2) The small dust particles that go through regular vacuum filters are re-introduced into the air to remain in the living environment. Central vacuum systems exhaust the dust outside of the living area, resulting in 70% fewer allergens than homes without central vacuums.*

3) Vac-pan automatic dustpans make sweeping easier. Just sweep to the vac-pan, press the button with your toe, and the debris is sucked away.

4) Central vacuum heads are lighter than standard vacuums so they are easier to use.

5) The filter is very large, so it does not need to be emptied as frequently as a standard vacuum.

6) Central Vacuums on average last around 20 years, making it a wise investment.

Hose attached to a central vacuum inlet

Central Vacuum systems are a shining example of technology making home life healthier. Central vacuums are a simple system of wall inlets distributed throughout a house that connect to a high powered central vacuum unit.  Each inlet allows for a hose or accessory attachment rendering it a fully functional vacuum for lightweight but powerful vacuuming.The central vacuum unit is typically installed in a discreet and easily accessible location of the house such as a basement or garage.

Automatic dustpan

The systems can also include automatic dustpans attached to the wall for an extra quick and efficient clean-up.One of the best aspects of a central vacuum system is how well they completely remove dust, pollen, & animal dander from your home.  Traditional vacuums don’t have the power or ability to vent outside of the living area, which makes central vac systems perfect for  families with children, pets or allergy sufferers.

At other companies my day would start by being briefed on the spot about the day’s job.  The boss would always prepare the schedule at the last minute in hopes of just throwing bodies at projects. There was rarely a plan of action and never any scope of work, design meetings, or project checklists given in advance.

Sounds like a tough start.  How did that affect the projects?

Well, once I figured out where I was going for the day I’d go into the warehouse to stage the equipment only to find that we didn’t have half of the parts needed. On a few occasions I remember informing the boss, and he said, “I forgot to order that. Tell the client that it’s backordered.”  So, I would leave the shop with no information on the project, very little parts, and a lie to tell the client!Once I arrived at the site, I’d rummage through my set of inferior tools and prepare to start work. There wasn’t much in the way of documentation which resulted in way too much time on the phone with tech support or my project manager.  That was just to get up to speed on the project and figure out how the system is supposed to work.

How was your experience with the other technicians and support staff?

I found that often times at most other companies my coworkers weren’t CEDIA certified and had little experience.  So, that meant a bit of babysitting onsite. The kicker was that after a long frustrating day onsite I’d finally get back to the shop to find my boss drinking a beer and acting as if everything was great.

Techs ensure their vans are kept well organized.

How is it different here at SoundVision?

SoundVision always stresses process and preplanning.  Our schedules are literally booked weeks in advance.  Each project gets a project binder that we take onsite.   The binders include everything from scope of work, project management checklists, to wiring schematics & floor plans.  At SoundVision we always follow a carefully laid out set of tasks and milestones for each project.  In terms of parts, we have a purchasing manager who orders all our parts and stages them for us each morning.  Our vans are always fully stocked with the right tools for the job.

Can you talk about some of the SoundVision processes while onsite?

Sure.  When I arrive onsite, I do a walk-through and fill out a Project Time Estimator.  This document will tell me if we are going to finish within the time and budget provided.  Photographs are taken at every phase and downloaded to the server for future review and reference.   At the end of each day, emails are sent out to all stakeholders informing them of where we are in the project and any issues encountered. 

SoundVision staff meeting

How does the SoundVision staff differ?

At SoundVision, our techs are all CEDIA certified and keep up to date with the latest technology by attending seminars and workshops.   If I ever have questions while onsite, there are a minimum of three people I can contact prior to calling the tech support line.  SoundVision also has a dedicated support and administrative staff on board so the office is always running smoothly.  We have bi-weekly all-hands staff meetings where we collaborate on ideas and lessons learned while onsite.

Kenny’s Insider Tips

After hearing about some of his war stories on the job, we asked Kenny if he could put together a list of tips for people to consider before choosing their next custom electronics integrator.

• Look around their office.  Is it organized or messy?  If it’s messy, odds are that they treat their clients/projects in the same manner… If they can’t keep their own office neat and clean, what makes you believe they’ll keep your home/project organized?
• Observe their employees (if they’re there).  Do they display a professional appearance: clean shaven/groomed, clean clothes, etc.  This will help you decide if you are comfortable with letting them into your home, before the project has started.
• Check to see if they have received industry related awards.  Typically, you will notice these once you walk into the door.  If you don’t see any awards or recognition of any kind, odds are they don’t do quality work and don’t deserve them.
• Do your homework.  See what other people have said about the company. Dig around on the internet for reviews or testimonials. View their website; does it appear to be sales based, or information based? If possible, take a look at one of their ongoing projects.

There are many installation options for the satellite speakers

3-Way Planter SpeakerThis attractive speaker is built into a teakwood planter box.  Its weather treated, sounds fantastic, and best of all it’s fully-functional as a planter box.

James Planter Box Speaker

Subterranean Subwooferthe James line of subwoofers truly completes the outdoor entertainment environment.  This powerful subwoofer is built to be installed underground.

James Subterranean Subwoofer shown here with unit installed underground.

Installing Outdoor Landscape speakers will ensure that your next BBQ will amaze your guests as the music seemingly emanates from the garden.

To simply put it, a compression algorithm is the software or method of compression that converts audio or video into file formats.  Compressing audio files reduces the amount of storage space necessary.

Okay, than what is the file format?

File formats are typically associated with media player software. For example “.mov” file is for QuickTime, a “.wmv” file is for Windows Media Player, and an Mp3 file is for….. you guessed it, an Mp3 player.

Compressed Audio Types

In digital audio there are two main categories of compression algorithms: lossy and lossless.Lossy: Lossy compression algorithms significantly reduce the file size by crunching info that is considered “less-essential”.  The upshot of this loss in file size is a noticeable hit in audio quality.Lossless:  Lossless compression algorithms s are able to compact the info without losing any information.   This method does reduce the file size, but not nearly as much as a lossy compression.

Converting Audio

While there are many options for converting audio, here are the free software packages that we recommend.

• iTunes
• Winamp

For its ease of use we generally recommend iTunes as it plays particularly nice with a SoundVision favorite, Apple TV.  Here is our guide to converting audio in iTunes.

Uncompressed Audio Conversion

If storage is not at a premium you can opt to convert your music to uncompressed formats such as WAV or AIFF. Converting to a WAV file will deliver the best sounding and most compatible conversions, at the expense of disk space.   Keep in mind with uncompressed conversions, a typical song under 4 minutes could get as high as 30MB in size.1. Go to the edit menu and choose Preferences.

2. The Preferences pop-up menu will appear.  In the General tab, click on the Import Settings button.

3.  For Import Setting Select WAV Encoder in the drop-down menu , and in the Setting drop-down select Automatic.  Hit the OK button and you are all set to start importing your CDs at the best quality possible.

Lossless Audio Conversion

Here are our recommended settings for Apple Lossless Audio Compression (also known as ALAC).  This is a somewhat proprietary format, but is a great option if you are primarily using Apple or Sonos products as your media playback devices.Follow steps 1-2 from above to get to the Import Settings Pop-up menu.From the Import Settings menu choose Apple Lossless Encoder, and in the Setting drop-down select Automatic.  This setting will ensure that your digitized music will retain a high quality sound without sacrificing too much disc space.

Lossy Audio Conversion

For a more lossy, but broader range of compatibility, you can opt for Mp3 conversions.  The quality will be  lower than Apple Lossless, but you will save the most disk space  with Mp3 conversions.  It’s worth noting that iTunes has the ability to slightly modify the quality of Mp3 compression under the Setting drop-down.Follow steps 1-2 from above to get to the Imoprt Settings Pop-up menu.From the Import Settings menu MP3 Encoder, and in the Setting drop-down select Higher Quality (192 kbps).  This setting will ensure that your digitized music will not lose too much quality despite being a lossy compression.

If you have any questions, or care to share your advice feel free to contact us or drop us a note in the comment section.

SoundVision's opinion of the difference in overall experience between SDTV, HDTV and 3D TV.

It is our opinion as an organization that the technology behind 3D still has some significant maturing to do before it can become as widely adopted and essential as HD. The technology behind the 3D TV sets today is a vast improvement over the anaglyph method that has been used to reproduce both still and moving 3D images since the turn of the 20th Century, there still is a requirement to wear glasses in order to view 3D images. The glasses required by today’s 3D displays use active shutter technology, opening and closing the lens in front of each eye many times per second. The human eye cannot detect this motion, and the technique tricks our brain into seeing a 3D picture. This technique of reproducing 3D can also slightly sacrifice image quality by reducing the overall resolution of your TV.As we talked about last week in our post about the new 3D flat-panel TV lineups from Panasonic and Samsung, with the upcoming 3D Blu-ray Disc and cable network launches, there is going to be demand from early adopters to integrate 3D technology into media systems. As always, SoundVision is here to help our clients navigate the 3D waters. Most high-performance plasma and LCD TVs will be “3D ready” in 2010, so it’s a very real possibility for anyone purchasing a new TV this year will be bringing this new technology home, and we’ll be here to help you get the most from it.Do you have an opinion on the new 3D technology? Let us know in the comments!

• Ambient lighting to give the space a warm, well-lit feel
• Task lighting for reading or to light work surfaces and tables
• Accent lighting on artwork, sculptures and architectural details
• Pathway lighting to ease navigation in darker areas

This layered form of lighting has made a dramatic impact on how our spaces both look and feel. But, there is a downside to all this lighting: it’s inherently difficult to control. The more lights you put in the room, the more switches must be placed on the wall–and in some cases, this can result in banks of four or six or even more switches and dimmers on the wall. In this case, you most likely spend some time flipping each switch on and off to find the right one, or you end up placing unsightly labels on the switch or dimmer to identify it out of the lineup. Not exactly an ideal solution.It doesn’t take a designer to appreciate a well-lit room, and most of us spend our time at home with the lights on than we do during the daytime. A good lighting system is one of the least expensive ways we can impact the look and feel of a space. The biggest complaint about modern lighting plans is that there are too many switches and dimmers, and since homeowners don’t know what switch controls what light, lights get left on all the time when rooms are unoccupied.

Lighting control allows you to replace a bank of switches with one keypad, like this seeTouch model from Lutron.

Unparalleled simplicityA lighting control system can help make your home a better place to live by giving you 1950s-style, push-button simplicity when it comes to controlling your home’s lights. Imagine being able to replace a huge bank of wall switches with one simple keypad, allowing homeowners to have customizable lighting “scenes,” one-touch recall of your favorite lighting settings, and a one-touch “off” button to turn off all lights in a space. These control systems allow you to control your lights based on your activity, not how they are wired.Energy savingsIn addition to outstanding ease of use, a lighting control system also allows you to save more energy through your lighting system than you ever thought possible. Keypads make it simple to turn off lights in areas that are unoccupied. By adding occupancy sensors to rooms, lights in unoccupied areas will turn off automatically without you having to do a thing. These systems are “smart,” meaning they know what time it is and will turn off unnecessary lighting during the day and turn on essential pathway lights automatically after sunset. We can even program a “vacation mode,” where the system recreates your daily routines, turning on and off lights around the house, giving the illusion that someone is home at all times.A lighting control system is the key to really getting the most out of your home’s lighting design, and SoundVision is the North Bay’s experts in lighting control. We have extensive experience working with a variety of Lutron lighting control products, such as HomeWorks, GRAFIK Eye, Sivoia QED shades, Maestro dimmers and more.

1. Tower (floor standing) speakers
2. Bookshelf speakers
3. Wall-mounted speakers
4. In-wall speakers
5. In-ceiling speakers
6. Invisible speakers (behind or part of the sheetrock application in walls or ceilings)

All of these speakers will offer a much improved sound experience when they are paired with a subwoofer to handle deep bass and low frequency sounds. This is an entirely separate speaker that is placed in an another area, away from the main speakers.Tower/floor-standing speakersTower speakers usually have an array of at least three speakers, or drivers: a tweeter for high frequencies, a mid for middle frequencies, and a woofer for low frequencies. These three drivers are matched and configured to work together to produce consistent performance across the audible frequency range.In a perfect world, these speakers would be located a minimum of 30 inches from walls, aimed at the listening area and spread out around 30 degrees from the listening area.Advantages

• Speaker drivers are placed at proper heights relative to the listening position
• Speakers can be placed at the correct location to eliminate boundary effects, which are changes in tone caused by sound reflecting off nearby surfaces (walls, ceiling, etc.)
• Delivers full spectrum sound due to fully engineered and matched drivers with crossovers set up to maintain consistent tone and output qualities across the audible frequency range

Disadvantages

• Tower and floor-standing speakers tend to be large and difficult to fit into a typical living space’s style and decor.

Bookshelf speakersBookshelf speakers usually have an array of at least two drivers: a tweeter for reproducing high frequency sound, and a combined mid/woofer for middle and lower frequencies. While many bookshelf speakers produce great sound, it is a compromise from their larger, floor-standing brethren because it combines the mid and woofer drivers into one, compromising clarity. It is also more susceptible to boundary effects due to its typical placement on shelving or in cabinets. (This problem can be rectified by placing it on a stand, away from walls.) For best performance, these speakers are placed as close to ear height as possible and aimed at the listening area. These speakers also benefit greatly with the addition of a subwoofer to provide fuller sound at lower frequencies.Advantages

• Speaker drivers can be placed at the proper height relative to listening position
• Speakers can be placed at the proper location to minimize boundary effects
• Can be integrated into some living spaces without a major impact on the room’s existing decor

Disadvantages

• Performance is inferior to tower speakers due to placement, boundary effects and lack of a full-spectrum driver array
• Occasionally difficult to properly integrate into room’s existing interior design

On-wall speakersThe on-wall speaker is essentially a bookshelf speaker with a form factor modified for an on-wall mounting application. On-wall speakers also usually have the same two-driver array where the tweeter takes care of high frequency sounds and a combination mid/woofer handles the lower frequencies. However, since it’s placed on the wall, these speakers are subject to boundary effects,  but many models integrate compensation circuitry to compensate and minimize this.Advantages

• Speakers mounted on walls provide proper speaker placement relative to wall-mounted TVs
• Blends in with the style of wall-mounted TVs, creating a uniform look
• Can be integrated into many living spaces without a negative impact on decor

Disadvantages

• Performance is inferior to tower and bookshelf speakers due to placement, boundary effects and lack of full driver array

Stay tuned… I’ll review the last three speaker types (in-wall, in-ceiling and invisible) in part two, coming on Monday!