CUK’s new training and demonstration centre in Ascot, UK marks a significant step forward for the distributor as it strengthens its presence in the custom install market.
CUK has made a bold statement with its new training and demonstration centre in Ascot. The distributor, long known for its roots in commercial audio, live sound and pro AV, has been expanding its footprint in the residential market. Now, with the unveiling of this purpose-built facility, the company is demonstrating just how serious it is about bringing high-performance, high-comfort solutions to custom install. Layla Laidouci, assistant editor of HiddenWires, sat down with CUK managing director Stuart Thomson to explore the journey, technology, and thinking behind the new space.
LL: Stuart, can you tell us a bit about your new showroom here in Ascot?
ST: This showroom is a biproduct of our diversification into residential technologies from our background in pro AV, commercial audio and live sound. Ascot is a prime location to showcase these high-performance systems and solutions, being easily accessible for integrators and their end users in the UK. All the same, being at the right location in Ascot came with its own challenges – the building was far from perfect for our purposes, and as a result, all of the construction that had to happen before we could really get started with the installations added significant time and cost. Within each cinema space we have opted to do things a little differently and this added complexity to speaker placement and the acoustic treatment in each space. We’ve tried to get the right balance, make the right compromises and deliver repeatable solutions. It took seven months longer than planned but we got there in the end.
LL: What was the journey behind this new facility?
ST: I'm lucky to have two supportive business partners who encouraged me to pursue this idea all the way through. The project began 18 months ago, initially to deliver a solution for one manufacturer – but as a distributor in the CI space, our brand portfolio changed and this space evolved, both in what products were shown and how we deployed them. With Ascot, CUK can now offer extremely memorable experiences to a wide clientele, serving budgets for the smaller media room to very high-end home cinema as well as audio systems for other residential/commercial spaces installed within the themed kitchen, hallway and meeting rooms – even for outside. Whatever your customer’s need or budget, we can offer a discreet high-performance solution in its appropriate setting, which guests can enjoy in comfort. It's taken a while to get it right, but I think we’ve built a demonstration facility that delivers for the manufacturers we represent.
LL: The demonstration spaces here are impressive and varied. Can you walk us through what’s on show?
We have two separate cinema rooms, varying in aesthetic and performance, but both are custom designed room-in-room acoustic spaces. The room we’re in feels much like a living room: we've chosen sofas rather than dedicated cinema seating, for example, to complement the look of its coffered ceiling and pale carpet. This multi-functional ‘media room’ space features two Focal 9.1.4 systems, the first comprising 300 series IW/IC speakers, the second stepping up to the flagship 1000 Utopia series, both driven by Powersoft for the sub channels and chiefly Naim CI series for the others. We can easily switch between and within them to cater for Atmos AV or Hi Fi according to budget, there’s even a party mode if that’s what you want - this space can be so many different things. For video, the media room uses a 3.8m wide 2.35:1 Display Technologies fixed frame screen, with the image from a SIM 2 Domino 4h installed into the wall on a Display Technologies vertical mirror mount bracket within the wall cavity. The rear wall of the cinema also has an integrated Display Technologies “Mistral” cooling system.
The room next door is designed to feel much more like a dedicated high-end cinema. When you walk into this room, you know you’ve stepped into a cinema, with its custom acoustic design, banked Pavone cinema seating and integrated RGBW pixel addressable lighting. This is where we’ve deployed premium and elite quality JBL Synthesis systems, each involving JBL’s compression-driver tech developed through JBL’s unmatched heritage in cinema sound, and each demonstrating how Synthesis should be designed and deployed as a turnkey system. The premium 9.1.4 system uses SCL-6, SCL-7, SSW-4 and SCL-8 powered by JBL Synthesis amplification, with processing from the Synthesis SDP-58. The elite system includes the top-of-the-line SCL-1, SCL-2, SSW-1, SSW3 and SCL-5 with Synthesis SDP-75 processing, again powered by Synthesis amplification. The Synthesis room uses a 4.0m wide 2.35:1 Display Technologies 2-way masking screen and SIM 2 Crystal 4sh installed into the wall, as per the media room, on a Display Technologies mirror mount with wall-integrated “Mistral” cooling.
Of course, a big part of the story is what you don’t see. Both rooms are isolated physically by introducing over 31 tonnes of material to the building. Each cinema has an isolated multilayer floor, from which the walls are constructed. Then the ceilings are suspended on shock mounts from the concrete slab above, with each cinema ceiling weighing in at 2.5 tonnes. Both are fabric/frame lined, concealing C-ATS reflection, reverberation, and resonance control panels to provide a better acoustic environment for systems operation.
Outside the cinema rooms, we’re using Ascot to showcase the variety and versatility in our residential AV brands, including Focal CI in the themed areas, MAIOR Flip motorised ceiling mounts for the Samsung screens in the kitchen and meeting rooms, and Architettura Sonora’s range of luxury indoor/outdoor speakers.
LL: How are you working with integrator partners to deliver tailored, hand-finished AV solutions?
ST: We work in the same way as we do in commercial – we’re there to support integrators as much or as little as they need, covering everything other than physical labour. We’ll assist with demos, acoustic modelling, wiring schematics and more. Outside the JBL Synthesis turnkey solutions, we’re demonstrating technology here in Ascot that affords users huge scope and choice. Alongside this, we can actively help people with their room designs and layout for acoustic treatments.
LL: How does this offering differentiate you as a distributor?
ST: Every business wants to add value. We've always taken technical support design assistance to the next level, which stems from our commercial expertise. It’s in our ethos and why we enjoy coming to work.
It was important we pushed the boundaries at this facility. Lots of people questioned why we made these spaces more ambitious technically than they needed to be. The answer is that while I've been involved in designing large-scale commercial projects for two decades, I'd never done home cinema. I needed to get hands-on with residential technologies to be able to guide customers, support my sales team and liaise with suppliers – that’s why all 9km of cable in this facility have been put in by me! It's part of the learning process and it helps me to understand what integrators are going through on a day-to-day basis.
Ascot is a business and demonstration facility, but we think the individual comfort zones we’ve created will help integrators and their clients to understand what we can offer. We’ll use it for continuous training opportunities in both commercial and residential CI, and our manufacturer suppliers will have lots to impart for those wanting to enhance and develop their businesses. We’re also using the showroom to host open days for brands outside the industry. It’s beginning to get exciting.
Join Stuart Thomson and Layla Laidouci for an exclusive video tour of the CUK training and demonstration centre here.