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How Many Subwoofers to Use and Where to Put Them
We need to stop reinventing the wheel where bass is concerned.
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Attracting Affluent Clients with a More Professional Approach
Suddenly luxury is everywhere. Like the Neo clones in The Matrix, you can’t escape it.
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Dallas Programmer Credits Access Networks with Improved Efficiency
When custom integrator Dallas Extreme approached PanTech Design to handle programming for a large Crestron system in a 15,000-square-foot home in Dallas, Morgan took...
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A Bad Environment for Audio Fails Our Clients
Most professional integrators would never consider installing a high-performance video projection system in a white room with windows and high levels of ambient light,...
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Projection Screen Materials Adapt to Shifts in Home AV
At their core, the ideas propelling new innovations in projection screen technology speak to an underlying principle of the custom integration industry: the picture...
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Chinese 4K and OLED Video Display Manufacturers Gained Respect at CES 2013
You literally couldn’t miss the 110-inch 4K LED- illuminated LCD screens. And everywhere you turned at the International Consumer Electronics Show this past January...
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Five Simple Steps to Help Hire the Right People
Whether you’re a small business owner or the hiring manager for a residential systems integrator, I’m certain you would agree that having the right...
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Updating Indiana’s Lucas Estate Lighting Technology
It was 2007, and my wife and I had just moved our family from New York City to the Indianapolis suburb of Carmel, IN,...
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Remote Management Products Save Time, Money, Offer Potential New Revenue Streams
Remote management products are one of the best examples of the proverbial “win-win” for both custom integrators and their customers. They’re designed to give...
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Missouri Integrator ForresterTech Willingness to Change Made Business Makeover a Success
“Sometimes when things are free, people are less likely to appreciate the value when they have something invested in the results,” said industry consultant...
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Previewing New Lighting Control Products Coming Out in 2013
Lighting control systems–like almost every other electronic product in the home from thermostats to sprinklers systems–are becoming intelligent IP- controllable nodes on the home...
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Improving My Home with Professionally Programmed Remote Controls
The difference between you and me is that I dread adding new audio-video electronics to my home just about as much as going to...
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Elite Screens Branches Out With Projector Stacking System
Prior to CEDIA EXPO last fall, Cerritos, CA-based Elite Screens launched a subsidiary company, called Airflex 5D, to sell multiple-projector stacking systems that digitally...
Back to Business
Cost-Plus Pricing Demonstrates Value to Clients
Savvy clients demand pricing transparency, as they should. To the client, the practice of estimating projects using a combination of market pricing and hourly...
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Four Steps to Help You Teach Any New Skill to Your Team
Have you ever noticed how beautiful a soft serve ice cream cone looks when created properly?
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How Custom Integrators Can Improve in 2013
I quit making New Year’s resolutions a long time ago.
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ForresterTech’s 10 Lessons Learned from Business Makeover
A little over a year ago, Residential Systems embarked on a partnership with respected industry consultants Ryan Brown, from Media Environment Design, and Leslie...
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NuVo Wireless Audio Product Caters to Custom Integrators
There’s no denying the runaway success of Sonos and the many generations of its wireless audio system, but until recently, the custom integration channel’s...
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Finding a New Facility: the Best Investment You Can Make
It’s been a while since I received an invitation for a grand opening of a residential systems integrator’s new show room. I’d like to...
Behind the Business
Baldwin, Kwikset Wireless Locks Offer Personalized Luxury
In light of a recent John Sciacca blog metaphor that automated door locks represent “the tip of the automation iceberg” that is going to...
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What to Do When Multi-Channel Audio Streaming Doesn’t Work
Streaming video and video on demand (VOD) are quickly replacing Blu-ray, DVD, cable, and satellite as our clients’ preferred methods for acquiring program material....
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Future Focused
Like scientists, most writers form a hypothesis, or educated guess, about what their interview subjects will say in response to their questions.
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How to Tackle the IP-Centric Home
One of the major themes at CEDIA EXPO this past fall was custom integrators that “own” a client’s home network, will “own the home”...
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Custom Integrators Offer Game-Changing Business Plans for 2013
For years, innovative AV products have drawn integrators and their customers to the custom installation channel like proverbial moths to a flame.
Back to Business
Employee Efficiency Increases Profitability
Most custom integration company owners say the best way to increase profitability is to focus on product cost.
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Easing Your Client’s Pain
Thank God for DVRs. Not only can we store all our favorite programs and view them at our convenience, but we can also skip...
Behind the Business
RTI’s Two Decades in Control
Control systems manufacturer RTI celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, in part, by hosting the 2012 RTI Global Partner Summit, which welcomed some of...
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CI Industry Veterans Commit to Future Tech Innovations
The home technology business is tough to shake.
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Grow Your Business in an Aging Market
What if I told you that there’s a market segment you could be addressing today that is growing faster than the housing market did...
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Creating ‘Party Central’
The backyard party is an American tradition. Sit back on the patio with a few friends, a couple of burgers, and the Beatles on...
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Making Lives a Bit Easier
Rachelle Friedman’s life changed forever in 2010 when a prank at her bachelorette party caused her to hit her head on the bottom of...
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CEDIA: The Solutions Show
At its core CEDIA EXPO has always been about relationship building and peer-to-peer networking.
Behind the Business
Tech Tools of the Trade
Platinum Tools launched its new VDV MapMaster 2.0 voice, data, and video tester to the CEDIA market during the 2012 CEDIA EXPO, held last...
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‘We Don’t Need a Home Theater’
I participated in a panel discussion at CEDIA EXPO where the subject was the trend away from “dedicated theaters” toward “mixed-use rooms.”
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Keys to the Door
Jason Williams, general manager for Yale Locks & Hardware’s residential group, acknowledges that integrators at all levels are being forced to grapple with the...
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Supporting the Support
Having directed a world-class technical support department in the past, I know that top-notch technical support organizations are geared toward solving their customers’ problems...
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Overcoming Objections
September means that CEDIA EXPO is upon us, and many of you are attending the show to see what exciting new products are available...
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Untangling the Network
Over the last decade of custom home installations, we have seen an explosion in the number of products that we now connect to a...
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Harman Luxury Audio Plans Big Launches for Revel, Mark Levinson
At CEDIA EXPO this month, Harman’s Luxury Audio Group making enhancement to two of its popular brands in somewhat different ways. While Revel will...