[. . . ] The answers to questions like these will determine major aspects of the system design. Talking to individual users of the proposed system will help to flesh out important design details. Is the maitre d'hotel's station located directly under a speaker? [. . . ] If so, then consider equalization, or a separate muting circuit, to avoid feedback. Is light-switch height a comfortable location for zone volume controls, or does the user have another preference?Getting this kind of information at the beginning will help to avoid confusion and delays at the installation stage. Just as important as the human factors are the construction details of the site. Do partition walls or bearing members extend above the drop ceiling, where they may obstruct cable runs?All of these factors directly affect the price quote and the actual task of installation. Defining The System Upon completion of a thorough site survey, the system may be specified and quoted. The sales engineer also usually generates the design and quote, often at the same time as the site survey. To avoid ambiguity and confusion at the installation stage, the specification needs to be as explicit as possible. Of course, it should enumerate all of the equipment proposed to do the job, and should include both a block diagram and an accurate floor plan with annotations regarding construction. Ceiling speakers data sheets: 205 Series 4" 405 Series 4" EP405 Series 4" EP407 Series 6. 5" PRO-8A Series 8" 209 Series 8" 309 Series 8" 409 Series 8" EP 309 Series 8" Expect The Unexpected The distributed sound system market is highly competitive and margins are small. It makes good sense to do everything you can to avoid problems at the installation stage and to be ready to handle callbacks or last minute changes smoothly. One way to do this is to anticipate problems before they occur and build contingency plans into your operation. For example, you should always have some inexpensive "fixes" at the ready. Say that the customer decides to change his floor plan at the last minute, Electro-Voice Installed Sound Technical Guide ©2002 Telex Communications, Inc. Speaker Systems for Background Music and Paging page 4 requiring you to add another zone to the system. Electro-Voice offers the MA/MR series of rack-mount or shelf-mount mixer/amplifiers, receivers and power amplifiers that enable you to offer a painless quote for the requested change, and come out a hero. You can even avoid the additional cost of installing a volume control in the new zone by putting the amplifier on a shelf in the zone. Similarly, it may make sense to pull a couple of extra cable pairs (both speaker lines and mike lines) when making your home runs. That way, if there's a base that wasn't covered in the specification, you can make it up onsite. [. . . ] That way, if there's a base that wasn't covered in the specification, you can make it up onsite. Be sure that the floor plans you use are up-to-date, and keep communications open with the client. Particularly if you are limited to using existing wiring, you need to know if the client's plans for space usage will remain the same. [. . . ]