Why do you need a consultant to tell you how to buy a TV and sound system?

Video

There are many well designed and well built digital and analog televisions available on today's market. Unless congress changes its collective mind, analog televisions will be obsolete by 2009. Everything will be broadcast in digital formats. You'll need a converter to keep watching the old stations. Whether or not they are high definition will be a decision by the broadcasting company, but they can broadcast in many different formats at the same time. Regardless, there are enough different technologies available for digital television to make your decisions non-trivial.

How do you choose between rear projection, LCD, plasma, DLP, RGB front projection, OLED, and possibly even newer television technologies? You'll need to consider price, performance, placement, size, viewing distance, maximum viewing angle, and other viewing environment factors. We'll help you understand the interactions between these and your resulting best choices.

Audio

What do you really need to know about your room's audio characteristics to optimize it's audio capabilities?

The best way to determine the speaker locations and seating arrangement for an existing room is to measure the room's acoustic properties in three dimensions with a certified audio signal generator, a sound energy level analyzer, an ANSI S12.2-1995 compliant noise level comparator, and a distortion analyzer. You could purchase the necessary test equipment, enroll in the training course(s), acoustically analyse your own room, and calculate the best seating and speaker placement for yourself. If doing it yourself is worth that much to you, we won't try to dissuade you. If not, that's where we come in. It's part of our service.

And, aside from all that, what kind of speakers should you get?

Room Design

If your room hasn't been built yet, our knowledge and training has additional benefits for you. For example, how to avoid the most common mistakes in home theater layout. Like, don't make the room square. Don't have one side (say, the length) a low integer multiple of another side. Or of the ceiling height. Don't select a screen that's too large for your viewing distance unless you like seeing the little dots or squares that make up the picture. Don't plan any seating position halfway between the side walls, and don't put any row of seats halfway between the front and back of the theater. Do plan for enough space behind the seating area for the surround speakers, and remember, they are not rear speakers. You'll need even more room if you decide you want those.