Sound & Communications April 2008 issue

Quality performance
and safety issues
necessitate a high
degree of competency
on the part of
technicians and
installers.
ADOPTING EXCELLENCE
Standards may be the path to maximizing industry quality.
BY R. DAVID READ
Editor’s Note: The term “standards” means different things to different people. We’ve heard this term bandied about
many times over the years in the commercial systems integration community. How do you address these questions Here,
we present arguments from two industry members. Contributing Editor R. David Read talks a bit about “physical” standards,
while concentrating on the value of standardizing practices. We also offer a manufacturer’s viewpoint, primarily
addressing those same “physical” standards, from Communications Specialties’ John Lopinto.
There seems to be a never-ending a 10mm bolt is precisely 10mm (per
debate in AV circles concerning the prevailing tolerances). Metric versus
proper resolution of conditions pertaining
to system installation standarderally
can agree on what constitutes
English measurement aside, we genization
and the necessary means to accomplish
and test such conditions to When a baker measures out two
an acceptable measurement.
ensure compliance.
cups (.473165 liters, or .5 liters for
Standards confront us at every turn. practical purposes) of flour to bake a
In the US (unlike the rest of the cake or a rack panel is described as
world) 1 , it is accepted that a 9/16 th - being 1¾ inches (1RU) 2 , we are, more
inch nut measures exactly 9/16 th of an or less, in general agreement. And,
inch, subject, of course, to the precision
of manufacturing tolerances per-
of the Flat-Earth Society, the stan-
unless you are a dues-paying member
mitted by the standard. In the rest of dards implied by degrees of latitude
the world, it is an accepted fact that and longitude are the basic means of
Contributing Editor R. David Read has been actively involved in the AV industry for 40 years.
charting navigational issues. 3 Incidentally,
to the best of this writer’s knowledge,
these standards are recognized
and adhered to without some government
official breathing down our neck
and waving a law book in our face.
Consequently, even in the most contentious
AV circles, standards for various
components and measurements
are reasonably well established. Few
would challenge Georg Ohm’s contention
that 1 volt EMF, impressed on 1
ohm of resistance, will yield 1 ampere
of current (E=I/R). That is a basic law
of physics, right As with most things
82 Sound & Communications
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