Veritais have provided a substantial audio-visual upgrade for the luxurious 43m sailing yacht KOO, while she spent some time in the popular Spanish yacht charter destination Palma this spring. Designed by Dubois and built by Vitters Shipyard, superyacht KOO received a new media server and a complete overhaul of the current system, with all works completed in July.
Sailing yacht Koo
The upgrade was carried out two years following a major installation also carried our by Veritais two years ago, which included a fully integrated, ship-wide AV system with an outdoor cinema, onboard wi-fi and lighting control.
The owner of KOO superyacht has the opportunity to enjoy even more advanced technology which includes a new movie server to store up to 700 movies, and a new shipboard PC to manage the entertainment system. There is also a new PC to control the engineer’s operations. The upgrade to KOO has made the systems a lot faster and more efficient as well as being easier to use. Updated products have included a Control4 main controller, room controllers, remotes and apps.
Koo Superyacht – with projector and screen
An ‘airport express’ has been installed into the owners’ stateroom and three guest staterooms to provide airplay playback from each guest’s own mobile device. In addition a new Rackmount PC will be installed in the existing AV rack featuring a bespoke specification optimised for ripping Blu-Ray, DVD and CD’s and being run 24/7. An external optical drive will be installed in the Saloon starboard cupboard for easy access ripping of discs.
Furthermore, Veritais has installed a new TV lifting system for raising the 55” TV out of its cabinet in the yacht’s main saloon.
The original Veritais installation included the yacht’s Epson full 3D projector outdoor cinema, which gets a lot of use as the central entertainment area, as well as on-board Wi-Fi and lighting control. The onboard system comprises eight independent zones, including the four guest staterooms, each controlled using a Control4 seven-inch tablet, not dissimilar to an iPad, plus an alternative ‘hard-button’ remote and the outdoor projector system.
“Koo is a luxury charter yacht with a strong emphasis on socialising and entertaining, comments David Milner of Veritais. “It is important that her leisure and entertainment facilities make use of the very latest technology. Veritais monitors emerging developments in AV and we are continuously able to introduce new products and systems to owners and captains for an enhanced AV experience.”
He adds, “Our original installation has shown that it has been able to adapt to these emerging technologies as we expected it to.”
The new movie central server, which also stories music, will interface with an HD media player that is located in each zone. There are also standalone disc players, speakers and other accessories in the cabins. HD TV screens are standard throughout, with the saloon and master suite having 55-inch, frameless HD 3D screens.
Veritais is also responsible for the yacht’s wi-fi access points and sophisticated lighting control.
Mark Critchley, Engineer on Dubois Sailing Yacht Koo was very pleased with Veritais’s original installation. Of the upgrade, he says, “There was a requirement to upgrade the system to work more in harmony with the needs of Koo’s owner’s audio visual requirements, which had changed since the original installation. At the same time we wanted components to be added to allow the engineers on board the ability to manage these expectations. After some discussion, Veritais was able to modify the system to meet all of these requirements.”
