Dallas Home Theater Installation Services - The Audio Guy

Stewart Filmscreen

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:11:00 GMT

By Clay Hankins, the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas and Ft. Worth, TX metro and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Room and surrounding DFW area a/v markets.

This is the 4th article written in a series that addresses why we choose the manufacturers we do.

When I first started out in this business, I was very much an “audio guy”. You might have surmised that by the company name and though that is still my passion, I have spent a lot of time learning how to make video look its best. Nothing compares to the value received by having your system properly calibrated, but when it comes to the home theater/media room with a projector/screen combination, screen choice is as important, if not more so, than projector choice. First let me say, this was something I needed a little convincing on.

Screens come in all kinds of brands, with all kinds of fabric choices, in all shapes and sizes and in all kinds of price ranges. Most of the entry level packages we have allocate a screen budget of about $600-$1000. That number is pretty much the entry level price of a decent screen without breaking the bank. There are a number of choices in that price range as well from companies such as VuTec, Grandview, Elite, Dragonfly, and Severtson (who I will write about in my next article). In the early days, I remember thinking that compared to the price of a Stewart, how much of a difference can a piece of fabric make? Boy was I about to get an education.

Having access to Stewart, I hadn’t sold one in the early days of business because we weren’t doing a lot of theaters for one thing, and the ones we were doing were on entry level end. I can across a client that wanted one (well, insisted on one actually). This job would be my first Stewart install, and the first time I had seen one in a theater rooom. We had a lot of construction on that job so it took a while before we were ready to install the screen and projector and the day finally arrived to get it done. We got it hung on the wall, turned on the projector, did the alignments and, WOW! I was blown away. I just couldn’t believe how much of a difference there was in the Stewart and all the other screens I had installed. The images just popped off the screen. Colors looked natural, brightness was even without having hot spots, in short, it looked like 110” flat screen TV on the wall.

Once I was enlightened, I started looking more in to Stewart and of course, now I knew why most every reviewer out there chose Stewart as their “reference” screen. They are the benchmark. Are they cheap? No. But do they provide great value? Absolutely.

Most of the time when I am advising clients on how to best spend their “theater” dollars, I will suggest to them to put the largest portion into the screen and speakers. Those are the two items that will almost always live in the theater for the life of the theater. True, I won’t be putting any Stewart screens in a $5000 theater, but I can get them in a $6500-$7000 theater, depending on other equipment choices.

Again, are they cheap? No, but they are an excellent value for what you pay to get such a great return on your investment.

You can check out Stewart products at www.stewartfilmscreen.com

Paradigm Speaker Company

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:29:00 GMT

By Clay Hankins, the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas and Ft. Worth, TX metro and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Room and surrounding DFW area a/v markets.

This is the 3rd article written in a series that addresses why we choose the manufacturers we do.

Many times in my blog, I have written glowing editorials on the value and performance of the Focal/JM Labs brand of speakers. If this were a race, in my book, they would finish first. Shortly behind them at the finish line though would be an exceptional speaker company that is truly a great value – Paradigm speaker company.

Paradigm is widely recognized in the a/v community as the one of the premiere speaker companies and in my opinion, one of the best valued speakers I’ve ever come across. Ever.

From their website:

For over twenty-five years, Paradigm has set the standard for sonic excellence in every product category we offer. And while we remain focused on what we consider the “absolutely essential” performance/value relationship, we continue to push the boundaries of speaker design. Breathtaking accuracy, a spacious soundstage, pinpoint localization, deep, powerful bass and thrilling dynamics are hallmarks of Paradigm’s advanced speaker designs.

Rave reviews the world over and hundreds of product awards continue to confirm why Paradigm is the first choice for even the most critical listener.

I remember before I got into this business during my “audiophile” discovery days, I used to read a lot of a/v magazines. Every year, I looked forward to the Stereophile Recommended Components issue and every year, the Paradigm Studio 100’s were always on the recommended components list for speakers. In and of itself, that was quite an accomplishment. If I remember correctly, there were only about 5 pairs of speakers that made that list. What made it even more spectacular though was that the Studio 100’s were priced at about $2,000 and the next cheapest set of speakers in that class were over $10k with most of them being north of $50k!! Now that’s what I call a value!

Even more impressive to me though is the quality of sound and the quality of the build of the product. I’ve always had mixed feelings about reviews and praise of high end equipment just because if something audio costs $50,000, it ought to sound great. So, what make Paradigm easy for me to recommend is that the quality of their speakers competes with speakers priced at the “high end audiophile” level, but is priced at the mainstream consumer level. Even with a few of their higher end speakers being more than what I would consider mainstream consumer pricing, most of their products are very affordable and aren’t more expensive than something you would find at a big box retail store.

So, if you want to enter the world of high end audio sound, at a mainstream consumer audio price, audition a set of Paradigm speakers. You’ll be amazed at what you get for what you spend.

Have a look at Paradigm products on their website at www.paradigm.com

Anthem Electronics

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:00:00 GMT

By Clay Hankins, the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas and Ft. Worth, TX metro and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Room and surrounding DFW area a/v markets.

My first blog about the manufacturers we represent was about Focal/JM Labs. This blog is about one of the finest makers of electronics that I have come across and that company is Anthem Electronics. From the Anthem website, this is the description from the page "About Us"

About Anthem

For more than two decades, Sonic Frontiers International has manufactured award-winning high-end audio/video equipment for music, home theater and distributed audio. Our products are used at all levels of music reproduction and sold internationally under the brand names Anthem, and Anthem Statement — the ultimate in high-end audio/video reproduction.

Anthem products allow you to virtually 'be there' every time you listen to a favorite piece of recorded music or experience the excitement of surround-sound home theater. Our reputation in analog and digital design is legendary and our products continue to receive industry awards and acclaim in the finest magazines. Around the world, Anthem is consistently the brand of choice for leaders in the field of music and entertainment.

Our original goal was to create a high-end product without a high-end price. Our success is reflected in an award-winning product lineup that continues to set new reference standards of performance regardless of price.

The Anthem difference is audible: you hear it in every product we provide.

I was first introduced to Anthem with their flagship processor the Anthem Statement D2v. When I got the processor into the theater I was, well, blown away. What separates Anthem from the rest of the pack, and I share this opinion with a lot of A/V equipment reviewers out there, is the ARC (Anthem Room Correction) processing software. Like many of the mass market surround receivers out there, the unit comes with a microphone kit that allows the processor to "hear" the room anomalies that result from imperfect acoustical conditions, and correct for that. Essentially, the unit tunes itself to the room.

Stating that "most mass market surround receivers..." also do that may leave you wondering, "just what then, makes the Anthem different?" I'm sure their tech department could explain in detail but for me, but the bottom line is that I don't know WHY they do it so much better than the others, they just DO. Having owned Lexicon and Marantz surround preamp/processors as well as a multitude of brands of surround receivers, I have not come across another pre/pro that sounded this good. I've installed several of these in various applications and each time, the ARC software has corrected the frequency response properly for the room, even in some pretty difficult environments.

Now, that said, the pre/pro has a pretty hefty price tag and it should sound good. But even at a retail price of $8,999.00, it is still a value (I've heard equipment at twice the price that doesn't sound as good as this!) Fortunately for most of though, Anthem released a line of surround sound receivers that are competitively priced with most of the mass market lines of receivers. In fact, I had a pretty high end surround receiver in my family room surround system that I replaced with the Anthem MRX700 and I couldn't believe what an improvement that made!

Anthem has 3 receivers, the entry level MRX300, mid MRX500, and top MRX700. They are priced at $1000, $1500, and $2,000 respectively. Again, if you're shopping for a surround receiver in the $200-$500 range, this may not seem like a great deal but if you're looking at a receiver that's priced around $899 and up, these are not only a good value, they're a steal!

Anthem also has a line of great amplifiers and like I tell all my clients - don't take my word for it, do your homework and check out the reviews.

You can check out Anthem and Anthem Statement products at

www.anthemav.com

The one that started it all.

admin — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:26:00 GMT

By Clay Hankins, the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas and Ft. Worth, TX metro and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Room and surrounding DFW area a/v markets.

In my last blog, I introduced the topic of how we choose the manufacturers we represent. So this first one will be easy, because it is near and dear to my heart - Focal. I've written in other articles the history I have with Focal so I won't go into the long and drawn out version but Focal (then known as JM Labs) was my first pair of high end audiophile speakers. I spent a year searching for the "right" pair of speakers for me during which I auditioned several well respected, and incredibly good, audiophile speakers (B&W, Wilson, Paul Hales, and Thiel to name a few) but I kept coming back to a pair of Focal/JM Labs (the Daline 3.1's). At a fraction of the cost of some of the other speakers I was listening to, nothing else sounded as warm and rich as they did. I found myself comparing the sound of all the other speakers to them (a telltale sign of how a pair of speakers or piece of equipment becomes your reference piece!)

Anyway, they finally ended up in my home, and it was a game changer for me. I have always loved music from as far back as I can remember, but had never listened to it like I was with my new JM Labs. By the way, did I mention that I had not yet started The Audio Guy? This was all before the business was formed.

So, now for a little more about Focal. Focal-JM Labs is a french company founded by Jacques Mahul (the JM of JM Labs) in 1979. Originally, the speakers were branded JM Labs and were fitted with Focal drivers. Eventually, the JM Labs label was shortened to Focal which is where they stand now. This line of speakers won't be in our entry level packages, but for those that buy them, they hit one of the most important core values of how we pick our lines to represent and that's value. I still have my Daline 3.1 speakers in my office and have graduated into a little bigger pair of Focal speakers in my home theater but there hasn't been a day since I've owned them that doesn't bring me the same amount of joy as the day I bought them. Actually, I would say they bring me more joy since I have learned their nuances over the years. I'd call that a pretty good return on investment and an excellent value. Focal speakers also hit the other important criteria for us - reliability, customer service, and aesthetics. All in all, if they're in your budget, an easy choice to make!

Check out the Focal line of speakers at

www.focal.com

You Are What You Represent

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:38:00 GMT

By Clay Hankins, the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas and Ft. Worth, TX metro and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Room and surrounding DFW area a/v markets.

Over the next few months, I am going to write about some of the products that we sell and represent. I think this is an important aspect of our business that may often times go over looked. I have spent considerable time and energy on picking manufacturers based on many things other than just the quality of the end product. Several other qualities must be included to "make the cut" into our stable of manufacturers, so to speak. The most obvious is the quality of the end product. For a projector, the image has to look good. Speakers have to sound good. Receivers have to sound clean. Those are easy. The other qualities are sometimes a little harder to identify. Here are some of those qualities.

1) Value. A company must produce a product that has good value to the end user. This is just as important in a entry level system as it is in a high end system. Let's look at a universal remote control, for example. The remote control brand that I like the most is Universal Remotes (yes, that's actually the brand name!) What I like about it is the simplicity of the remote for the end user. It is mostly icon based so the users just pick up the remote and press the button next to the picture of what they want to do. Simple as that. This is the only product that I try to "sell" someone on and it is because I truly believe it is worth the money. I can sell a cheaper remote, but that remote would not be worth the money saved when it added complication and frustration to then experience. Most of us use our a/v systems for entertainment and relaxation. I believe a simple to use remote is far more valuable than a cheaper one that ends up in a drawer unused.

2) Reliability. This is pretty self explanatory, but obviously, I don't want to represent a company that makes products that break a lot. I've worked with the manufacturers of the products we sell and they are all very reliable. All manufacturers have a product that will break on occasion, so we look for consistency in quality.

3) Customer Service. We also look for companies that have good customer service. If something does go wrong with a product, will the company back it up? Will they be helpful in troubleshooting the product? Do they offer a good warranty? Who does their service?

4) Aesthetics. Performance is a top priority of course, but if we're going to put something in plain sight, it needs to look good too.

Those are some of the areas that we feel are important and are sometimes not considered as much as profit margin. And although that is also a part of our consideration, it isn't the most important. I want my clients to have systems that perform well, are easy to use, and deliver value to them whether they spend a little, or a lot.

A business born out of passion

admin — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:37:00 GMT

Several years ago, before I started The Audio Guy, my wife and I were blessed with discovering that we were going to come in to a little extra money. During the time in which we waited for that to happen, I started planning to realize one of my dreams might come true – to be able to buy a high fidelity stereo system. It took about a year or so before we received that money and during that time, I took to task the project of searching for a new pair of speakers. I lived in San Antonio at the time so I went to a few local hi-fi shops and started listening. Those early days changed my life. I had never heard anything remotely like what I was being introduced to and not only did I discover a new way of listening to music, I started to discover new music as well by listening to artists that the dealers used to showcase their particular speaker brands.

Being a flight attendant, I had the fortune of being able to travel all over the country and during my layovers, go to local hi-fi shops and audition speakers. It took me about a year and I listened to all kinds of different speaker systems – B&W, Mirage, Paul Hales, Wilson.... Some of the biggest names in high end speakers but eventually, I decided to buy a pair of Focal-JM Lab Daline 3.1 speakers. I liked everything I had listened to, but the Focal-JM Labs struck a chord with me in what I liked to hear and for the money, I thought they were a steal.

I remember bringing those speakers home, unpacking the boxes, hooking everything up and ending up with that Cheshire cat grin on my face that I so love to see on my clients. Music moves people in so many ways, and that was one of the happiest days of my life. In the early days of listening, I also discovered that not all cd’s were created equally! I remember that I couldn’t wait to get home, dig into my cd collection and listen to music that I had heard 100’s of times, but in a completely new way. Unfortunately, the speakers revealed a lot of flaws in the recording process on a lot of artists (something I’d never heard before!), but the ones that were done well, were spectacular.

Anyway, those early days began my love affair (some people - like my wife - might call it a sickness!) with hi-fidelity music equipment and I began to build my dream stereo system. But it all started with my little Focal-JM Labs Daline 3.1’s.

So where does that bring me? Well, the exciting news around here is that I have now become a dealer for Focal-JM Labs. I am always excited when we bring on a new line because I wouldn’t bring them on if I didn’t believe in them, but for me, this is truly special since it represents a turning point in my life.

Fortunately, Focal-JM Labs offers an extensive array of product that we can fit in to most any budget and I will be updating our packages shortly with some speaker packages from Focal-JM Labs shortly. Be sure to check back soon to see what we put together, or give us a call and we can see what fits what you desire and we can help you begin your journey into the world of hi-fidelity audio!

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas and Ft. Worth, TX metro and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

Something to get excited about!

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:20:00 GMT

We recently added Pro-Ject turntables to our line up to meet a growing demand in the resurgence of vinyl. While most “experts” agree that this is still a niche market, what I love about this new trend is that it’s mostly college and high school age people that are buying records again. Not long ago, the industry seemed to suggest that high end audio was all but doomed. CD sales have plummeted to the rise of downloadable music, multi-channel music formats were being introduced and traditional 2 channel (that’s “stereo” to you and me) audio fidelity stores were becoming the stuff that ghost towns are made of.

Fortunately, the young and hip that walk amongst us are always looking for a way to make something retro cool again as is the case with albums and turntables. More importantly, I think, is that this generation of listeners is now discovering high end audio the way that us old folks did. Though I still love digital music and all that it brings to the table, there is an undeniable warmth and openness in a vinyl groove that, so far, digital music is unable to achieve. Moreover, listening to an album is an engaging process. Audiophile quality aside, some of the rise in popularity is attributed to the whole process it takes to listen to an album. It is once again cool to sit with the album sleeve and look at the pictures, lyrics, and liner notes while listening to the record. As this younger generation spends time discovering both the audiophile qualities of the turntable and the emotional involvement of the process, 2 channel music may once again rise up in popularity. Who knows what’s next? Can you say “tube amps” boys and girls?

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas and Ft. Worth, TX metro and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

CES Report

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:08:00 GMT

Lots of new information is coming in from the new product showings at CES, the Consumer Electronics Show so over the next few weeks, I'll be posting some of the new and exciting things in store for next year from the manufacturers we represent. Below is a report from Paradigm.

Anthem/Paradigm
Anthem/Paradigm announced the release of their new Blu-ray player and their new subwoofers, the Sub 1 and Sub 2. The Sub 2 runs six ten inch long throw drivers and has an internal amplifier that can peak at over 9,000 Watts. In order to get the most performance out of this subwoofer, you will need to have a 220 Volt line run to it. Reportedly during some of the demos, light bulbs had unscrewed and crashed to the floor and they had to routinely re-tighten the bulbs to prevent it from happening again during the show.

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

$3,500 vs. $39,999 – What you get for the money.

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:45:00 GMT

$3,500 vs. $39,999 – What you get for the money.
On our website, we have home theater media room packages that range in price from $3,500 to over $100,000. So if you’re thinking of buying equipment for your media room, what should you expect to get for $3500 and what $39,000?
For starters, the $3,500 home theater media room is based on entry level products from some of the manufacturers we represent. We change the equipment periodically so that we offer the best value we can for the money. Right now, that would include a Pioneer 5.1 channel receiver with HDMI switching, up to a 100” film screen, an Optoma 1080p projector, mount, 2 – HDMI interconnect cables for components, a 5.1 surround sound speaker system, a bluray DVD player, surge protection (very important) and basic installation. When someone calls on this package, I always first ask what size the theater room is that they are planning to install it in. This system wasn’t designed to be installed in a huge room so we need to clear that up pretty quickly. The last thing you want to do is buy a system, any system, and be underwhelmed. The $3500 home theater media room package has other limitations as well and the biggest is with the projector. This is a $1,000 1080p home theater projector – currently one of the least expensive ones on the market. That means no lens shift and limited throw distance. So, the projector has to be mounted in a very limited location. Don’t misunderstand - done right, this system would satisfy a lot of people. But it does need to be done right and it does have limitations.
Now, what does $39,999 get you? Well, with that kind of money, you move into the world of “audiophile” and “videophile” equipment. We’ll start with speakers. That kind of money buys a Snell THX Ultra2 7.2 system. The “.2” in the system represents two Snell Basis 550 subwoofers (with 2 – 12” woofers each!) Make no mistake; this is a world class speaker system that would make you think twice about ever going to a movie theater again. You’ll hear soundtracks differently than ever before. I often find that I hear things in movies that I’ve watched 1,000 times that I’ve never heard before. The level of detail and the subtle nuances are brought to life in a system like this. The electronics in the system are also top notch, and THX Ultra2 certified. This home theater media room package use Parasound electronic products (they are the company that supplies some of the electronics to George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch and has been credited in the Star Wars films.)
Before I continue, one thing I should mention is that when you move into a system like this, you have to apply the “weakest link” theory – the system will only be as good as its weakest link. So, that means high end video and audio cable interconnects, high end speaker cables, high end surge protection… you get the idea.
For the video side of things, we use a JVC DiLA 1080p projector and a Stewart filmscreen (long noted as the industry reference screen.) Even out of the box, this is an incredible video system. It’s jaw-dropping when properly calibrated.
$39,999 is a lot of money for anything, especially an entertainment item. Obviously not everyone will be in the market for a system on this level. But whether you’re a DIY’er or you hire a company to do the work, try to go out and see a system like this to allow you to have a reference level that to compare and then strive to come as close to that as possible in your system.
We’re just finishing designing our $100,000 home theater media room package. That will take the reference level to 11!

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

A Time For Reflection, or “how to choose the proper fabric for your front projection screen.”

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:40:00 GMT

A Time For Reflection, or “how to choose the proper fabric for your front projection screen.”

One of the tasks of a “home theater expert” is to help a client decide on the correct screen fabric for the theater. On the surface (pun intended) that may seem like an unimportant task. However, the right screen surface can make the difference between a poor picture, a decent picture, and a great picture. There are several great websites with a great deal more information on choosing the right screen surface than I am planning to cover here but this blog will cover a few of the basics.

Basically, here are a few of the questions I would ask a client to help pick the right fabric.

1)    Will the speakers be installed behind the screen?
2)    Do you have the ability to completely control the amount of light in the room?
3)    Will you watch the largest percentage of what you watch with the lights off, or nearly off?
4)    What are the dimensions of the room, and what will the seating layout be?

As you can imagine, there are several screen companies out there to choose from. Some names are more recognizable than others, but they all make different screen models that are better suited for certain applications.

The first question above determines if we will use a perforated screen or not. That’s the way a movie theater works in that the front speakers are installed behind the screen. The perforations are so that the sound is not muffled. Those screens also typically have a lower screen gain (more on that below) than a matte white or white screen.

When choosing screen fabric, you will most often select a screen that is white or gray (some are even black!) That choice is usually determined by your ability to control ambient light conditions. While most people will use a different light level while watching different material (I usually have low level lighting while watching sports, and completely dark for movies), you’ll want to let your home theater expert know what the lighting conditions will be most of the time. When the vast majority of your viewing will be done in very low lighting (and you can control the amount of light in the room) then a white screen is usually the better choice. There are still factors that may necessitate the choice of a gray screen (like an extremely bright projector) but generally speaking, a white screen is the better choice if light can be completely controlled and you plan to watch mostly in the dark. Conversely, a white screen is not the best choice if the room is multi-purpose and there are windows that cannot be completely darkened or you plan to have the lights on a lot. Since the job of a front projection screen is to reflect the light that comes at it, a white screen would wash out the image in these conditions.

Stewart Filmscreens introduced the industry’s first gray-based reference standard screen in 2001 with the GrayHawk screen when projector technology was moving from CRT projectors to brighter projector types like DLP, LCD and LCoS. Early models of these projectors were very bright, but had very low contrast ratios and did a very poor job on black levels. Gray screens were designed to help those projectors produce better black levels. Today, many projectors have contrast ratios of 70,000:1 so using a gray screen isn’t necessary in rooms where light is controlled.

The next element in screen choice is screen gain. Gain is a measurement of the reflectivity of any screen or projection surface. The gain number represents a ratio of the light that is reflected from the screen as compared to the light reflected from a standard white (magnesium oxide) board. Therefore, a screen with a gain of 1.0 will reflect the same amount of light as that from a white board. A screen rated at 1.5 gain will reflect 50% more light as that from a white board, whereas a gray screen with an 0.8 rating will reflect 80% of the light from a white board. Gray screens and high contrast screens often have gain levels of .8 and so less light is reflected off the screen than it receives. White screen gains are usually 1.0 to 1.5. So, once the home theater designer and client have decided on a projector and have determined lighting conditions, the choice of screen gets much easier.

The target for screen choice and projector choice is to recreate the experience at the movie theater. Ideally, the projector and screen should produce a minimum least 12 foot-Lamberts when measured and the ideal is 16 foot-Lamberts (SMPTE and THX standards.) So choosing a gray screen with a .8 gain and a projector that only has 700 lumens is probably going to produce a dim picture, especially if the projector is mounted at its farthest throw distance and the screen is large.

Screen companies are very good to help out when determining which screen to go with. As you can see, even from this brief overview, a lot goes in to getting that picture to look just right. Too much gain with too many lumens can produce hot spots, unbalanced color and eye fatigue while too little gain, low lumens, and ambient light can leave a picture dim, or washed out. Be sure when you’re ready to purchase, you go over the details with your home theater expert. You’ll be glad you did!

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

Like it or not, technology keeps coming at me..

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:15:00 GMT

That may sound like an unusual title for a blog from a tech guy like me, but maybe as you read on, that’ll make some sense.

Usually, when I retire to my theater for the evening to take in a movie, a game, or to listen to some music, I leave the (non-audio/video) technology out of the theater. The cell phone stays in kitchen, charging for the next day. The laptop is in the office and for those few rare and precious hours, I am immersed in the media of the evening. Of course, I’m not fooling myself thinking I’m away from technology mind you, but I am away from the kind that can distract me too much from the enjoyment of whatever I may be watching or listening to. My bluray player, my satellite box, my Sooloos, and my receiver are all hooked up to the internet to offer me even more information and choices of what I may want to involve myself with.

Well, in my home, that’s changing now thanks to a very cool addition to the theater, the Nevo S70 remote control. The S70 is first and foremost a great remote. I spent a day in training learning the basics around the software and the possibilities of what you can do with this remote is very cool. It of course handles the basics of theater control – most infrared controlled electronics can be controlled by this remote – as well as some more elaborate functions. The remote is also compatible with Z-Wave two way communication devices so control over entire house systems can be done from the touch screen of this bad boy. Your installer writes in a Z Wave device for say, your air conditioning system. Not only can you now set your thermostat from your remote, but you’ll also get a response from the a/c system that will tell you what the temperature is at the moment. You can do this with lighting, pool/spas, whatever can be controlled by Z wave. So, say your kids are notorious for leaving house lights on, you can look at your remote, see what status the lights are (on, off, dim, dim setting… you get the idea) and presto, you change them on the remote. Since the remote has a 3.5” LCD screen, with an IP addressable surveillance camera, the remote can be set up to monitor security cameras. You can even control PTZ functions!

Finally, the S70 also has Wi-Fi connectivity to allow the end use to get on sites optimized for mobile devices. Your installer can write buttons for favorite internet channels and after the press of a button, the game scores are right there on your remote. For a sports nut, this is the nirvana of remotes. And though it’s true that you could also do this with your laptop, the temptation (for me anyway) of having the laptop there and getting just 1 more email answered, one more bill paid, one more blog read… is just too great. With the S70, I have access to sites that might enhance my entertainment experience and not emails and things that would distract me.

So – control, some internet access, automation… all in the palm of your hand. It’s the right combination. Give your Nevo dealer a call and check out this great product.

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

Be a savvy shopper, but be smart about it.

admin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:00:00 GMT

I’ve written a blog before about this subject, but will probably touch on it from time to time because it’s such a sensitive issue to those of us in the retail industry and especially in the home theater market.

Here in the Dallas home theater market , like everywhere else in the country, the slow economy has caused many consumers to stop spending (at least like they used to anyway) and those that do, are shopping around a lot more. I certainly applaud those that spend money wisely and make informed decisions, but that brings me to the issue at hand – just how informed are you?

Picture the following scenario.

Phone rings. “The Audio Guy, this is Clay, how can I help you?”

Caller - “Yes hi, I’m interested in doing some work at my house. Do you provide free estimates?”

Clay – “We do, what would you like to set up? Next week, 10 am? Great, see you then.”

I go to the job site, review the details and plans, visit with the owner and go back to my office to prepare an estimate. Depending on the job location, this whole process can take between 2 or 3 hours before I get the estimate sent out. Two weeks later, I get the following phone call:

“Hey Clay, I bought all the stuff you recommended on the internet and now I’m ready for you to install it. When can we schedule?”

Before I go more in to this, again, I want to say that I’m all for people shopping wisely. I think if nothing else, with the current state of the economy we’ve learned we can’t just throw money away. But here’s the issue as I see it. First, as a consumer you should know who you are buying from. The first question to ask yourself is whether the person/store/website you are buying from is an authorized dealer of the products they carry. I’ve said this before, and will continue to stress it in the future – go to the manufacturer’s website and look at their internet policy. This is off the Proficient Audio website:

Proficient Internet Warning

Proficient products are sold exclusively to consumers through installing dealers. These dealers are trained by Proficient to credibly represent and demonstrate our products. They provide professional installations, post-sale support and service on all Proficient products. Please be advised that any person or web site offering Proficient product on the Internet are not authorized to do so. Proficient will not honor its warranty on any product purchased from unauthorized individual via the internet or any other website seller.
Unauthorized internet sellers often knowingly deceive the consumer by telling them the product is covered by the warranty and that the specific company will continue to support the original purchaser. This is absolutely not the case. We urge you to use caution and select a reputable local installing dealer to make your purchase and install your products.

Here is a link to Velodyne’s internet warning (http://velodyne.com/about/unauthorized.aspx?sid=791r350g)

They go even further addressing transshipping from dealer to unauthorized dealer. Not only does this violate the dealer agreement risking the relationship the authorized dealer has with Velodyne, it again voids the consumer warranty.

So why is this? Is this a plot to keep prices high? Not at all. First, the companies that do this and the dealers they select care about their products and their customers. Many of us spend countless hours in training learning about new products, proper installation of product and how to choose the right product. When I come to your house to look at your project, you can be assured that I will recommend products that I have experience with, products that are suitable for your project and the correct ones for the job. These companies don’t want customers calling up or being disappointed because someone that doesn’t know what they’re doing recommending the wrong product. Universal Remotes made it extremely difficult to get their software because so many consumers were returning or unhappy with the product because they didn’t know how to use the software properly and were messing up the remotes.

So, you might be thinking… okay, I’ll have the expert come evaluate the site, make the recommendations and I’ll save a few bucks buying on the internet and take my chances on the warranty. Aside from the fact that that’s pretty disrespectful to our time, when I bid a job, I usually try to cap installation, or make a “package” discount for everything when equipment is purchased from us. If it’s not, then it’s a straight hourly rate and if the equipment doesn’t work, then you’ll be paying us again to uninstall it and reinstall it once you get it back. Pretty quickly, the money you saved can evaporate.

Finally, we’re all here to make a living. Sure, most of us totally love what we do (it’s a great job) but like everyone else, I have a mortgage, car payments and kids to support and if I can’t make a reasonable amount of money doing this (and I assure you, none of us will hit the fortune 500 doing this) then I’ll have to move on to something else and we already see this happening to several dealers and custom shops. Eventually, there will only be a handful of people left doing this and the places you bought from in the past will be gone. You don’t access to the people that supported you before, the people that worked for that business are out of jobs and most of them will cut back what they spend for services as well. Everyone loses in that scenario.

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater and surrounding area markets.

The "Green" Room

admin — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Earlier this year, I wrote a blog in which I laid out some goals for The Audio Guy for this year and one of those goals was to develop an area on our website dedicated to environmentally friendly, or “green”, products and services.

I have been watching manufacturers develop more and more green products this year and am sure that we will see more roll out next month at the CEDIA show. So this seemed like the perfect opportunity to introduce some current products and manufacturers as well as some services that are designed to be eco-friendly.
Probably one of the most “all-encompassing” technologies for energy conservation is home automation. As more and more companies develop products that can be integrated into home automation systems, the capacity to save electricity keeps rising exponentially. Here are just a few simple examples of how some of these systems can save electricity. Every morning before school, my kids do the same morning ritual and every morning after they have left for school, I do my same ritual as well – go up stairs and turn every light off. When I’m home, that’s not that big of a deal but if we don’t catch it before we leave, as many as 14 light bulbs could be left on all day long. Maybe it isn’t a huge drain on the electric bill, but it adds up and also generates a lot of heat which makes the a/c work harder (and when it’s 105° outside here in Dallas, I don’t want my a/c working any harder than it has too!)

Speaking of a/c, home automation systems can also tie in the HVAC system in your home to fully automate the cooling and heating of your home. True, you can do this with a programmable thermostat, but can you change it from anywhere in the world? With an IP based control system like NetStreams (www.netstrems.com) you can control HVAC, lighting, security… any system that ties into your NetStreams system from your laptop or JAVA based hand held device from anywhere! So you get to the office and realize you forgot to turn off the lights after the kids and you log on to your office computer and voila, lights off. Say someone decided they were uncomfortably warm and set the a/c to 50°, just move to the thermostat control in the software and set it back to where you want it. It’s that simple!
Not so obvious eco-friendly products include the move to digital amplifiers that draw less power than analog amplifiers, and also produce less heat as well. Subwoofer manufacturer Velodyne (www.velodyne.com) is currently working on getting their products Energy Star compliant.

Samsung (www.samsung.com) along with other television manufacturers have introduced LCD TV’s that feature full LED backlighting. The company’s 8000 series featured edge-lit LED lighting.

The backlit panels will feature local dimming, which reduces energy consumption and improves black levels and contrast. These televisions will comply with Energy Star 3.0 ratings, and include an optimized energy-savings mode that adjusts the backlight and picture quality without sacrificing the overall viewing experience.
Here at The Audio Guy, we are always looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint and are currently investigating purchasing a Ford Transit with an estimated 22 MPG city and 25 MPG highway gas mileage for our delivery vehicle as just one way to help conserve energy.
We will also continue to be on the lookout for products for our clients that want to “go green” in their homes and in the way we do business. Keep checking back for more articles, links, and the development of the “green” section of the website.

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

A Sincere "Thank You" to my clients and friends...

admin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:15:00 GMT

Clients and dear friends,

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all of you for the support, kindness, patience and caring over the last few months during the loss of my mother. Though never easy to go through, the touch of those close to me and those I barely know made a trying time bearable.

Sincerely,
Clay

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

Now Carrying Pioneer Elite

admin — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:56:00 GMT

Audio Guy is proud to annouce that is we have just added Pioneer Elite to our list of manufacturers. If you have a request for a Pioneer Elite product please feel free to contact us with your questions or requests.

To learn more about the Pioneer products please click here:

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/HomeEntertainment

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

New Showroom

admin — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:26:00 GMT

The Audio Guy is proud to announce the grand opening of a “by appointment only” showroom in Flower Mound.

The address is:
3201 Crosstimbers, Suite 200.
Flower Mound, TX 75022

The showroom is located inside the offices of Keller Williams realtors, The Buehlers and Associates.

The showroom will contain one of our theater packages that will be on display (we are currently deciding which one.)

Here are some new photos of the outside of the showroom. More pictures to come.

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

A look into the future.

admin — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:30:00 GMT

We can probably all agree that 2008 was full of challenges and that 2009 will probably bring a lot more. So, with that in mind, I’d like to let you know what we have in store to help you answer the challenges that lay ahead.

With the tough economic conditions that we are in right now, businesses will compete even more fiercely for your hard earned dollars. With the competition for consumers’ discretionary income heating up, it is even more important that consumers be informed in their decision making.

When is a deal not a good deal?

We’ve all seen retail pricing drop and some pretty incredible sales over the last few months. I would expect that probably won’t change much for 2009. However, lowest price does not always mean the best deal. Some businesses have already gone under and some are barely hanging on right now so they may or may not survive this challenge. Some contractors will promise anything to get your business and some will even falsely malign the competition to get the job. We have seen this already. If someone is willing to do that, you should run away immediately or at the very least give the other contractors an opportunity to respond! Any contractor with integrity would never use that kind of tactic. Remember, this is a time to be cautious. If lowest price is the only thing that matters, be prepared for possible disappointments.

So the question that I see as the compass for 2009 is - what did we do right that got us here, and what should we change to make us better?

First, the good stuff.

Our customers matter. We’re not a big box retail store and we’ve stayed relatively small in order to keep our dedication to a high level of service our top priority.
We will continue to stay on top of technology. Even if the economy proves challenging, technology will continue to advance and forge ahead and we will continue to stay on top of the latest advances so that the system we design for you will be the best value for the money you spend.
We will remain competitive. Although we still won’t try to match pricing on non-authorized internet retailers, we will stay competitive with any authorized, legitimate businesses. We will keep our pricing fair, and deliver value for the service that we’re known for.
We will continue to do business with integrity. We know that we won’t win every job, but we won’t compromise our integrity to win business.

So, what can we change?

We are currently evaluating all of our manufacturers to make sure we have the best products that deliver the best performance and reliability.
We are evaluating the way we do everything to see where we can improve efficiency.
Over the next few months, we’ll be developing a section on our website devoted to a/v companies that make green products or help out the environment through charitable contributions.
We will be looking at devoting some of our resources to give back to our community and local charities with some pro bono work. We believe now is the time to pull together.
This year, more than ever, we will work on strengthening our relationships with the contractors, manufacturers and suppliers we work with in various projects. Just having us do our part isn’t always enough. We want the project to go as seamlessly as possible for you, so we’re narrowing down who we work with so that we can deliver what we promise.

As we swing into 2009, we look forward to the exciting ride that awaits us. No matter what challenges the economy throws at us, we will rise to meet them and continue to deliver the service you’ve come to expect from us.

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

Audio Guys asked to be Technical Expert.

admin — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:20:00 GMT

Audio Guy founder and CEO Clay Hankins has been asked to be on a panel of technical experts for a major electronics website that is undergoing a complete redesign.

Clay is honored to be asked to contribute and looks forward to writing for the site. He said ”it's great to contribute to the electronics field in any way possible, and I look forward to writing blogs for the site.“

The site relaunch is currently planned for January but details have not yet been released. Look for more info to come as more details are released.

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

A Time for Giving Thanks.

admin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:20:00 GMT

By Clay Hankins

Last week, during the usual pre-holiday scramble we go through to meet deadlines to finish work so families can gather and enjoy their new media room equipment; I sat down late one evening after a long day, put on the new bluray dvd of the latest concert of my favorite band, Rush, and enjoyed a fine glass of wine and incredible sound and video and thought, “man, it don’t get no better than this!”

So, that got me thinking of Thanksgiving and all that I have to be thankful for. So, that’s what I decided this blog should reflect.

First, I am thankful that I live in such a great country with the freedom to vote.

I am thankful for my wonderful supporting wife and my two fantastic kids.

I am thankful for our dogs, and sometimes even our cats.

I am thankful for my business, and that I am fortunate enough to live in an area where the housing market is affordable enough for many homes to have theaters.

I am thankful for the guys I work with, and their dedication to professionalism.

Finally, I am genuinely thankful for our clients, without which, I wouldn’t be able to do the job that I love the most.

I have met some great people, and made some great friends along the journey and look forward to having another year of serving the Dallas home theater community and making new friends and spending time with old ones.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Clay

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

The business of Goose Bumps

admin — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:20:00 GMT

In my last blog, If you must go digital, I quoted Snell Vice President Bob Graffy saying, “We’re not in the audio business; we’re in the goose bump business.”

Assuming he didn’t mean that his job is to turn down the air-conditioning, he was referring to taking the act of listening to audio and transcending it to an experience.

Before I started The Audio Guy, I remember the first time I heard an “audiophile” system. I was auditioning speakers at a Hi-Fi store in San Antonio and their top line speakers were the Mirage Speakers and I heard the M1’s for the first time.

The sales associate put on Mary Chapin-Carpenter’s song, “I am a town” and my life changed right there. I had never heard music presented in that way and have since never listened to music the same way.

I still get a great deal of enjoyment out of seeing a client experience this for the first time after we’ve set up their sound/home theater system. It also happens to be the reason I enjoy this business so much.

It’s truly a business about passion. Not that everyone in the business is passionate about it because for some it’s just a business, but for me, there isn’t much else I’d rather be doing. It’s why we pick the manufacturers we represent, put together the combinations we do, and devote ourselves to delivering what we promise so that the end user can hopefully experience the same passion that we have for what we do.

Earning trust and building a relationship is a part of any small business and as challenging economic times lay ahead, relationships become more important than ever.

Again, the recurring theme here seems to be trust. You can buy just about any electronic gadget on line (though there are pitfalls inherent in that) or from most any a/v dealer. But when you find someone that you trust, someone that researches the answers to your questions, someone that you can tell is truly passionate about what they do; then you’ve found someone that you will be able to work with for a long time.

That’s the beauty of working with any small business owner that’s passionate and hopefully turn out for you, the end user, will produce a system and experience that will bring that goose bump experience to your home.

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Rooms and surrounding DFW area markets.

If you must go digital

admin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:20:00 GMT

There is no question that the digital world has completely changed the face of music.

Us old school guys can still remember “back in the day” when setting up our stereos meant plugging the turntable wires into the receiver, hooking up two speakers, putting the album (that’s a large round black disc with grooves, kids) on the turntable and then sitting down with the album cover and liner notes and listening, really listening to the entire album while reading the liner notes as well.

There was an entire ritual that went on as we took the album out of the jacket, put a few drops of disc cleaner on the soft velvet brush and gently cleaned the platter before setting in on the turntable. It was a time when you spent time with music to listen to it without distractions.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of digital music and everything it’s done.

I can only imagine that the TSA folks wouldn’t appreciate the size of carry-on luggage necessary to haul all that stuff around and my iPod does fit nicely in to any carry-on bag.

And while there is much debate on whether downloading has helped or hurt the music industry, it has helped the consumer by making it extremely accessible to have music with you at all times.

That I love.

But I must admit, that even in my own life, I don’t take as much time to listen to or explore music like I used to.

By serious collector standards, I have a fairly small collection of cd’s (maybe 1,000 or so) and of those, I have probably forgotten at least half of them since I don’t have easy access to them (my wife won’t allow me to have “milk crates” full of cd’s on our living room floor!)

So how do you combine the best of both worlds?

We all know and love our portable music systems, but for the person that wants to re-live the “glory days” of audiophile sound, time spent enjoying music, and time spent exploring music, what’s a guy (or gal) to do?

The answer is a high quality digital music server.

I know there are several brands of music servers out there, but I am going to focus on my personal favorite, the Sooloos music server.

What’s so special about it?

Glad you asked.

First, any music server has to store all the digital information on their hard drive and in order to fit all that info on to the drive, they have to use some kind of compression (taking the digital information and making it smaller to fit on a hard drive) so you can fit more music on your server.

Without getting overly technical, compression comes in two flavors, lossy and lossless.

The first reduces the quality of the music and is fine for most people for portable music. The second, lossless, stores the music in “CD quality” format.

The Sooloos system (reviewed here by Stereophile magazine) stores the music in a lossless format for audiophile quality sound.

But what I find so enjoyable about the system is the interface. The system allows the user to create and experience much like the days of listening to an album.

The expected features, like album artwork, playlist capabilities, etc. are there but the extended features give you information like credits. So, let’s say you’re listening Miles Davis, Kind of Blue decide you really like the drummer. You look up the credits and discover that Jimmy Cobb is the drummer on the album. So, you click his name and discover that he was the drummer for Dinah Washington on her greatest hits cd, which you also own.

Here, not only do you get the benefit of liner notes, you get the benefit of a computer database that can cross reference your collection!

You can do that in the credits with most anyone involved in the album including musicians, producer, engineer, etc. Practically speaking, what it really does is to bring up a list of CDs you probably haven’t thought about in years.

When we had a demo system in our house, it took about 10 minutes before my wife and kids were lined up at the touch screen selecting music.

The system is so intuitive, I only had to explain a few basic features and they were off and running. Other features like swim and “mood” allow you to cruise your collection based on any number of parameters. And while the Sooloos falls just a bit short of the album experience (no full liner notes or lyrics are available as of yet) it does what I feel is more important.

It allows the listener to rediscover their music collection in an easy to use and well thought out format. Every review of the product I’ve read so far has lauded the designers at Sooloos for that. Even an album crate full of records can’t do that. Check out my Soolos Page Here.

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater and surrounding area markets.

Dallas Home Theater Projects.

admin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:20:00 GMT

By Clay Hankins

Occasionally, I enjoy writing about some of the projects we’ve done in the Dallas home theater market.

In this blog, I’d like to write about a project that included one of my favorite new toys, the Sooloos music system.

I got a call from a general contractor that I work with often about doing a home remodel for an executive of a national chain store headquartered here in the Dallas area. Most of the client’s home was being stripped to the studs and we were called in to run some wiring for cable and possible whole house audio. The client had visited with another “Dallas Home Theater store” but ultimately decided they didn’t want a dedicated home theater, but more of a family room theater experience so the project was shelved.

While meeting with the client, we quickly discovered that we had a lot in common; we were both St. Louis Cardinal fans, love all things technology related, and big lovers of music.
During our discussions, we decided to come up with a plan for distributed audio. The client had a large collection of music cd’s (over 3,000) and wanted a system that would allow him to store everything and keep it in high quality format. He also wanted something that was easy to navigate. Enter the Sooloos music server.

We set up the Sooloos in his library, where he spends a lot of his time.

However, since we had the opportunity to run additional wiring, we distributed the system to his multi zone audio system that was upstairs, and his new family room home theater. The Sooloos can be run off of any computer in his home, including laptops tied into his wireless network, as well as on his iPod touch (or any flash enabled device.)

The system is also very easy to navigate and the client has found that he has rediscovered his music collection with the control at his fingertips.

If you would like more information on the Sooloos system, check my page on Sooloos or give us a call. It’s like going back to the days of sitting in front of the turntable with the album cover in hand and reading the liner notes. It’s an audiophile and music lover’s dream come true.

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater and surrounding area markets.

The next wave of HDTV

admin — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:20:00 GMT

By Clay Hankins

So we’ve all heard the question plasma or lcd, right? That ‘s so yesterday. What about OLED, laser, LED DLP?????

Well, we certainly know that electronics age in dog years, times 700 or so. And that makes your 3 year old TV, oh, about 150.

The good news is, that manufacturers are still pushing to get better and better. I remember one of the first 50” plasma televisions I installed. It had a contrast ratio of 750:1. The new LED driven LCD screen have contrast ratios of over 1,000,000:1. A million to one!

Recently, Mitsubishi unveiled its latest technology, laser driven DLP TV. That’s right, lasers.
http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/product/L65A90

Samsung is tackling the DLP and LCD market with LED driven light engines.
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=televisions&type=televisions&subtype=dlptv&model_cd=HL61A750A1FXZA
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=televisions&type=televisions&subtype=lcdtv&model_cd=LN55A950D1FXZA

As is Sony, later this year with the introduction of the Bravia XBR8
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665532062

or in smaller formats, OLED
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644539854

No matter how you cut it, the industry isn’t slowing down and this is all good for consumers. What looks good now will only go down in price as newer technology continues to evolve.

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater and surrounding area markets.

The Bail Out Home Theater Package

admin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:20:00 GMT

By Clay Hankins

Bail out, stock plummet, economic woes….what does that have to do with home theater? Lower prices, that’s what.

The Audio Guy has decided try to help the Dallas area economy by lowering prices on some of our home theater packages.

We’re starting by lowering the price on our entry level 1080p projection theater package from $5499 to $4999.Click here to learn more.

We’re matching up with manufactures that are offering end user rebates for even greater savings.

Check our site often to see additional price drops and rebates. We’ll try to do our part to help the economy regain its footing by trying to help you do your part as well.

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater and surrounding area markets.

Home theater universal language, or not so much.

admin — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:20:00 GMT

by Clay Hankins

The lights are low, the volume is turned up and you’re right at the end of one of the most exciting games or season finales you’ve seen. Your adrenaline is flowing and you want to turn up the volume just a tad more so you pick up one of thirteen remotes on the coffee table, press a button, and …… the picture is gone! You fervishly start pressing buttons and now the sound and picture are gone. You throw the remote down, storm out of the room to another TV to see the end and, oh, no, it’s over and you missed it.

On the other side of Dallas, I’m reading up on the latest technology or designing home theater layout and my phone rings. The following conversation ensues.

“Hello, how may I help you?”

“Hi, I was watching the super bowl, I picked up my remote and pressed a wrong button and now I have no picture and sound. I don’t know what I’ve done.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be right over to straighten out the system, and might I suggest a good universal remote that will allow you to use just one remote and keep this from happening again?

“Oh, that would be awesome. Thanks!”

You’d be surprised at how often that happens. I generally don’t consider myself a salesman, but one product I do try to “sell” is a good universal remote. Programmed correctly, a good remote can save the end user and us a ton of future headaches like the one above.

There are several types of universal remotes out there and I’ll touch briefly on a few, and elaborate more on others.

First, lots of equipment manufacturers are including universal remotes with their equipment. For example, DirecTV, Dishnet, and the cable companies all include a universal remote with the box. These usually have about four buttons on top (Cable, TV, DVD, Aux – or something similar) and can be programmed to operate a pretty basic system.

These remotes have stored databases for multiple manufacturers and can be used to control the basic functions of a TV, cablebox, and maybe a DVD player. You select the device you want to program, follow the instructions to get the remote into programming mode and punch in the code for that brand and voila, you’re done.

Again, for very basic systems, they work pretty well.

The next group of remotes are called learning remotes. These remotes allow you to “teach” commands to the universal remote from the original remote that may not be in its database.

A lot of higher end a/v receivers come with this kind of remote. These are also generally pretty good for basic systems and some can even be programmed to run “macro” commands. A macro command is executed when a series of commands are programmed into one button.

For example, you press the “system on” and the remote then sends out the commands that turn on the TV, turn on the receiver, turn on the cable box and set the inputs to the appropriate settings. Again, the universal remotes that come with some equipment can be pretty good, but can still be limited in that you may have to still do a lot manually to get the system to respond the way you want it to.

Finally, the last group of remotes is the learning remotes that are completely customizable and have some sort of LCD screen for custom buttons.

These are clearly my favorite and yes, more expensive. However, it will be the best money you spend on your home theater. This type of remote allows us to program it in such a way that the use of the remote is truly one button operation. For example, you pick up the remote, press “watch TV” on the LCD screen and that’s it; projector comes on, electric hidden screen drops, receiver on, cablebox on, inputs set, lights dim. Enjoy. “Watch DVD”, same thing. What this type of remote allows us to do that I like the best is to put buttons on the screen that don’t exist on the universal remote.

Look your cable or satellite remote and see if you have any buttons that cover surround setting for your receiver. They won’t be there. What about a “list” button for your recorded DVR programs on the surround receiver? Not there either. With the customizable universal remote, we can put any button from any remote and this eliminates the need for any other remotes. Period.

The other advantage a remote like this offers us is the ability to eliminate or hide buttons and commands that can mess up your system. Most complex systems now run the video and audio on all components through the surround receiver. Therefore, if all of your video signals go into your TV through a component or HDMI cable and you change the channel of the TV (I’m talking the actual TV, not the cablebox), you’ve lost the picture.

You probably still have sound but again, no picture. With the universal remote, we program it to put the TV on the correct input every time you press “watch TV” so even if it gets messed up (a child goes and presses buttons on the TV itself), the remote corrects the problem.

So, ask your home theater expert what remote they like best and take the frustration out of operating your system. Also, clean up that coffee table.

-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater and surrounding area markets.