Media room design asheville nc |

CIS - Asheville, NC's Source For Custom TV & Audio Installation

These suburban homeowners didn’t let high tech clutter up their contemporary style, but they did let new home controls enhance their daily lives.

Where’s the basement home theater room? What, no 100-inch screen and jazzy theater chairs? There’s a 60-incher in the playroom—but the three teenagers have to share the TV because none of their rooms have one?

These suburban homeowner’s aren’t technophobes or Luddites. They just wanted a way technology could improve their daily living, without taking away from the look of their home. The house doesn’t have a dedicated theater room, but it boasts several above-average-size displays, three rooms with full surround sound, carefully placed architectural speakers, home automation that includes wireless touchpanels, extensive lighting control and networking that helps feed the whole-house audio. Working with custom electronics pros, architects and designers who understood the homeowners’ concerns made the influx of technology more palatable—and ultimately more enjoyable.
To See or Not to See?
That question had a simple answer when the architect discussed entertainment plans and options with the homeowners. They wanted to keep the TVs’ prominence to a minimum, and one solution to that was “out of sight, out of mind.” Enter the custom electronics (CE) pros, whose work on stealthy plasma screen installations was just one important aspect of this overall home systems solution.

The house’s open-concept layout and contemporary interior design would only enhance the impact of the great room and family room displays. This, in turn, inspired the homeowners’ to want to limit that impact.

“Immediately we suggested that all the electronics equipment go in a closet somewhere so [they wouldn’t] be seen,” . “That led to the conversation of a television in the living space. As much as they wanted one, they didn’t want one. Once we had an understanding of the feel of the home, we designed around that.”

The homeowners were most creative with the high vaulted ceiling in the great room. All eyes turn to the large stone fireplace, flanked by built-in bookshelves, all of which rise to an alcove ceiling. The initial thought was to install a flat-panel TV that could be mounted within the room’s shelving and articulate toward viewers. But the 55-inch plasma that was requested didn’t work in such a high-traffic area.

“We decided to locate it more centrally, above the fireplace, which we found was better for the seating arrangement in the room,” . “Once we realized we had enough room above the fireplace for a lift, Roz wasn’t hesitant at all.”

Young, who had worked with IES on other home projects, coordinated with local metal workers and a Venetian plaster contractor so the SVS Lifts motorized lift device would look completely flush when retracted into the 6-foot soffit cavity. Lowering the 250-pound lift at the push of a button can be quite a site for guests to behold.

Put the Audio Away
The tuck-away TV solved one aesthetic problem, but what of the accompanying surround sound? “The interior design was very clean and uncluttered, and that went for everything: furniture, lighting, audio and video,” Young says. “There’s no good spot for a grille or a speaker, that’s pretty much the philosophy, but the sound and viewing have to work perfectly together. Making the audio invisible was a challenge.”

Young worked with IES to incorporate Boston Acoustics in-wall speakers within the bookshelves, and a pair of Sonance surround speakers in other walls. Even two in-wall Velodyne subwoofers pump out bass while hidden from view. In this room and others, most speaker grilles were painted to match the wall finishes.

Early in the project, a mechanical closet next to the basement playroom was designated as the central equipment hub to which IES routed cables. One rack primarily contains house-wide audio gear, amplifiers and cable TV boxes, while the other handles surround-sound equipment and home automation controllers. The racks were raised about 4 inches off the floor in case of any water leaks, and ample ventilation was piped into the room to keep gear properly cooled.

The Crestron automation (programmed by John Meyer of Crestron specialists Elexos) keeps the tunes flowing throughout the house, with selections accessible from a number of touchpanels. Rather than program page after page of choices for each family member, the owners and children can pop an iPod into one of the Crestron docking stations around the house for favorite music and playlists—Mom’s office and the playroom naturally being two of those locations. Apple Airport Extreme routers enable networking of iTunes apart from the Crestron docks.

“I’d say the greatest benefit of [the installation] is being able to play digital music throughout the speakers in the house,” says Mom. “The kids really enjoy being able to use their iPods in the docking stations, especially when they have friends over.”

Playtime for All
Rather than being a traditional “man cave,” this family’s playroom is more of a “teen cave.” But it doesn’t stray much from the home’s overall design theme.
A long custom wall cabinet contains a desk, shelves, toy bins—and a 61-inch Samsung 1080p DLP screen. Multicolored sliding panels hide or reveal areas of the wall unit, again providing an option to keep a TV out of sight when turned off.

Audio in the playroom is stealthy as well, with much of the surround sound flooding the space via four Sonance in-ceiling speakers, complemented by a Focal center channel and Velodyne subwoofer.

Mom and Dad aren’t completely against their children having individual teen caves in their bedrooms. The rooms were even readied with Verizon FiOS wiring. “Our decision to limit the electronics in the kids’ rooms was purely a parenting decision,” Mom says. “They have laptop computers with a wireless network, which can be used for homework and leisure time, but we also have the ability to remove those options simply by taking away the laptop. We also wanted to encourage the kids to utilize the comfortable family spaces that we created, so we can spend leisure time together.”

Lights … Touchpanels … Action
One way to eliminate clutter, while adding usefulness, was employing an extensive lighting control system tied into the Crestron automation. The home is blessed with natural light through tall great room windows, for example, along with plenty of accent and mood lighting. But the potential wall acne of dimmers and switches almost put a blemish on this part of the project.

“The original lighting plan had some very large switchboxes, which were aesthetically not pleasing,” says Bartolomeo. “We introduced them to a Lutron [HomeWorks] lighting system, which consists of simple single-gang keypads that integrate with the Crestron system.”

Lighting designer Peter Romaniello of Connecticut-based Conceptual Lighting redesigned the lighting plan to ensure that the lighting complemented the home’s contemporary interior design, and that its control (programmed by IES managing partner Dean Valencic) would allow more than one zone to be engaged at a time. “With open architecture you always have to think about not only adding focus to the room you’re in, but also the lighting in the adjacent room so it doesn’t feel dead,” he explains.

About 16 lighting loads cover the home’s open great room, kitchen and family room space, so control and scene-setting solutions made sense. In the kitchen, a COOK scene boosts lights to full brightness for food preparation while adjacent rooms are dimmed, for instance. A MORNING scene lights the way from the bedrooms to the kitchen to the mudroom and out the door. For entertaining, a PARTY scene will dim the living and family room to 50 percent, turn on patio and front entryway lights and emphasize artwork in certain areas.

More to Come
The lighting system took time to fine-tune, but the scenes are constantly in use, especially in the kitchen and great room areas. As with other aspects of a sophisticated home control system, there was a learning curve (see sidebar “Going to Class”) that is ongoing for these homeowners.

Wired and wireless Crestron touchpanels provide access to most of the lighting, music and climate controls. A 10-inch model by the bustling kitchen proved pragmatic, as the family uses it to call up the different scenes and music selection. But maybe the biggest benefit of this home system is that Mom and Dad stepped into the slightly scary world of technology and found that they could do so on their terms.

So what’s next? “Now that we’ve been in our home for a while, we’re thinking of more ways that the Crestron system can work for us,” Mom says. “When we started this house project, it was hard to envision how we would live in the space as our children grew older. The technology in our home is keeping pace with our teenagers, and that says something.”
by Arlen Schweiger

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/tech_living_clutter_free_and_easy/C154

Custom Installation Services, LLC – Audio/Video Sales, Service and Installation in North Carolina and South Carolina

CIS - Ashevlle, NC's #1 Choice For 3d Home Theater/Media Room Design!

Going on a 3D demo hunt? Here’s what to expect from some popular retailers.

3D is picking up steam. But before you take home a 3D TV, you’ll want to spend some quality time putting it through its paces to see if this whole 3D thing is really for you.

While I’m glad to make recommendations and comparisons of displays, here’s what to expect from the demos at some popular retailers.

Best Buy
I started my demo world tour at Best Buy, with a standard demo of the Samsung UN55C7000 combo, including display, Blu-ray player, glasses, and “Monsters vs. Aliens” on 3D Blu-ray.

The display was set up in an open but defined area of the TV section with leather theater recliners and HTiB surround sound. There was no Best Buy employee nearby, so I grabbed a pair of glasses (tethered by USB charging cable) and began enjoying the impressive depth of the image.

The surroundings weren’t overly distracting, even as an associate in the adjacent aisle began a sales pitch with a customer. Lighting was somewhat harsh and caused some glare, but this was actually somewhat minimized by the tint of the active-shutter glasses. The glasses were tethered, but there was plenty of cable allowing for comfortable range of movement. While a dedicated demo area would be preferable, the space was surprisingly conducive.

It was almost 15 minutes into my self-initiated demo before I was approached by a sales associate. I was actually startled as he walked up behind me without me knowing and announced himself with a loud “Can I help you?” The somewhat nature of 3D, along with the impedance of peripheral vision caused by the glasses, might merit some employee training on how to approach an engaged customer.

After getting over the initial startling, I proceeded to ask the associate some questions regarding the Samsung combo and 3D technology. While fairly knowledgeable on model numbers and pricing, he was stumped on 3D basics like “will the TV convert 2D to 3D?” and “will other brands of glasses work with this set?” While he didn’t give any incorrect answers, he was without an answer for many key questions. When he went looking for a supervisor to try to answer those questions, he returned 10 minutes later empty-handed.

Overall, I was happy with the Best Buy demo environment given the drawbacks of an open demo area. But employee training needs to be beefed up, both technical and in consumer interaction.

Fry’s Electronics
While probably twice the size of my local Best Buy, the Fry’s TV and home theater demo areas are much more intimate than Best Buy’s, offering several smaller listening rooms and one dedicated front-projection theater.

The 3D demo (the Samsung UN55C7000 combo) was set up in one of these listening rooms. While it was in a dedicated space, it appeared to be a room for comparing speakers, with three walls of empty shelves and loose speaker wiring. There was a decent surround sound system accompanying the display/player/glasses, but there was no seating to facilitate a more comfortable extended viewing.

The 3D glasses, which were not tethered, were hard to find on my own (high on an unused speaker shelf). Lighting was appropriate and more like what you might find in a living room. The “Monsters vs. Aliens” disc was in the player, but was showing the menu. Like the glasses, the remote was high and out of sight, making it difficult to get the movie going for demo.

I was not approached by a Fry’s sales associate at all. After about 15 minutes, I left the demo room in search of an associate. I found one nearby with the other mass-displayed TVs and asked for some help in the 3D room. As we walked back to the demo room, I asked some of the same questions I quizzed the Best Buy employee with and received more informed answers.

But the answers were provided with a tone of inconvenience, as if he had a better place to be or thought I wasn’t really interested in making a purchase. This attitude continued when we got back to the demo room to find another couple testing out the system, at which point he promptly walked away after just a moments silence.

While the Fry’s dedicated demo space has the potential for a more enjoyable test experience, the look of being an abandoned speaker test room, inconvenient placement of glasses and controls, and inattentive sales associates left a great deal to be desired.

Magnolia Home Theater
Magnolia was demoing the sold-out Panasonic 50-inch VT20 display, 3D Blu-ray player and glasses combo. The store-within-a-store model offers more seclusion than the Samsung demo in the main part of Best Buy, but the Panasonic system was on display right in the entrance, negating the smaller space Magnolia had to offer.

There was actually more noise and distraction since the Magnolia section sits right at the front of the store, directly to the right of the main entrance and cash registers. Seating was a single leather couch and glasses were again tethered with their USB charging cables, though the wiring was shorter and the only comfortable viewing position was at the extreme right or left of the couch.

The Panasonic demo was running “Monsters vs. Aliens,” though it’s not included in the package as with the Samsung combo. As soon as I sat down, I was approached by a Magnolia sales associate. He was approachable and had correct answers to all of my test questions. I never felt like I was inconveniencing him. He even sat on the couch and put on 3D glasses. He also acknowledged the noise and said the staff was requesting the 3D demo be moved to the closed listening environment where speakers and AVRs are demoed.

by Stephen Hopkins

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/3d_demos_big_box_retailer_shoot_out/D2/

Custom Installation Services, LLC – Audio/Video Sales, Service and Installation in North Carolina and South Carolina