What to know about AV control systems in Maricopa
Volume limits live in the control system
Maricopa's noise rule names televisions, amplifiers and instruments and applies when the sound is plainly audible beyond the property line for 15 minutes or more, or between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Outdoor speakers also can't be audible more than 50 feet from the source. Setting a ceiling level for each zone in the control system means no one can push a patio past it.
Source: City of Maricopa, MCC 18.110.050
One electric provider, and outages happen
Electrical District No. 3 (ED3), not APS, is the sole electric provider for the City of Maricopa. ED3's outage page names monsoon season and traffic accidents among the main causes of power outages. A control system should come back on its own with your last settings after a power cut.
Source: ED3 Outage Center
The 2023 NEC applies, with one local change
Maricopa adopted the 2023 National Electrical Code and amended it only for island countertop receptacles. There is no local amendment on low-voltage, plenum or abandoned cable, so the standard rules for control wiring apply.
Source: City of Maricopa, MCC 15.05.100
Fire alarm and sprinkler work are separate permits
Fire sprinkler and fire alarm work needs its own permits. We don't wire into a fire alarm panel ourselves. If you want a room's audio to mute on an alarm, that tie-in is planned with the fire alarm contractor so it matches their permit.
Source: City of Maricopa, Commercial Tenant Improvement Guide
What a control system does
Without control, a bar has a remote for the TVs, an app for the music, a knob for the patio and a mixer nobody dares touch. A control system replaces all of that with a few buttons staff can learn in ten minutes.
- Turn the whole room on or off with one button.
- Choose the source for each TV or zone.
- Set volume per zone, with a maximum we lock.
- Recall presets such as Open, Happy Hour, Game Day and Close.
Wall panel, tablet or app
A wall panel stays where it is put, which makes it right for a bar or a conference room. A tablet is more flexible but can wander. An app on a manager's phone is a good addition, not a replacement, since staff need something on the wall when the phone is not there.
We usually install a wall panel, and add an app for managers who want to change things after hours.
Presets that match how you run the place
We build the buttons from your day, not from the equipment list. A restaurant might have Lunch, Dinner and Late Night, each with its own music volume by zone and the TVs set to the right inputs. A conference room needs Present, Call and Off. Keep the list short. A panel with twenty buttons is a panel nobody uses.
Control in a Maricopa venue
We set the patio's ceiling level once and lock it behind a manager code. Staff can still turn music up or down within the range, but not past it. We test from the edge of your property, since the City's test is whether the sound reaches a set distance.
Because outages and monsoon storms cut power, we test that the system returns to a safe default level when power comes back, rather than the last loud setting.
Often paired with
Control ties together commercial audio, TV and video distribution and conference room AV. Because it runs on your network, business WiFi and wired ports matter. The rest of our Maricopa work is on the town page.
