Atlanta Home Theater And Home Automation

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Home Theater Sound Bars Can Turn Hum Drum Flat Screen TV Speakers Into An Amazing Experience.

The very nature of a flat screen TV like a plasma or a LCD dictates that the speaker quality can not be impressive. If you ever took a TV apart you can plainly see that these speakers are barely an 1″ deep. How can you get quality sound from such speakers. The answer is you really can’t.  That is why movie enthusiasts like us look at adding surround sound speakers to an existing Plasma TV.

But here is the thing.

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Have you ever wondered about whether or not you can hang a TV on the Ceiling before?

Believe it or not as a custom home theater atlanta company, we get asked this all of the time.

There are several ways to do this:

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I am surprised more distributed audio manufacturers aren’t jumping on the green bandwagon yet. Nuvo is the trendsetter with it’s redesigned Essentia E6G.

The essentia has earned the coveted energy star logo seal of approval for the technology it uses.  It is being haled as the first home distributed audio system to achieve this. In the sleep mode it only consumes 1 watt of power.

With the importance of being energy conscious you can expect more companies to follow Nuvo’s lead.

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Denon has just revealed its new line of home theater surround sound receivers. They include the AVR 689 , 789,889 & 999. Here are a couple of things I noticed automatically:

• The Denon avr 689 that replaces the 688 is now being retailed at $399. The msrp for last years model the 688 was $ 449. That is a $50 savings. Not too many “new Models” are released at a lower price point than the previous model.
• All of the new models contain a new technology called audysseys which eliminates loud commercial that can really annoy you.

This is a 720p resolution LCD projector rated at 1100 ANSI lumens and 5,000:1 contrast. The W500 is the first BenQ home theater projector to use 3LCD technology; the company has traditionally produced single-chip DLP projectors for home theater.

This unit has been tested to measure a maximum of 731 ANSI lumens with an excellent 93% brightness uniformity.

Image sharpness on this projector W500 is superb. Image detail in HD 1080p material is displayed with precision despite its compression to 720p. Image clarity is exceptional for such an inexpensive home theater projector.

Connection Panel: One HDMI port, one VGA port, two sets of YPbPr component inputs, composite video, s-video, USB, one 12v trigger, and an RS232 port for an external control.

Lens and Throw Distance: 1.2x manual zoom/focus lens with vertical and horizontal lens shift. Throws a 100″ diagonal 16:9 image from 10′10″ to 13′.

Lamp Life: 2000 hours, 3000 in eco-mode

Replacement lamp price: $250 street.

Warranty: One year.

Choosing Atlanta home theater seating for your dedicated home theater room can be a challenge. Of course it depends a lot on 3 things:

• Design
• Comfort
• Budget

If you are not worried about a budget then you may want to look at some of the work that these custom home theater seating designers do. They provide custom theater seating for some of the most elite theaters in north America.

If you are working on a budget, then choose Atlanta home theater chairs that compliment the style of your room. And don’t worry, chairs are available in almost every color that you can think of. Remember too that if you get a neutral color you have the option to change the rooms color scheme later on. That is hard to do with orange leather seating!

When thinking about design, don’t forget about your rooms dimensions. How many chairs can you fit in a row? How many rows of theater seating do you want to have? Here is another tip that makes common sense but you might not think about until it’s too late…

Home theater seating that is connected together take up less room than theater chairs that are separate individual chairs. Connected chairs share an arm so your chairs will take up less room. This may not mean much to you know but it may make the difference between getting 2 or 3 chairs in each row.

As regard to chair comfort, only you can decide…

But I’ll tell you this make sure they can recline & have built in cup holders!

You are welcome to see the Atlanta home theater seating we have in our showroom.

So, If I Can Buy The Home Theater Equipment Cheaper…Why Should I Buy It From You?

That’s a very good question I isn’t it?

I guess it comes down to “price” versus “Cost”.

What does that mean? Well essentially this…

You May Get A Cheaper “PRICE” Now…

But What Will It “COST” if there is a problem with the equipment later?

There are 2 ways to take on a project like this. I will be happy to accommodate you either way. I just wanted you to know the advantages and disadvantages of each up front. So you can make an informed decision. O.K.?

1.       As a licensed & insured atlanta home theater company we supply the equipment from a list of approved vendors that my team works with everyday. Yes you can probably save a few bucks buying it yourself…but it does have certain advantages to allow me to buy it for you.

·        You get a 1- year warranty on all home automation equipment. Not just the 90 days given from the manufacturer. (Or 30 days from Best buys)

·         If there is a defect, we will come out and replace the equipment immediately at no cost to you. (In other words you will not have to wait 3-4 weeks while it is being repaired)

·         We eat the cost of the labor to take defective equipment out and come back to re-install it, recalibrate it and re-test it.

·         You save on installation costs. My team has experience working with the same brands & equipment over and over again. This means I can give you a flat rate for installation and calibration. Equipment that we are unfamiliar will be billed at an hourly rate.

2.       You supply your own home theater equipment & I install it.

·         Your equipment will be installed at a rate of $125 per hour. (Please be assured this is a competitive rate and it will not be milked)

·         You only receive the manufacturers 90 day warranty (Or Best Buys 30 day warranty)

·         If there is a defect with equipment, there will be a service charge plus an hourly rate of $125 hr to send a tech out to troubleshoot and take the equipment out

·         You will also need to pay a service call charge as well as the original installation labor fees associated with the equipment to send a tech out to reinstall, test and calibrate it again.

In a future post I will give an example of how this can easily happen.

Only you can decide if the “Price” is worth the “Cost”. Please be assured that I will be happy to work with you in any capacity that you like. Please feel free to call with any questions you may have.

How To Choose Seating For Your Home Theater Experience

So you have been working with a home theater company to set up your home theater and now its time to decide on your home theater seating arrangements. There is no simple answer, as this will depend on a few things you need to think about first.

Where is your home theater set up located? Is it in a separate home theater room that is dedicated for a family media room? Or is your surround sound set up in a family room, living room or den? Let’s face it not everyone has the room or the capital to invest in a dedicated theater room. Perhaps you are like the majority of people that would like to set up a theater room in the basement or bonus room one day…

But until then will temporarily settle for a surround sound system in the den.

In this article we will discuss home theater chairs for the part time theater room.

The Family Room Theater Setup

OK, lets start with the room that has to double as a family room by day and a home theater room at night. Your seating choices will have to serve a dual purpose so it is important to think this through.

1) First, you have your obvious choice of a couch or love seat arrangement. Now while it is important to look good, please make sure they are comfortable too! Proper neck support is vital for you to be able to watch a 2-1/2 to 3 hour movie. The reason I said this is that my wife & I went shopping for a couch a few years ago & I couldn’t believe how uncomfortable the “fashionable” couches were. Sure they looked beautiful in the showroom, but I couldn’t get comfortable on any one of them. Between the dozens of bulky pillows & the lack of neck support I really got frustrated. In the end, fashion won over comfort. (Sigh.)

My favorite choice is a comfortable couch that has a built in recliner on both ends. It serves the purpose of an attractive piece of furniture but at the time allows a person to relax while watching a good old fashioned movie.

2) Stand alone recliners are also very good for a family room surround sound set up. Drive over to a local Lazy-Boy furniture store on a Saturday afternoon & you will have more choices than you can imagine. Every style, fabric & color you can think of.

3) What if you have a wife or partner that will not allow you to get something comfortable because it will ruin the “decor” of the room? (Believe me I understand!)

But alas, fear not… all is not lost.

The solution is simple, yet brilliant.

What is the answer?

I’ll give you a clue. Think back to the old college days. I am talking about an old-fashioned beanbag chair. Think about it. Just stick it in a closet or a back room when they are not in use.

I say that because it makes everyone happy. The “room décor” remains uncompromised by day & you are comfortable as you watch an action movie at night.

In our next installment we will talk about choosing Atlanta home theater seating for an actual dedicated home theater room.

I know this is a highly charged topic of conversation in the home theater industry. For years installers have flat out refused to install any equipment that they didn’t provide. And you could understand that based on the following two reasons:

1. Profitability. It only makes sense that the home theater installer would be more profitable when he supplied the equipment.
2. Accountability. What would happen after all of the installers blood, sweat & tears that the equipment stopped working2 weeks down the road. Whose responsibility would it be?

I personally prescribe to this model. However the internet based equipment purchases combined with a near recession has forced me to reconsider as follows.

1. It is getting harder and harder to compete with internet pricing for equipment. That is why installers prefer to use a professional line of equipment that can not be shopped or bought at Circuit City.
2. While there will always be a certain percentage of clients that depend on the recommendations of an installer, we can’t deny that this economy is causing everyone to tighten up their belts a bit. This means many times that the only way they can afford to even do a theater room is if they supply their own equipment. To have the contractor supply it would mean that they couldn’t do it at all.
3. The internet has spawned the educated customer. People are spending countless hours price shopping to get the best deal they can. To deny this would be for a home theater company to stick his head in the sand like an ostrich.
4. The birth of the DIY home theater enthusiast that wants to run his own wires & install his own speakers but needs help in setting up his screen, projector & smart remotes. Others are willing to pay for a home theater consultation to give them direction.
5. This recession economy means that the phone is just not ringing like it used to. In other words, to turn down any work might mean the difference between laying off your top installers or keeping them busy.
6. Learn to look at the lifetime value of a client. Instead of just thinking about a one time purchase & installation, learn to see the potential lifetime value a client brings to the table. The future will bring upgrades, new equipment, service calls, Home automation & referrals.

This model just makes sense and is a win-win for the contractor & the savvy shopper. Of course it is still up to the Atlanta Home theater installer to educate the client about the benefits & the added value that come with Installer provided equipment. A future article will discuss this.