Ben Robinson
“Jonathan has fixed our TV. Thanks for sending him out today to correct the issue. This is why I chose to purchase my TV from Custom Audio Video. Your service is excellent.”
Thanks again
Gordon
“Good Morning Sandy,
Thank you for all the good work Jed and James did. This place was a real mess after the fire, only someone like James and Jed could have chased all the gremlins out of the place. You can be proud of your company and staff, they are terrific.”
Regards,
Gail & Mike Z
“Twenty years ago Custom Audio Video did the electronic work in our new home. We were delighted with the professionalism, quality of work and their quick response for any service needed. Five years later we built another home and had electric shades installed by a well known company specializing in electric blinds. It was a disaster from day one. The manufacturer misled us on the performance and capability of the equipment and what it could provide. Also offered the local representative no assistance or support with installing the shades. When we realized Custom Audio Video sold electric blinds we contacted them. Sandy Benson, the owner, immediately and very aggressively contacted the manufacturer and convinced them to remedy our situation. She spent many, many hours working with the manufacturer to supply new motors and CAV’s very capable personnel performed proper installation. The manufacturer requested that CAV represent their line which Sandy declined. Our blinds work beautifully thanks to Sandy and her capable personnel. CAV offers what service and customer support should be. We know of no other company that would have taken on this responsibility when they had no association with the manufacturer , the product line or the original sale. How grateful we are!”
Walter Kopczynski
“Dear Sandy I want to thank you for the work that your company did for the installation of my surround sound system and the 2 TVs you put in my home. The professionalism of your workers was impeccable along with their outstanding work. You do get what you pay for. The attention to detail while installing my system was fantastic and whenever there was a minor issue or question you or your staff were always there to answer my questions very promptly. Please never go out of business because I will not know who to use in this region because you are the best. I was in the Air Force and worked at the Pentagon in the late 70’s and my Specialty was as an Audio Video Media Specialist, so I know this field even though it has changed since I was in the military. I can tell you that your work is top notch. This is the second time I’ve had to use Custom Audio Video for your services and I can tell you that you really care about your customers and take pride in your installations. Thank you for the great work you did, and now, not only does my house Rock when I watch a 4K movie on my 75 inch Sony, but you also Rock. Thanks again, Sincerely,”
Why wire a home for Networking and Internet?
“Why would anyone find the need to spend money on wiring their home or business?”
On the surface, it may not seem necessary. You may be thinking, “Couldn’t I just connect a wireless router onto my modem and call it a day?” Unfortunately, things aren’t always what they seem. Similar to the way a flashlight’s light will dissipate the further it travels outward, the strength of a wireless signal lessens the further it travels away from its source. Furthermore, wireless signals are manipulated by appliances, other electronic devices, surrounding building materials, and even from particular kinds of furniture. In fact, even your neighbor’s wireless signal can negatively impact your wireless quality.
“Couldn’t I just add more wireless antennas to solve that problem?”
If you are still trying to avoid wiring anything, you can improve coverage by using some form of repeater or extender (a device that will take your current wireless signal and increase its coverage by repeating the signal). However, even in a perfect world, most consumer repeater units are going to lose speed due to the way that they are designed. Directing your computer to a web page from a repeater has to first move through the router. In turn, the router then has to provide the information back to the repeater which then gives it back to your computer. In other words, repeaters double the amount of work and generally cut the speed in half due to the additional steps.
You may ask “Well, what if I use better enterprise grade units (known as “Prosumers”)? Wouldn’t that solve the problem?” True, this may help to greatly reduce the speed loss due to the fact that it can handle the streams independently rather than taking turns, but “Prosumers” are not perfect. For instance, if you have four active devices on one wireless access point split, this equates to each device only receiving a fourth of the available capacity.
So, to answer your question, adding more wireless antennas will not solve the problem the way that you want it to. In order for your linked devices to receive 100% of the link capacity and to receive a dedicated feed to each device as well, your home needs be hardwired.
“Well, what if I wire those additional antennas? Would that work?”
Wiring additional antennas may seem to provide you with a more robust and stable networking experience, but even the best wireless networks can succumb to interference. There are many ways that this can happen. For example, one way is through radio frequency. If a radio frequency is being produced, it may interfere with the signal coming you’re your access point. Another way that your signal could weaken is through furniture. There are certain materials in the furniture that are known to either block or reflect the signal causing signal degradation. Lastly, even other wireless devices can affect your wireless experience by using up the limited bandwidth available on a single access point.
Wireless is supposed to be about convenience. Unfortunately, wiring those additional antennas will still not be as fast nor as stable as hardwiring your connection.
“Okay, you have proved your point. What do you suggest?”
The best solution would be to have a mixture of antennas wired to the main hub, in order to provide coverage to your mobile devices, and have physical wiring running to your stationary devices as well. Multiple wired antennas will provide you with more coverage throughout your home with a hardwired backbone to help minimize speed loss. While your mobile devices will still be sharing the limited speed of the antenna, the hardwired connection will eliminate the speed loss that’s associated with a repeater. Along with that, physical wiring to your stationary devices will ensure dedicated speed and stability to each device. Let Custom Audio Video help you design and implement the hardwired network that you deserve.
Bowers & Wilkins is Business Insider’s 2016 Car Audio System of the Year
Business Insider just named its 2016 Car of the Year: the Acura NSX.
This year, we’re unveiling two new awards: Audio System of the Year and Infotainment System of the Year. These are both important categories, as car audio becomes increasingly sophisticated, optimized for maximum listening pleasure; and as infotainment systems point toward everything from connected cars to autonomous vehicles.
Our 2016 Audio System of the Year is Bowers & Wilkins.
Over the course of the past 12 months, the BI Transportation team has sampled every high-end audio system available in vehicles and installed my the original manufacturer — as well as some systems aimed as more mass-market cars and trucks. (We didn’t consider any aftermarket systems.)
The finalists
We distilled our experiences to a list of five finalists:
- Bose
- Bowers & Wilkins
- Fender
- Naim Audio
- Revel
I’m BI’s resident car-audiophile (sort of), and I hashed out my assessments with Transportation Reporters Ben Zhang and Danielle Muoio, as well as Senior Transportation Editor Cadie Thompson.
Our process for this award was fairly subjective. But because we enjoyed so many systems over the year, we were able to notice what some audio setups did better than others. By and large, however, car-audio systems these days are uniformly excellent. The old AM/FM-two-speaker arrangements of yesteryear are long gone. And even the most basic vehicles frequently offer Bluetooth integration, AUX ports, satellite radio, and multi-speaker soundstages, complete with powerful amplifiers, carefully tuned speakers, and subwoofers.
Upmarket systems are often an option on cars, and at times a pricey one. But in our view they’re well worth considering.
Our five finalists each provide a distinctive listening experience, across a wide range of musical styles. Obviously, when listening to music in a vehicle, you will be using a variety of media: terrestrial radio, satellite radio, CDs, MP3s, Bluetooth streaming, and streaming audio services such as Pandora, Spotify, and Tidal. You may also be using USB inputs or an AUX jack, so the quality of your source audio will vary. (For the most part, I’ve found that plugging into the AUX jack gives me the best modern audio, although some experts maintain that the USB port is better, and that using CD-player input still offers the best sound).
The big winner
Bowers & Wilkins is a British company that’s been around since the mid-1960s and is renowned for its home-audio systems. In the cars we sampled that had B&W setups — including Volvos, Maseratis, the new BMW 7 Series — the listening experience was sublime. B&W is all about detail, detail, detail. The bass is lush and resonant, the midrange is a veritable riot of musical information, and the highs have the piercing clarity of angelic falsettos. If you like to experience your music deeply, then B&W has what you seek. Especially if you’re a fan of classical music. But really, everything sounds wonderful spilling from these speakers.
As far as the combination of car and B&W systems goes, I’d say that the BMW 7 Series provided the best setting, for what it’s worth (16 speakers, 1,400 watts in the BMW we tested).
The runner up
This was tricky, because objectively the Naim Audio system in the new Bentley Bentayga SUV is mind-boggling good, by far the best car-audio execution I’ve ever head in my entire career. It’s almost indescribably superb. I heard detail I had never heard before, in music I had listened to countless times on high-end home audio systems. The experience was, frankly, almost disturbing. And it happened again and again.
But the Naim system isn’t as widely available as the Bowers & Wilkins, and I didn’t enjoy it outside the Bentayga. As fabulous as it is, that put it in second place.
The Bose, Revel, and Fender systems were also wonderful — each has its own distinctive quality. You can read my impressions of all three here.
You can find the original post by Matthew DeBord from Business Insider here.
What is a Smart Home?
A smart home is a home customized for you. A house that greets you when you arrive home and goes to sleep when you do. It means automated climate control: heat that kicks on as you get home from work and turns down when you leave to save power. It’s your home at your fingertips with the ability to stream audio to the entire house or just one room. Control any function at the press of a button. It’s greater security for you and your family allowing you to lock and monitor your home from anywhere, with real-time alerts while you’re away. Ready to make your home a smart home?
Who Thought You Could Have So Much at the Push of a Button?
Going well beyond the confines of your TV, advanced integrated control systems allow the user to navigate nearly every aspect of home electronics.
Imagine finding yourself in bed and trying to remember whether or not you’ve locked the front door. If you’re like me, this is a fairly common occurrence, and systems like Control 4 give users the opportunity to not only check and then lock a particular door, but they also provide options such as a “Goodnight” button, effectively putting a house to sleep by turning off lights and securing all doors.
Here’s a short list of the variety of functions available through Control 4, and other control systems:
- Get notified on your smartphone when your kids return home from school.
- Have your heat kick on when you are driving home from the airport.
- Schedule your shades to open at varying levels throughout the day, in synch with the relative position of the sun.
- Set lighting scenes in accordance with the occasion by brightening or dimming , and if it’s movie time, have this happen in conjunction with setting volume to a pre-programmed level, all with the “click” of a button.
- Here’s one of our favorites – How about flooding the house with your favorite music, or having it follow you from room-to-room, or letting everyone in the home listen to their own playlist in their favorite spot of the house?
The scope of tasks which these systems are capable of is truly astounding, and Control 4 is not alone in the world of home automation.
Founded in 1968, Crestron, like other companies in this field, manufactures programmable controllers including touch panels, keypads, and lighting switches. In addition to their standard platform, this manufacturer’s new system, Crestron Pyng, provides the unique options of both integrating into an existing Crestron system, or for a complete and simple setup of home automation in just a few steps right from an iPad.
Above is very brief look at the fascinating and versatile world of advanced integrated control systems. Visit our showroom and let the CAV team help you to find the smartest solution for your needs.
Elaine
“Your guys do an outstanding job. They are always on time and so professional. Wendy is great at getting me the earliest appointment I think you have created the perfect group!
Thanks for all you do!”
Classé Amps and Preamps
Classé, manufacturers of high-performance music and theater components, recently unveiled new entry level preamps and amps, dubbing them the Sigma line.
First up is the Sigma SSP. Not only an affordable audiophile quality Preamp, the SSP is also unique in other aspects. Capable of handling video and 7.1 surround sound, it is, in addition, optimized for two channel stereo, allowing flexibility in configuration without sacrificing audio quality.
And what Amp would better compliment the Classé Sigma SSP than a Classé Sigma AMP2 or AMP5?
The Sigma AMP2 is two-channel, 200 watts per channel amplifier that delivers clean and stable power while being both compact and efficient, demonstrating low heat dissipation and a relatively small size. Providing wide dynamic range, smooth and extended frequency response and rich harmonic detail, the AMP2 easily exceeds performance levels of other amps in a similar price range.
The Sigma AMP5 is very much like the AMP2, but with the necessary part and layout modifications to accommodate its five-channel architecture.
The options and varying configurations available in amp and preamp setups can be dizzying, so how do you choose? We recommend you stop in at our showroom and discuss your ideal solution with an expert. This can make all the difference in your decision making process.