By Clay Hankins
You’ve decided to take the plunge and call your local custom home theater expert because it’s time to change that spare room into your new media room. Today I’m going to write about the process that should take place, and what you should expect through the bidding process.
Here is basically how the process should work.
During the initial phone conversation, your home theater guru should try to get a general idea of what it is you’re looking for.
Are you calling because you want to hang a flat screen TV?
Do you have a media room and want to hang a projector and screen?
Do you want music outside by your pool or throughout your home?
Do you want multi-zone audio and video with LCD keypads?
Do you want a video surveillance system?
Are you overwhelmed?
Once it’s determined what you want, the next step is usually an onsite visit. If your media room has been pre-wired, it’s always helpful for the audio/video company to take a look and make sure all the necessary wires are there.
Also, they’ll need to look at things like how high the ceiling is, what kind of mount and drop will the projector need, will you want in wall speakers, or free standing?
That visit gives them the chance to survey the room or project to see what kind of installation challenges there are as well as what kind of acoustical characteristics the room has so the right recommendations can be made.
Somewhere along the way, it will probably also be necessary to discuss a general budget, not so much as a "how much can you spend?" conversation but because there is such a wide range of pricing it helps to eliminate what is unrealistic.
The best example I could relate that to is going to a car dealer that carried everything from Chevrolet to Ferrari and telling them, "I want a car." It helps to narrow down what the price range of the car you are looking for costs. You aren’t going to get a Ferrari on a Chevy budget and believe me, you can easily spend what a Ferrari costs on a home theater. So, if $20,000 speakers are out of the question, it’s helpful to know that.
I often hear people say they want the best, until I tell them what the best costs.
In order to determine what equipment is right for the job, there are several questions that should be addressed during the initial consultation. For example, if you have decided to build a home theater, we would like to know, "where do you sit at the theater?"
Do you find the experience to be too loud, or do you have trouble hearing?
Do you want some kind of lighting?
Will this be a dedicated theater, or more of an all purpose room?
Will you want theater seating…. You need to make sure your audio/video company is listening to you. Hopefully, they’ll try to cover as many areas as possible so that they can deliver the experience you want.
Once those issues are determined, you should receive an estimate within a reasonable amount of time and then a follow up phone call or email to see if you have any further questions.
In part 2, I’ll address what expectations you should have for the process once you’ve hired your custom home theater expert.
-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.
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