Belfast Systems Integrator Niavac Upgrades Inventory with HARMAN’s AKG CS3 Conferencing System

BELFAST, United Kingdom – Belfast-based AV presentation system specialists, Niavac, have upgraded their rental inventory by investing in HARMAN’s AKG CS3 conference system. According to MD James Conlon, this ‘plug and play’ solution is already proving extremely popular with their customers, particularly in the educational and healthcare segments, which form part of their core business. The system was sold to Niavac through Sound Technology Ltd., who distribute HARMAN Professional products throughout the UK and ROI.

Although Niavac—who have been in operation for over 50 years—have run AKG previously in their hire fleet, they canvassed the market to look for the most suitable options before readopting the brand.

“We were recommended to AKG by a third party,” stated Conlon, “but we also looked at the offerings of the other market leaders. I did a complete trawl and then contacted distributors Sound Technology Ltd, placing an order for a 30-station system.”

The old AKG system, he said, had served the company well for many years but was reaching the end of its useful life. “And since we are staging high end conferences and board meetings in areas such as education, healthcare and the private sector, we wanted to replace like for like, but with a superior solution.”

The CS3 System is a modular and flexible conference system suitable for any venue—from corporate boardrooms to council chambers—and its components can be easily set up, and scaled to suit (for instance, one CS3 base unit can support 60 microphones which connect to all relevant devices like PA, recording, external audio sources and camera control systems). The CS3 microphone station comes with a robust interface connector, which makes it easy to interchange the mics, which come in two detachable versions.

Since Niavac are also a major system integrator in Northern Ireland, supplying microphones and portable racks regularly to the education segment, it was important they got the choice right. “We needed the new system quickly, and having had a demonstration of some of the other brands AKG won out on sheer quality, the reliability we had experienced with the brand before, its ease of operation, its competitive price and the fact that it would sit easily in our existing transit boxes,” Conlon said. “Also, it looked very corporate-friendly; with other systems we reviewed [operators] were confused by the button pressing protocols.”

To emphasize his point, Conlon stated that one of their key clients, the local Healthcare Trust “absolutely love it”—adding, “they will attach it to amps, speakers and handheld radio mics.”

For more information on Niavac, please visit www.niavac.com

For more information on Sound Technology, please visit www.soundtech.co.uk HARMAN designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of 14,800 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.7 billion for the last twelve months ended December 31, 2013.