundreds of EQ presets tailored for SLS speakers.

Smaller GardensFor gardens up to 150 m² the excellent SonArray SR1 package has the form-factor of the high-end Landscape models at a more accessible price. You’ll get eight distinctive satellites, and an 8in dual voice-coil underground subwoofer – all merchandised in a single carton. The 8-ohm system can be powered by a standard AV receiver, stereo amplifi er or, ideally, the Sonance SR 2-125 amplifi er, custom-built for SonArray. It includes 20 custom-built DSP presets for hardscape, softscape and everything in-between, allowing for

high performance tuning in a variety of outdoor applications through direct rear-panel EQ

controls. Add a second SR1 subwoofer for enhanced bass, or for perfect

coverage in cottage gardens, add four 8-ohm versions of the Landscape LS48SAT to the SR1 sub and drive with the SR 2-125 amplifi er.

Near Pool Areas The super-discreet VP Extreme range of in-wall all-weather models offers the performance

of the interior VP speakers but is engineered with samarium cobalt magnets and 316L stainless steel

to withstand the rigours of fresh and salt water environments at temperatures

ranging from minus 34 to plus 79 Celsius.

All-Weather On-Walls The brand new Mariner line combines higher musical performance with more installation options than ever before. Featuring completely redesigned acoustic systems for low distortion and high power handling, an exclusive Fastmount bracket system and innovative front-mounted terminals, the seven models across three sizes and three performance levels feature tough IP66-rated paintable sealed polypropylene enclosures in black or white, and perforated aluminium grilles.

For Rockeries Spread the sound quality to adjacent fl ower beds or rockeries with the super-durable Sonance Rock satellites and sub. Their rock-like appearance has been designed to look even more natural, so while the sound is way above par for the form-factor, the camoufl age is complete!

As spring turns to summer, there’s no better time to be growing your business outside the home, especially when the trend to extend is so prevalent amongst your fi fty-something clients. Besides owning all the land and the spending power they also share an affi nity for music, so if they’re already singing your praises for work indoors, plant the idea of high quality outdoor audio from Sonance, and see the opportunities bloom.

*The Horticultural Trades Association** Verdict Retail’s 2016 garden report

More Information:Habitech +44 (0)1256 638500,www.habitech.co.uk

Essential Install | Habitech

Landscape: super discreet 70V sat/sub, ideal for big estates

SonArray: super discreet 8ohm sat/sub for even, high quality coverage in smaller gardens

Mariner: high quality audio from the latest Sonance all-weather on-wall range

Rocks: the perfect blend of great sound and completely discreet design for rockeries

Sonance VP Extreme in-walls are built to survive the harshest outdoor environments

Above all you can trust Sonance sound and build quality to resolve every outdoor audio challenge beautifully. Choose from a wide range of sat/sub options, all-weather in-walls and on-walls

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