In-depth: Habitech Mercedes Benz World dealer day

When you're a busy installer, it's difficult to fit anything other than work into the diary. However Habitech, the original value-added distributor, seems to have a recipe for success when it comes to creating must-attend dealer days.Take for instance its latest event at Mercedes-Benz World in Weybridge, Surrey. Inside CI wasn't alone at jumping at the chance to see the latest kit on offer from the distributor. Over 150 dealers descended on the amazing Merc World showroom for a busy day of presentations and product. With an impressive number of manufacturers in its fold, Habitech displayed new kit from AMX, Wyrestorm, Yamaha, Niveo, Sonance, Chief Projecta and Pure Theatre, surrounded by high performance automobiles.

It was well worth turning up early. The keynote speeches, from Technical Director for Ruckus Eddie Felmer, and Sonance Chief Designer Todd Ryan, were held in the facility's 150-seat theatre. Ruckus told us everything we wanted to know about the upcoming high-speed IEEE 802.11ac wireless standard, while the session from Todd Ryan centred on the new Sonance VP architectural speakers, culminating with a stunning demonstration of their audio quality.

Product highlights of the day included AMX's range of NetLinx control processors and amazing Modero touch screen control panels, and Wyrestorm's new MX-PP-POH HDBT matrix. The latter is a completely customisable design, with RS-232 routing capabilities, integrated Power over HDBaseT and near-limitless selection of input configurations.

Yamaha CXA5000 and MXA5000 pre-power combo
Another great product on show came from Yamaha: the brand's incoming CXA5000 and MXA5000 pre-power 11 channel home cinema combo looks destined to become a firm favorite for home entertainment installers. Versatility is the name of the game in this flagship system (the brand's first since the venerable DSP-Z11 AV receiver), with the CX-A5000 processor offering 11.2 channels of audio. Imagine a full 7.1 system with front and back subwoofers, and additional 'presence' speakers!

Pure Theatre, a company renowned for producing some of the best-engineered projector lifts, has also joined the Habitech fold; this is great news as its price points are perfect for CI - everybody just loves a truly hidden install! Niveo's chief Arthur de Jager was also on hand to run visitors through its new CI dedicated gigabit Ethernet switch PoE access points and PDUs.

"Successful events like this complement our comprehensive training programme and day-to-day technical support, said Habitech MD Jonathan Pengilley. "They demonstrate Habitech's commitment to adding value to our business and those of our dealer partners."

Dealer day verdict
All in all, this transpired to be a great event and well worth setting time aside for. Habitech has stepped up into a higher gear, and is one of the leading distributors in the custom install market. As six lucky winners of a competition held on the day got ready to take a race-trim AMG sportster around the Brooklands circuit, we think you couldn't wish for more from a day out as an installer.

For more on Habitech's product portfolio and services, visit our partner page here.

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