GENERAL AIRSTAGE CENTAURI Ceiling Cassette Heat Pump | 9000 BTU

GENERAL AIRSTAGE CENTAURI 9,000 BTU Cassette Heat Pump, Compact Format: Silence for the Home Theatre and the Basement Bedroom

One clarification first, because it answers the first question people ask us: the GENERAL AIRSTAGE CENTAURI 9,000 BTU is the same machine as the Fujitsu AIRSTAGE CENTAURI 9,000 BTU. Same compact cassette ACUH09KUAS, same outdoor unit AOUH09KUAS1, same AHRI certificate 215434545. It is still the same manufacturer, renamed GENERAL Inc. on January 1, 2026. The ENERGY STAR and cold-climate certifications carry over, as does the warranty of 12 years on the compressor, 12 years on parts and 6 years on labour.

We suggest it for two basement rooms where the sound of a unit stands out more than anywhere else. The first is the home theatre: lights off, sound set for the dialogue, and the slightest mechanical whoosh can be heard during a quiet scene. The second is the master bedroom set up in the basement, where you sleep, where you read and where nobody wants to hear a machine start up again in the middle of the night.

In both rooms, the cassette has a clear edge over the wall-mounted head. It takes up no wall, which leaves all the room for the screen, the speakers or the headboard. It is recessed into the ceiling, where only the grille remains visible, and at its lowest it runs at 28 dB(A).

GENERAL or Fujitsu AIRSTAGE: the same machine

What changed fits in a few words: an owner and a name. Paloma Rheem Holdings, which has owned Rheem since 1988, acquired Fujitsu General in August 2025, and the company has carried the name GENERAL Inc. since the start of 2026. The engineers at the Kawasaki R&D centre are the same, so are the factories, and the AIRSTAGE range keeps its model numbers as well as its warranty program. During the transition, the Fujitsu brand fades out little by little and the same unit circulates under both names.

You may know this cassette under the Fujitsu name, the one you saw everywhere until recently. We keep both pages side by side so that you find the same unit whichever brand you look for, with the same AIRSTAGE Elite Plus installer behind both. The following table lines up the two names.

The twin page, under the Fujitsu name, is here: Fujitsu AIRSTAGE CENTAURI 9,000 BTU ceiling cassette heat pump.

What 28 and 34 dB(A) mean. These are the certified sound levels of the indoor unit, at its lowest and highest speeds. The first is the one you will hear almost all the time: once the room is at the right temperature, the cassette slows down and holds the set point gently. The second is mostly for start-up, when a basement that stayed cool needs warming. Even then, the gap between the two stays modest. Outside, the outdoor unit is certified at 44.0 dB(A), a point that matters when it sits under the bedroom window or near the neighbour's yard.

Air that does not hit the seats. In a home theatre, the seats are fixed and the audience does not move for the whole film. A wall-mounted head would send its stream onto one particular row. The cassette, for its part, draws air in at the centre and pushes it out over several sides of the grille, along the ceiling. Its 318 CFM mixes with the room air before reaching the seats or the bed.

The basement in the middle of winter. A finished basement stays cooler than the rest of the house, especially when it is freezing outside. The values certified by NEEP (ashp.neep.org), looked up by AHRI number, show how the CENTAURI performs:

• at −8 °C, 7,900 BTU with a COP of 3.01;
• at −15 °C, 10,100 BTU with a COP of 2.23;
• at −21 °C, the coldest certified point, 9,200 BTU with a COP of 2.17, and heating guaranteed down to that temperature.

COP is a simple ratio. At 3.01, the machine puts three times more energy into the room as heat than it draws from the electrical panel, because it captures heat from the outdoor air instead of making it. The HSPF2 of 11.8 is the score for an entire heating season, mild days and frigid days combined. For summer, the SEER2 of 24.4 and the EER2 of 14.5 rate the cooling, and the dehumidification of 1.3 pints/h helps fight the humidity that often settles in basements. Wi-Fi is an available option.

How we install a cassette in a basement. Basements have their own quirks, and our HVAC team accounts for them at every step:

• in a drop ceiling, the cassette takes the place of one tile, since the 22.44 × 22.44 × 9.65 in indoor unit is the compact format intended for a 2 ft × 2 ft grid; in a drywall ceiling, we cut the opening after checking the space between the joists for the cabinet's height;
• the 1/4 and 3/8 in refrigerant line, the cable and the drain run above the ceiling to the outside wall;
• in a basement, the drain route deserves particular attention: we plan a slope or a condensate pump as the case requires, and the quote specifies it;
• a dedicated circuit powers the system, with a minimum circuit ampacity (MCA) of 9 A and a maximum overcurrent protection (MOP) of 15 A;
• our refrigeration technician pulls the vacuum, commissions the system and runs heating and cooling tests before leaving.

The outdoor unit, at 31.46 × 11.42 × 21.34 in, goes at the back or the side of the house, wherever it gives the shortest and most discreet route. The system's refrigerant is R-32. As for the finishing grille and the control method, we settle them with you in the quote.

Simple maintenance, even in the dark of a theatre. To clean the filters, you simply remove them through the grille, with no tools and without touching the ceiling. We show you how at commissioning. For annual maintenance by a refrigeration technician, access above the ceiling must remain possible: neighbouring tiles are enough in a drop ceiling, and for drywall, we specify the access in the quote.

The LogisVert grant. On Hydro-Québec's list of October 27, 2026, this system is not listed in the LogisVert program. So we promise no grant amount for this cassette, and we would rather tell you before the quote than after.

It is made for you if:

• you are setting up a home theatre and want to keep the walls for the screen and the sound;
• your master bedroom is in the basement and the slightest noise keeps you awake;
• your finished basement has a drop ceiling or a drywall ceiling with space above;
• the room calls for 9,000 BTU, which our load calculation confirms in the quote.

Ceiling Cassette in Sainte-Rose, Laval: Request Your Free Quote

In Sainte-Rose, homes with finished basements are plentiful, and a basement turned into a home theatre or a master bedroom is precisely the kind of project this cassette serves best. We install everywhere in Laval, Montreal, Longueuil, on the North Shore and on the South Shore. Call 514 316-2973 for a free quote: we look at the ceiling, the drain route and the location of the outdoor unit, then we explain every step clearly.

GENERAL on the box or Fujitsu, you receive the same ACUH09KUAS cassette, the same AOUH09KUAS1 unit and the same warranty, with the know-how of an AIRSTAGE Elite Plus installer.