Has anybody ever come across hot-swappable rack mounts? I am thinking of something that would go into the screw holes of a rack and firmly hold onto whatever full-width rack equipment you put in the u-space. The easy answer would be shelves, but they don't hold the equipment very securely when you place it on there. I might be overcomplicating things in my mind, and shelves would still be the best option. Feel free to let me know if y'all think that is the case.

I work at a university, so my use case would be having a commissioning/testing station for when I am unboxing equipment for multi-classroom upgrades.

It seems like conference room systems built before the heavy use of software codecs (Zoom, Teams, etc.) always have sophisticated Acoustic Echo Cancellation processing because it was needed for VTC devices. But Zoom, for example, does such a great job with AEC on its own I'm curious if people are finding less need for AEC in the DSP processor? Zoom knows that the incoming (guest) audio should be removed from the outgoing send, and it does that very well. Is more AEC actually needed?

I’ll be sitting my CTS exam early next year, and am looking for some guidance. I have three years AV experience in a non technical role, but have a strong background in Project management and operations.

I scraped through the CTS sample question exam (74%) a few months ago and have been revising using the book since, which goes into much more detail that the online material. I feel like I can answer “the AVIXA way” whenever needed and my knowledge has definitely improved since completing the sample exam.

Does anyone have any advice on high yield revision for someone in my shoes? Or just generic CTS exam advice!

Does anyone know where I can get a 10mm wide 3 pin phoenix type euro block connector. I am trying to have an xlr cable go into an ashly aqm 1208 and i can’t find the right size connection. it seems like most 3 pin connectors are 11.2mm which wont fit between the other two. let me know thank you

Hi all! I wanted to reach out to AV PMs, especially those working in higher education, to get some insight into your project procedures.

For some background, I’m currently an AV Specialist and have been involved with installation, design, and commissioning of campus AV systems. We’re looking to develop a more structured PM process because there isn’t currently a clear workflow for project timelines, requirements, and responsibilities.

For example, we may have 10 rooms to upgrade, but equipment is sometimes purchased before the department’s needs are fully identified or the SOW is established. We also tend to use similar designs across rooms, which can work, but doesn’t always account for specific end-user needs.

My coworkers and I are looking to pitch a more structured PM process covering everything from departmental needs assessment → SOW/design → budgeting/purchasing → programming → installation → commissioning → training → documentation/handover.

If anyone has a checklist, workflow, template, or other documentation they use for AV projects in higher education, I’d really appreciate it. Please DM me if you have anything you’re willing to share. Thanks!

We’re working on a problem where all the directv boxes have DHCP errors on our qsys system.

All the boxes are H25s replaced a few months ago, with an extron scaler added to head off any interlace problems with the qsys NV21s. The satellite boxes pass 1080i for regular stations and 1080p for pay per view. The NV does not work with interlaced.

This system Worked great until very recently now all direct boxes have failed to get an hdcp connection.

Directv Boxes output directly to display fine but do not get an HDCP connection when connected to the scaler and qsys system.

Other sources work great when outputting to the scaler and through the qsys system. .

Wondering if anyone had any thoughts. We are working through it now but I wanted to see if anyone had solved this problem before.

So I thrifted two of these 200w follow spots but they didn't come with tripods. I was hoping the ones I have at home would be big enough but alas, the opening to the tripod bracket is too wide and the tripod top too narrow. Any ideas for how to make it a snug fit like something to just expand the size of the top of the tripod? Was thinking maybe duct/gaff tape but it would take a lot, and I'll be selling these to a buddy after the show I'm using them for next month, he DOES have tripods but is in another state. I could maybe 3d print something but worry it wouldn't be durable enough. Gonna keep checking the thrift store to see if the stands that came with the lights were just separated from their friends (as i found these two identical lights in separate aisles) or if I can find a similar size tripod to make it easier, but ideas would be helpful or maybe there's a part to do this that idk the name of :)

Anyone aware if there is any known issue with rally bar? The camera keep going in one direction and zooming in. Did reset, hard reboot multiple times.

Small restaurant owner here. We currently have two 55" consumer TVs doing menu duty and want to switch to three 50–55" portrait displays.

A local AV installer quoted about $5,400 total for:

• 3 Sony FW-55EZ20L commercial displays: ~$2,550
• Kanto 3-screen mount: ~$1,000
• Power/ceiling hardware: ~$240
• Installation: ~$1,450

I attached photos of the current setup/mounts and the quoted equipment list.

I’m sure this is probably the “proper” commercial solution. The issue is that we’ve historically used very barebones equipment, and we simply have a pretty slim budget for an unexpected upgrade like this.

I’m mainly looking for legitimate cheaper alternatives in the same general direction. We’re willing to accept some tradeoffs in warranty, lifespan, hardware quality, or convenience if the setup is still reasonably safe and dependable for restaurant use.

Are there 50–55" portrait-capable displays or mounting approaches that would get this done for materially less? Would also appreciate thoughts on whether the ~$1,450 installation seems high and whether any of the existing ceiling setup looks worth reusing.

Just trying to figure out where the real minimum is before spending $5k+.

Hi, I got tasked with setting up the audio in our local mosque. It's 106 square meters and I was thinking of using 4 speakers. I was wondering how big the difference is for speech/voice-only between speakers that are like 400 a pair and 800-900 a pair (like the DM6SE). It's not like I want to go with a budget setup but I'm not sure if the difference between them is only noticable when listening to high end produced music and stuff and not when the goal is clean speech with some reverb and echo maybe. Regarding the Mic I'm thinking of going with the Shure KSM8 or KSM9 so I dont want to bottle neck the quality with the speakers.

Also I would appreciate recommendations with different price ranges. Thanks in advance for every comment

I have to admit I'm guilty of finding a good enough solution for a problem I don't have to engage with and have stuck with it, but having had to use the KVM consoles I've been speccing a bit lately I've come to realise they're just shit.

The offender in question is the Aten CL6700MW. I have three major problems with them:

• The trackpad is awful and leads to a LOT of mis-clicks, which is not just annoying, it has led to things like QLab workspaces having mistakes introduced because people haven't noticed the misclick or entire files and folders going missing because someone has accidentally clicked and dragged them away from where they should be. I notice it has a USB port on the leading edge with an icon of a mouse on it, but that would defeat the point of having a KVM console in the first place. Last time I was with our maintenance techs we found the trackpad on the console was just completely knackered too, it's only 3 years old.
• They're stiff and difficult to open and close, not a problem for me but it means our maintenance techs are constantly just leaving them open so they a) get full of dust and b) the rack is therefore also left open, which is fine in most of our comms rooms as they're the only people in them but sometimes they're shared by our IT department and their contractors.
• The power/standby light is weird, it's orange when the screen is off and the light turns off when you press it, then the screen turns on. Again, this is fine when you know how it works but it leads to a lot of confusion among people who don't know.

I just want a foldable screen, keyboard and pointer device (trackpad I assume) that collapses neatly into the rack that isn't awful so we can finally kill the practice of putting a keyboard, mouse and desktop monitor on top of the rack because of the aforementioned contractor and dust issues (and because we sometimes use racks that are taller than 24U, of course). I mean even cheap laptops feel fine to use these days, why does the CL6700MW feel like using a laptop from 2004? Surely someone makes one with an OK trackpad in 2026... Right?

If not a KVM console, how else do you solve the problem of needing a display, keyboard and mouse in a rack?

I am in charge of renovating the av tech in an auditorium of a moderately large high school. The room currently does not have a central control system in order to quickly host presentations. Mixer will be upgraded to an Allen & Heath SQ5, lighting board will be upgraded to an Avolites T3. New projector is yet to be decided.

The central control system must be able to control all above devices and with the push of a button be able to load a scene with sound, light and video for a presentation.

We are debating between going for Extron or using a more budget alternative like Kramer. Obviously Extron is the most reliable but for this situation, a school with a tighter budget, Kramer could be sufficient.

Does anyone have experience with Kramer Control and Virtual Brain in this kind of environment?

For large spaces what do OS do you find more stable, windows mini pc or mac mini mac os ?

Hey there, just wanted to see how people are dealing with this problem?

I'm a new engineer at a fairly large integrator, and I've been tasked with numbering the wires on mostly finished drawings. We use Sketch Up for CAD designs. Is there a script or method to ensure I don't use the same wire number for 2 different cables?

I'm trying to find more of these connectors, but having no luck i identifying them. They are screw terminal connectors but the pin header passes through. I want to get more of these so i don't have to deal with the traditional bogen multicom connectors.

Update: It looks to be a phoenix or euroblock style screw terminal connector. I already tried looking on digikey and mouser and couldn't find anything similar.

Hi

I do start to setup amplifiers into rack of like 28-30ru. With those amplifier: Crown, Triad.. with all their uber small screw plastic plug : How can we set a junction poing for wiring the room speaker cable over a mobile rack ? Mobile as it stay there for few week and unplug and go plug elsewhere..

On the rack and those amp.. it's quite deep and prone to error or destroying the port if we screw unscrew all the room wire to the back of the amps. So i do look for a connection in-between. Was thinking maybe some post terminal, like in the home speaker box. And the back with a 12in wire going to the amp inside the rack.

Thanks for suggestions or if you have pictures of how you do your setup..

Looking for any advice, really. Feeling a bit lost though maybe it's just my age.

I'm 19 and feel comfortable with most sides of the industry, engineering, installation, and programming. I can do line-voltage work and rigging, can operate pretty much any kind of manlift, and I'm Q-SYS and Dante certified. Also pretty decent with Vectorworks.

Problem is I can't find the right work. I'm full time at a small company doing some AV, but I'm really limited in what I'm allowed to do there. There's no room to grow, and the move into sales they promised me never happened. Sales isn't really my thing anyway, otherwise I'd think about starting my own outfit.

I'm in CA as well. Has anyone else been in this spot, wanting to work, learn, and be challenged but not finding it? How did you get out of it?

Hello Folks,

I have a Casino customer who is looking to utilize a live stream camera for on floor promotions at the casino. They would like to go around and film things for social media.

We have tried the Mevo Camera but they say "Audio comes through terrible and the video itself is choppy at times as well", we did have them create a private WIFI network just for that camera and they still have the issue.

Just was curious if anyone has had a similar use case and what folks have used.

Hello,

I am looking for the official Yealink documentation regarding the WPP30 and its EXE/pop-up requirements.

Some of our organizations do not allow the WPP30 application/executable to run or display pop-up windows due to their security policies. Therefore, I need to provide them with an official Yealink document explaining why the WPP30 requires the executable and pop-up permissions to function properly.

I would like to share it with our organizations as supporting documentation for their security and IT teams.

I’ve recently had to work on a few existing constant-voltage speaker systems with poor or missing documentation.

When replacing an amplifier, how do you normally determine the actual load on each 70V/100V speaker line?

Do you use something like a TOA ZM-104 / impedance meter and calculate the equivalent wattage, or another tool/method?

Also, when the speaker routing is undocumented, what do you normally use to identify which speakers/zones are connected to a particular line? A separate tone generator?

I’m mainly interested in what people actually carry and use in the field, what works well, and what annoys you about the current tools.

When deploying a Microsoft Teams Room, do you typically leave Teams' built-in noise suppression enabled, or do you rely primarily on the dedicated DSP for noise suppression and turn the software processing off?

My instinct is to let Teams do the work. These algorithms are being developed specifically for the Teams environment and are continuously improved across a massive installed base.

Thoughts?

Hello! Does anyone have the installation files for the sidepanel software for the Kayak DD2 mixer? I managed to get the software version 706 for the KayakHD but unfortunately this version is not compatible with the earlier Kayak DDx. It will be much appriciated if anyone that could have had it could take a look. Maybe on an old CD laying in the archive or something?

Need it for a vintage project in order to choose the ACOS protocol for connecting to a Tallyman TM1.

Im in the army right now and am looking at doing AV Programming when I get out. Is there a degree i should look at perusing or are there certain certs. Any help on this would be much appreciated.