DENVER, CO (September 13, 2019)—URC, a global leader in smart automation and control for residential and commercial applications, announced the award winners for the 2019 Unsurpassed dealer awards last night. This annual competition recognizes best-in-class system design and installation of URC control and automation technology. Awards were given to the best Residential & Commercial installations using URC products in the US and International and the Most Unique Installation using URC products.
“This year we had so many good submissions that it was a difficult competition,” said Doug Cole, URC’s General Manager and Senior Vice President. “It was amazing to see all the high-quality smart automation and control system installations with a diverse set of environments.” Dealers who purchase URC products directly from URC or from an authorized URC distributor are eligible to enter their installations that occurred in calendar year 2018 or 2019.
Nu-Tech Audio Visual Wins Best Residential Installation – USA
Nu-Tech Audio Visual (Atlanta, GA, www.nutechav.com) won the Unsurpassed Award for Best Residential Installation – USA for their stunning remodeling project in a 7600 sq ft home in Georgia. Featuring 18 zones of audio distributed by URC’s DMS distributed audio system, a dedicated media room, and a family room theater, URC lighting control system, automated door locks and fibaro sensors around the home – all controlled by URC Total Control™ in-wall touchscreens, tabletop touchscreens and remotes. Nu-Tech installed a 7 foot rack in the basement that serves as the heart of the house, a Luxul® network and 6 Luxul XAP-1510 WAPs throughout the home. A custom made Doorbird® Doorbell with the homeowner’s name on it interacts with all 9 URC In-wall touchscreens units. All wall keypads act as video intercom for each room. URC’s geofencing feature gives the homeowners peace of mind when leaving and arriving the home but automatically locking/unlocking doors and changing the light scenes.
Can-Nor Electrics Wins Best Residential Installation – International
URC gave the Unsurpassed award for Best Residential Installation – International to Can-Nor Electric (British Columbia, Canada, www.can-nor.ca) for their installation in a new custom home situated on a cliff overlooking Okanagan Lake in Canada. The architect designed this asymmetrically shaped two-story, four-bedroom home to be a work of art, so the walls had to be as clean as possible from all electronics. “With URC, the dream was a reality,” said Christian Skavas, President of Can-Nor Electric. Can-Nor integrated Lutron® controls, Lutron motorized shading systems, a gate entry system and security system and utilized the relays on URC’s MRX-20 processor to control powered louvres on the deck. Everything is controlled using the URC Total Control TKP-7600 in-wall touchscreen and URC Total Control app running on the homeowner’s Apple® iPad™. Every room has music, including 2 outside zones and even the walk-in closet, thanks to URC’s DMS distributed audio system.
ReVampIT Audio Video Wins Best Commercial Installation – USA
ReVampIT Audio Video (Scottsdale, AZ, www.revampitav.com) won the Unsurpassed award for Best Commercial Installation – USA for their amazing installation in K O’Donnell’s Sports Bar & Restaurant, which features a total of 71 TVs (36 inside, 35 on the patio), 5 zones of audio, all controlled by URC’s Total Control System using URC TDC7100 tabletop touch screen controller. Video distribution is done using Just Add Power IP-Based video distribution system. ReVampIT technicians custom programmed the URC interface to also do source tracking for the system, so when the end user wants to control one of the TVs, they select the zone, the TV number and the user interface automatically shows the currently selected source and keeps track of the selected source, making it extremely easy to use. “The Bar owners and managers have said that this is the easiest system they have used (and many of the managers have used several other systems at other jobs,” noted Jack Thompson, ReVampIT Audio Video Owner.
Chelsea Connected LTD Wins Best Commercial Installation – International
Chelsea Connected Ltd (London, United Kingdom, www.chelseaconnected.com) won the Unsurpassed award for Best Commercial Installation – International for a tasteful installation of a distributed audio visual system in a wine bar called The Humble Grape. This wine bar in Canary Wharf, London features a projector, a drop down screen, a 55-inch Sony® OLED display in the private dining room, and multi-zone music – all designed to blend in neatly with the wine bar and controlled using URC Total Control TKP-7600 in-wall touch screens connected to a URC MRX-15 processor. Chelsea customized the touchscreens user interface with custom graphics with Humble Grape’s brand identity. Staff can also control the system using the URC Total Control app on their smartphones.
Total Connect Custom Audio Video and Nard’s Entertainment Tie for Most Unique Installation - Worldwide
URC announced a tie for the Unsurpassed award for Most Unique Installation, one to Total Connect Custom Audio Video and another to Nard’s Technical Services.
Total Connect Custom Audio Video (Acworth, GA, www.totalconnectav.com) completed a very unique mobile install for NBA Digital, installing Just Add Power video distribution controlled by URC Total Control TDC-7100 tabletop touchscreens in 5 separate rooms, controlling 34 TVs in one room, along with a 3-TV wall, a 4-TV video wall, a 6-TV video wall and a 6 TV Scoreboard. The custom programmed URC Total Control user interfaces with current source buttons for all 44 TVs to track what source is selected.
Nard’s Entertainment (McLean, VA, www.nardsentertainment.com) was also awarded an Unsurpassed Award for Most Unique Installation for their installation of URC’s DMS distributed audio system and URC’s Total Control system into a Carr Properties’ smart building in Washington DC called “The Hub”. “From the time you enter this building through the parking garage with soft background music until you complete your business in one of the conference rooms or group spaces, you feel more like you’re at the Ritz vs. an Office building,” said John Carroll, Nard’s Chief Technology Officer. Nard’s also custom programmed the user interfaces with corporate branding and off-site control for building engineers, property management and IT professionals.