Following a period of reorganisation at Yamaha Commercial Audio’s UK operation, the company has announced its new sales and technical support team. Meanwhile, in a further confirmation of its long-running fixed install success, Yamaha has revealed details of a landmark project at InterContinental Hotel, Davos.
In the UK, the reworked team is headed by Robert Webster, Yamaha Commercial Audio UK’s new divisional director, who has been with Yamaha for 30 years.
Previously in charge of both the Electronic Keyboard and AV Divisions, Webster’s intimate knowledge of Yamaha, its products and customer base is said to make him the ideal leader of the new team.
Working closely with Webster is Karl Christmas, who occupies the new position of sales & marketing manager for UK and Ireland. Christmas has been a very familiar face to Commercial Audio customers for over two decades and will continue to be very ‘hands on’ with dealer and end-user relations.
Meanwhile, Northern and Southern regional sales will be handled by two new additions to the team. Covering the north of the UK, Stuart McKay joins Yamaha from Audio Technica Distribution, where he has been a specialist in Allen & Heath for a number of years. And, having been with Yamaha for five years, Terry Murphy (pictured) has been appointed to the position of Southern UK and Republic of Ireland sales representative.
As previously announced, Commercial Audio specialist Wayne Powell continues to provide technical pre-sales support, end-user training and system commissioning, while Dave Dine moves into a new role of post-sales technical support. Meanwhile, Stephanie Halstead is joined by Max Parish in providing administrative and logistical support to the sales and technical team, including daily contact with Commercial Audio dealers and customers, booking training seminars and stock management.
“As a company, we are always looking for ways to improve our service,” says Christmas. “Backing up our industry-leading products with equally high quality human resources is vitally important. The reorganisation of the UK Commercial Audio team ensures that our customers will enjoy an even better level of service from Yamaha.”
In other current Yamaha news, the company is highlighting an extremely prestigious installation at the InterContinental Davos luxury hotel in Switzerland. The Yamaha system was designed and selected by German AV company Maco, working closely with hotel builders TU Arge to guidelines supplied by InterContinental Hotels. Hünenberg-based AVS Systeme AG was appointed to supply and install the equipment.
The system features 107 VXC6W, 16 VXC4W, 10 VXC8W and two VXS5W Yamaha CIS series loudspeakers, which are installed throughout the public areas of the hotel. These include the meeting rooms and ballroom, which doubles as a conference venue. Powered by 23 XMV4280, 10 XMV4140 and one PC6501N power amplifiers, the zoned system is fully integrated into a Dante network and managed by two Yamaha DME64N and one DME24N digital mixing engines, plus two MTX3 matrix processors.
A total of nine Dante-MY16-AUD interface cards are fitted to the DME units, with an AIC128-D Dante accelerator card also part of the system. One of the DME64Ns is installed in the ballroom, fitted with a Dugan-MY16 auto microphone mixing card for conferences. An LS9-16 digital mixing console and BD-A1010 Blu-Ray player are also provided.
Habegger AG is subcontracted to operate the hotel’s entertainment AV facilities, and the company has a second LS9-16 and a separate PA system on site for bigger events.