We have been getting this question daily for the last couple of years.
The answer is: Pretty well and here is why: 1) We buy wellI’ve been in the industry a long time and have created amazing business partnerships along the way. We have created alliances with the best manufacturers that allow us to purchase at prices that are significantly lower than most companies of similar size. This allows us to provide our customers with a low price guarantee while still meeting the minimum margins required to run a profitable business. 2) Low overheadOur office space is relatively low cost, we do not have a huge advertising budget, we own all of our vehicles and equipment, and we have no debt. This means we have very low overhead and we can expand and contract with the market without having to cover huge expenses. The result is our ability to consistently provide high quality service at reasonable rates. 3) Exceptional peopleWe cultivate an extremely positive atmosphere; promote training, communication and growth within the company. We recruit and hire only exceptional staff. Professionalism and integrity are paramount in everything we do. We believe that top caliber employees can deliver twice as much as an average employee. Therefore we spend a lot of effort finding and developing our staff. The result is a better customer experience and a more efficiently executed project. 4) Commitment to operational excellenceWe frequently win awards for best practices & constantly implement operational excellence. Our goal is to set the industry standard for high quality installations and a superior customer experience. We have developed a streamlined process that allows us to deliver great results at minimum cost. 5) Customer referralsWe still credit the bulk of our new business to referrals from our customers. Most Americans hate their media systems, their systems are unattractive, don’t work well and are difficult to operate. We have consistently delivered systems that fit with the homes décor, work well and are easy to operate. If you love your system, please tell your friends about us. Buying power, low overhead, ability to offer best brands at the best prices and incredible service are a few of the reasons we are still able to offer you great experiences even in a challenging economy.
Well, all that… And the best unpaid sales staff any company could ask for. Thank you for all of your referrals, we are so thrilled to be able to work with each and every one of you. If you are a customer and love what we’ve done, please share your experience!If you are a customer and have feedback as to how we could have done better, let us know! If you have always wanted rockin’ home theater or house music system but haven’t taken the plunge, click here to get started (your entertainment experience will never be the same)!
How is SoundVision Holding Up in This Tough Economy?
Home Theater Upgrade in Phases Part 2
We’d like to share with you another media system upgrade done in Glen Ellen. Here, we have another simple upgrade with a small twist at the end. The customer wanted a more streamlined and elegant system than the previous one, shown below.
The first step was to clear out the old system and cut in holes for the new B&W in-wall speakers.
Once the speaker wires were fished through the walls, the in-wall speakers were installed along with the Sanus wall mount for the new TV.
A Samsung Ultra thin 1″ LED display was installed on the wall mount.
With the TV and wires in place, it was now time to configure all the components in a new cabinet. The components included a Velodyne subwoofer, a Mac Mini, a Comcast HD cable box, a Sonos Zone Player, an Integra receiver, and a Sony Blu-Ray player.
Here’s where the challenging part of the installation occurs. Now that the system has been upgraded and the cabinet is a bit larger, the symmetry of the hearth is thrown off center. We suggest to the client that modifying the hearth would re-balance the symmetry. The next day contractors modified the hearth to balance the wall.
After the hearth was successfully trimmed down we realigned the media system, painted the in-wall speakers, programmed the URC remote, and calibrated the audio and video. As you can see below, the new home theater’s visual impact is very minimalist considering how many components and features are available in this system.
Fall 2010 HD Living – Available Now!
The Fall 2010 issue of HD Living magazine has been mailed out to select homeowners around the North Bay area. If you weren’t one of the lucky ones who received one in your mailbox, don’t worry! We have your online copy available right here.In addition to an updated profile all about SoundVision, some of the other topics inside this quarter’s issue of HD Living include:
- Lifestyle Control: Touch screen devices for home automation
- Home Networks: A complete guide to home networking
- The Everything Gadget: How the revolutionary iPad is reshaping home entertainment and control.
Plus much more. It’s all waiting for you in the Fall 2010 issue of HD Living Magazine!
Home Theater Upgrade in 6 Phases
Phase 1: The first order of business was to clear out the old TV, AV gear, and shelving to make way for a more streamlined AV cabinet.
Phase 2: The next step was to place the Polk speakers and subwoofer in the cabinet for a compact, but well balanced system. The cabinet also provides clean cable management for the speaker wire and cables.
Phase 3:Following the speakers placement, we placed the Wii game console, Denon turntable, Sony Blu-ray player and Comcast HD cable box in the cabinet for an easy connection to the receiver.
Phase 4: After all the cables were fished through the cabinet we wired them up to an Integra surround sound receiver.
Phase 5: The Samsung Plasma HDTV was then installed and the Wii motion sensor was mounted on top of the display.
Phase 6: The final step was to mount the acoustically transparent panel doors onto the cabinet for a clean finish. The Universal Remote was then reprogrammed for simple operation, then the audio system and TV were calibrated for optimal performance.
Final result is a cleanly designed, robust and reliable, easy to use media system that fits into the room’s décor.
What’s the Difference?
This week, we thought we’d switch it up here on the SoundVision ShowTimes blog and let one of our technicians do the talking. I sat down with our Lead Technician, Kenny Meligan to chat about some of his experiences with other companies in the industry in comparison with SoundVision. Kenny also offers up some advice on choosing the best custom electronics integrator for your next project. Kenny has been a Lead Technician and Control Systems Programmer for over 5 years and has worked with a number of different integrators.Kenny thanks for chatting with me. In your past experience with other companies how did a typical day begin?
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. Continue reading “What’s the Difference?” »
SoundVision Unveils New Company Tagline
For the past few years, our company tagline has been “Cleanly designed, simple to use, robust and reliable, home entertainment and control systems.” While SoundVision has become known around the Bay Area for delivering just that–systems and experiences that exceed expectations and create enthusiastically satisfied customers–we felt that there had to be a way to convey this in a more concise way to our customers. And now, we’re happy to introduce our new tagline to our clients: “Entertainment and technology. Simplified.”"We are extremely proud of our reputation of providing a simple and reliable product to our valued clients,” said Scott Sullivan, president of SoundVision. “The new SoundVision tagline reflects our track record and commitment to making our clients’ lives easier in a more succinct and powerful way.”The new tagline is the culmination of a six-month process designed to overhaul the way SoundVision communicates how we give discriminating customers what they really want in home entertainment and technology: a system that complements their home’s aesthetics, is simple to learn and use, and extremely reliable. Leveraging our expertise and commitment to continual training, SoundVision brings a simpler, more human approach to entertainment and automation technologies. Look for our new tagline first on our website, and in future SoundVision materials.
TechNotes: Speaker Types and Applications, Part I
The goal of any speaker is to accurately reproduce an original sound recording with accurate tonal quality and dynamic range, all the while achieving consistency across the frequency range. While speakers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, there are really just six primary forms of speakers for residential applications. Here’s a list of the six different forms, listed in order by their level of sound performance:
- Tower (floor standing) speakers
- Bookshelf speakers
- Wall-mounted speakers
- In-wall speakers
- In-ceiling speakers
- 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!