im giving these people a try http://www.psprint.com/

Also, i had relidy do everything for me from scratch. There designs are top notch, turn around is quick and communication is good. My postcard is my favorite actually!

Check out these guys for printing
[Link: ariesprint.com]

I had an email going with him for 2 hours(after hours) and he was very helpful and informative....
Also, looks like his pricing is much better

looks like he doesnt do booklets, although i think catalogs are the same? anyway for an 8 page he is a bit more expensive. if the people i used dont work out ill give him a call!

Ok, i didnt go through all the types, only a z-fold brochure. My bad.
I assume an 8 page booklet is not for a mailout, lol

Sold my trailer today, the one I ordered back in the summer, actually made $800 bucks on it! Decided with all my new organization it wasn't needed. Now im finding a hard time to fill my shelfs ;)

Pics of the van!

We are working on several cool projects right now. But I decided to add a some pictures of a job my guys finished up the other day. I was so proud of the brackets I custom made for the center channel speaker. The relationship that we have built with our local metal fabricator has been priceless. I literally drove up to his shop and said I need some brackets made. He said, you have a drawing? I had something drawn up. He took me right to the machine and we built them in 5 minutes

waiting on a few more things then ill post :)

@nezbo

Awesome! you know, i dont think clients ever "get" what we do and what we have to do to make an installation turn out. something that seems so simple like a bracket can turn into a few hours of drawing/figuring out how to do it. I have had to come up with countless solutions for projects and the amount of time that went into it was crazy. Then when you install it and it all falls into place it looks like it was "made to do that" and the time spent designing it isnt appreciated lol.

NEZBO,

Nice install, but I would consider having those brackets triangulated for strength if that speaker has any weight at all, or if there are little hands that could pull on it.

Other wise it is awesome to have somebody that can work with you like that and on short notice.

When I had my custom automotive shop, I had a machine shop with CNC capabilities in the complex. They would build pretty much whatever I needed, when ever I needed it unless they had a very large run going. They were very reasonable on pricing to no charge at all.

Treat them with respect and value their abilities, because you never know.

Mike

P.S. Do you have any pics of the mount and wiring at the back of the cabinet?

BigWood, The triangle idea is a great idea. It is hard to tell in the pic but the front of the speaker edge is resting on the back of the tv frame. The edge just happened to be the perfect size for the speaker edge to rest against. I also have a heavy duty velcro piece helping it support to back of tv. There are no little kids at this place but it is surprisingly sturdy.

Here is the link to the back of the mount (this is the only pic that I have. It was before we installed the center channel speaker and still had not dressed the wires or straightened the plates.



3 pedal, They don't get it but we do. The only thing that separates us from our competitors is this kind of work. There is no way our customers will ever really get it.

iimig & Bandar... nice looking rooms!

Some of the other guys already did a really good job of answering this for me, but thought I'd reply as well.

Sure, there are still some bids I don't win.  I'm in the fortunate position that I probably close 70-80% of the jobs I have to bid on and I'm a shoe-in for around half my work because I'm the go-to guy for the architect, builder, designer, etc. 

I think there are a few reasons I have such a high close rate:

1. Most of my work comes via referrals from existing clients so new potential clients already have some comfort/trust associated even before meeting me.
2. Many of the clients that refer me are some combination of wealthy, famous, or hold some position of authority so their referral holds a lot of clout.
3. When I'm brought in by the architect, designer, builder, etc. they usually just tell the client "this is my guy, he's great and you'll love him" and that's usually enough to secure the job.
4. For the jobs I do bid on, I'm rarely the highest or lowest bid.  I do have some very strong, high-end competition here in town but due to my low overhead I can come in with a lower bid and still do great work.  There are also several small 1-2 man shops like me here in town that can underbid me, but I like to think I do better work.

The bottom line is that it just takes time to build up these relationships with high-end clients and architects, builders & designers.  I don't take these referrals lightly and never take them for granted.  It only takes one screwed up job or unhappy customer to ruin years of hard work.

Dang Neurorad... thanks!  I think it's important to do your best all the time... you're only as good as your last job.

Santa Barbara is a very small market so doing anything underhanded or simply not being a likable guy will kill your career here quickly.  I think this is less important in the large markets, because there will always be work trickling in from somewhere but if you work in a small area, you're reputation usually precedes you.

This is a list of the JBL speakers.  They are all the high output models:

2x Control 29AV-1
2x Control 28T-60
6x Control 25T
2x SB210 Subs

Basically one pair of 29AV-1 at one end of the pool (under Cabana eaves) with the pair of 28T-60 at the other end (under Garage eaves) and the six 25T's spread around the sides of the pool hidden in the landscape to even out the sound.  One sub is built into the Cabana wall and the other sub is freestanding next to a stone wall in the landscaping.

One Crown amp is used to drive the subs at 8 ohms (1 per channel), and another Amp is used to drive the rest of the speakers at 70v.  I'm using a combination of the amps DSP settings along with an outboard DBX crossover and 31 band EQ to handle the EQ.  The subs have a low pass filter applied and the 29 & 28 series speakers have a high pass filter around 60-70Hz and the 25 series speakers have a high pass filter around 90hz.

The nice thing about having so many speakers around the pool area is that it provides really even coverage at lower volumes.

The nice thing about the 29 & 28 series speakers is that they can really push sound out over a large area at high SPL with the horn loaded design.

The 29AV-1 speakers are amazing. We have used them in places where the budget was slashed much more than it should have been and they were replacing much more expensive, elaborate systems. Long story short they play with the kind of tight pattern control, frequency response, and SPLs of much bigger, better speakers.

As I understand it, they are also the most up to date design technically speaking in the Control lineup.

I recently tried Sonance FastMount surface mount commercial speakers and there is really no comparison.