Coolabode Australia wins Best Integrated House of the Year

[berazafi]

Hi Guys

Early last month we had the privilege of wining an Award at the Control4 Australian dealer conference for a one of the systems we put together for a Customer in Melbourne.

Here is what the project entailed there are some pictures on our website and facebook pages www.coolabode.com.au www.facebook.com/coolabodeaustralia

Project Overview:

The number 1 goal for this project was to make the house simple to use. As the clients are in their later stages of life, technology is not something they grew up with. The second goal was all equipment was to be located in a custom built room, with only a handful of Blu-Ray players to be hidden in drawers around the residence

The house needed to incorporate 21 zones of Audio consisting of 16 stereo zones, 3 surround sound areas, 1 cinema and an outdoor PA system for entertaining. There are also 13 video screens incorporating 10 LCD panels, 2 LED video walls (one for the cinema and a 4 meter screen above the pool) and a curved ticker screen for above the entrance to the cinema.

Audio and video sources consist of 4 Sonos Players, 4 Apple TVs, 4 Blu-Ray players and 4 Foxtel boxes. Utilising some of the Extra Vegetable drivers, we were able to combine Local Radio station, Pandora Radio Stations, and various Play lists into the one location on the interfaces.

To provide lighting for the house, a combination of 200+ Cbus lighting controllers, 400+ DMX lighting channels (for the RGB and white strip lighting) combined with the Control4 system make for simple scene selection. The use of Control4 also enabled the DMX system and Cbus to communicate, allowing for control of all lights either from the Control4 interface or the DLT Cbus keypads. RGB control proved to be the most difficult from a client control perspective. Having 3 colour selections for the 200+ RGB lighting controls would have resulted in nearly 600 sliders on the interfaces for coloured lighting control. To overcome this we preset all the coloured lighting into different modes. We also incorporated an AMBX AmbientXC controller to look after the main party area and waterfall allowing the completely automated, ever changing ambient lighting effects. This also allows the music to be simulated in the lighting for parties.

Pool control and the 10+ water features, including a waterfall running down the centre of the house, are all looked after and automated by the Control4 automation systems. This allows scheduling of filters, but also allows easy control of the water features when they are needed. The pool incorporates a spa and 4 different simulated rain effects that are all easily accessed via DLT keypads located near the pool.

For user interfaces, 7 iPads (wall and desk mounted), 15 SR250 remote controls and 5 custom touch screens ranging from 28-55 inches allow easy operation even to the visually impaired. Having a consistent remote and user interface for each room made for a huge reduction in the learning curve required to operate the house. The client loved that once they were shown how to operate one area of the house, the next area they were shown was exactly the same control sequence no mater if it was the Cinema, the 4m Screen and PA system by the pool or the TV in the bedroom.

Security, Cameras and Access control were implemented using a combination of the Ness M1 security system and IP cameras connected to the Wirepath surveillance 16 Channel DVR. Having all 16 cameras with an IP video stream, allows easy access to the images via one interface. Also the client’s children love having remote access to the house, security and surveillance, allowing them to help their parents as needed.

The IP network consists of 96 Ethernet ports, 10 wireless access points (one with a long distance range so the private yacht could have internet access when moored) and a Business class router. All network switches are managed. POE provides all power for HC200 controllers, Wifi Access points and other remote equipment. The use of POE allows one circuit breaker to reset the entire control, Ethernet and AV systems. This again makes a reboot in the case of failure a very easy task for the Clients. Although to date (approximately 7 months) a reboot is yet to be needed.

Notes:

This Project was originally specified to be Creston, but the 1.3+M price tag had the client nearly faint. Although I cant be sure what the total automation, security and AV cost was (as the client supplied a lot of gear through industry contacts). I am very confident that Control4 based system was approximately 25% of the Creston pricing.

Equipment List: (overview)

1 x Control4 HC800 Controller

11 x Control4 HC200 Controllers

15 x Control4 SR250 Remotes

4 x Control4 IO extenders

4 x Integra Amps (including on pre and 2 power amps)

1 x 16x16 Leaf Audio Video Matrix

2 x Control4 8 Channel Amps

1 x Control4 16 Zone Audio Matrix

4 x 24 port Gb Network Switches

1 x 24 Port POE midspan

10 x Wireless Access Points

4 x Sonos ZP90s

4 x Apple TVs

4 x DAC for Sonos

3 x 48U Racks

1 x Ness M1 Alarm

16 x Ness Cameras

1 x Wirepath Surveillance DVR

Countless Cbus Modules

200 + DMX lighting Channels

[wappinghigh]

^Very nice.

Fantastic. Congrats.

When you say Pool control via Control4 I assume this is via cbus<>Control4 given you mention the DLT Cbus keypads near the pool?

[SMHarman]

Congratulations, it makes me realize that when dealers say the HC800 is for "larger" installations. They really mean it!

[ILoveC4]

That's one crazy "rear deck". Seems like something you'd find in Las Vegas.

[berazafi]

^Very nice.

Fantastic. Congrats.

When you say Pool control via Control4 I assume this is via cbus<>Control4 given you mention the DLT Cbus keypads near the pool?

Pool control is done with the Pentair system, it give access to all the pool functions via the Control4 Navigator. More importantly all the functions of the pool and aux devices are available in programming so a DLT or custom button can perform multiple tasks.

[berazafi]

Congratulations, it makes me realize that when dealers say the HC800 is for "larger" installations. They really mean it!

Yep the HC800 can handle next to anything, think the most I have seen the CPU at is around 25%. I recommend a HC800 for any multiroom system not just the super large jobs.

[SMHarman]

Congratulations' date=' it makes me realize that when dealers say the HC800 is for "larger" installations. They really mean it![/quote']

Yep the HC800 can handle next to anything, think the most I have seen the CPU at is around 25%. I recommend a HC800 for any multiroom system not just the super large jobs.

My project may be 'multi room' but the total rooms is <1000sqft! Looks like the Rack Room in that install is bigger! Thats NYC living for you though.

I read about these projects with 60 light switches in the basement and can't find 60 light switches in my apartment!

[chesterwilson]

Glad you guys like my home!

[AK1]

Yeah, great job. Dave. This is a great showpiece for Coolabode Australia.

And one thing to note: Dave did this pretty much by himself: every rack component, termination, speaker install....