Hello,

I was referred to this forum by someone at AVS who told me that many high quality installers hang out here. I'm hoping one (or more) of you can help me out. Here's my situation...I recently moved into a new home and thus already have all my equipment. It consists of:

-a motorized drop down screen which can be triggered
-a digital projector (already calibrated)
-a 7.1 channel preamp/processor
-7 speakers (no sub yet)
-a 7 channel amp
-various sources including a HD cable box, DVD player, etc.

I need someone to:

-mount the projector
-mount the screen
-align the projector and screen
-pull cables from the equipment stack to the speakers (including the 4 on-wall surrounds)
-pull trigger cable from the projector to the screen
-pull various video cables (including DVI, HDMI, component and s-video) from the equipment stack to the projector

Is this something you guys can bid on? I'm in NYC.

Thanks in advance,
Tony Moody

Feel free to email me: [email protected] and remove the nospam

Tony,
What a unique way to shop for a qualified custom installer! I am sure you will get email on this, but I thought I might mention another way to find a company with quality installers.

Try searching the database at www.cedia.org . Cedia is the Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association and you will find many certified professionals through this association.

who did you buy the stuff from? what happened to the original installer?

sets should be recalibrated every so often. it isnt a once in a lifetime event. who calibrated it the first time?

harvey's is in your area.

How can a projector be calibrated when it and it's screen are not yet mounted?

Thanks for the responses. In order of all your questions:

1) Penny, I started with CEDIA. I sent out about 6 inquiries - almost exactly in the form of my post here but with slightly more info - and so far have heard back from only 1. Their labor rate (for equipment they didn't sell) is quite high and so while I'm certainly going to get a bid from them I also want to interview as many people as possible to find someone I feel comfortable working with (regardless of price, i.e. I'd pay more for the right person)

2) oex, I bought the stuff from a variety of sources over the last 2-3 years, both brick and mortar as well as online. I have called the shop from whom I purchased much of the stuff the 1st time around and am waiting to hear back from them.

3) oex/ahem, re: the PJ, it was shipped straight to William Phelps and calibrated by him on the exact screen material I have. It's a JVC HX2U and a 96x54 studiotek 130.

I put the part about the PJ being calibrated in my inquiry b/c I don't want the installer to think I might need that service.

TM

Good choice on the D-ILA and especially on the Phelps calibration.
Look for a true custom pro who is also comfortable with millwork and trim carpentry because you will want that projector enclosed and ventilated. They are LOUD!! and IMHO, it is a detail that makes more difference in the final audio performance than cables or power conditioning ever could.
That said, get good cables and a power conditioner, too.

Since you bought your gear elsewhere, pe prepared to get high bids from any reputable installers. I know we don't discount AT ALL on jobs where we are not using the products we use all the time and made a little bit of money on to boot.

2nd rick,

Have you heard the HX2? Apparently the newest DILAs are orders of magnitude quieter than older ones (especially the xenon bulb based units). I'm not planning to use a hush box...

TM

Only at the show... my most recent D-ILA install was an HX-1 (when they had the HD-camcorder) I haven't heard the new model in a regular room, just the off site JVC suite at CEDIA.
I always enclose projectors, ever the old CRTs that didn't use jet engine fans like the single lens models. Reducing the noise floor to give the sound system the cleanest slate possible has always been a very high priority for me.

I hear you. One thing I didn't mention - my theater is also my living room which fronts Hudson Street in Manhattan. As good as my windows are, I'm afraid to measure my baseline spl b/c it'll scare me :)

TM

yeah, but noise (in general) is additional so adding more noise will just make it noisier. It is not like there is a limit and after that more noise has no effect any more :-)

look up innovativeaudiovideo.com....they are a good shop.

I really don't like the idea of independents working directly for end users... there are just too many places where things can go wrong. What if the board finds out that you have uninsured contractors working in the building? What if you need service that exceeds what this person can give you in the future?

My thoughts on some of the misc. NYC entities...

Stereo Exchange - big store, great owner, great lines, hit or miss in only that you have to communicate with the staff. salesmen may or may not be busy at that particular time you walk in, given their busy soho/nolita/village location. save yourself time and schedule an appointment with nelson from the get-go.

Innovative Audio - also a major store, good people, good lines, i don't know too many of the people over there, but sure that you would do well to go there. solid custom installation history

Sound by Singer - high end lines, not much experience with them. i know they don't do the volume of custom installations as other shops, but that doesn't necessarily mean much.

Park Avenue Audio - great staff, great owner, good mid to high end lines, very knowledgeable cusom installation staff. sales staff is above average. talk to evan.

Lyric - more great lines (the five i mentioned so far pretty much dominate the NYC market for prime gear). larger ci staff than singer, but smaller than the others. (all of these guys so far also do Crestron)

Advanced Electric Design / Performance Imaging - very uhm... advanced... and a very solid CT based high end shop. they do great work and have a great design approach. i'm thinking large projects only here.

In Living Stereo - friendly staff, very small outfit, has the "other" hi end stuff, like sim, avalon, and some great hand made tube stuff. a pretty exclusively old school audiophile outfit that dables in the occassional ci. talk to steve.

Red Rose Music - Mark Levinson (ex-Cello CEO) - if your vision matches his, has some pretty amazing ability to put together a large amount of equipment at a price...

HKL consulting group - the advantages and feel of a design / build or pure consultanting approach to projects, buy also with the advantage of actually doing their own installations. great for very large projects or where there is a large amount of architectural detail that needs to be fleshed out.

Electronic Environments - also a firm that is super-competent in churning out those large projects. high profile clients with a no-show-room-design-build type of feel. One of the better automation-friendly houses in the city.

Of course there is a fair amount of cross polination between these different groups and every independent that I know has been affiliated with one of these companies at some point in time. you could also name any single outfit and i could draw some sort of line to at least 1, maybe 2 other companies.

I am an independent, and first off... no I will not do your project (mostly do design and engineering), but I do recommend you to any of these outfits, and if I knew more about your project, I could even make suggestions of which company would fit the flavor of what you were looking for.

Not long ago AVDUDE posted a link showing that 3 of the top 10 ( in dollar amounts ) custom AV firms to be located in NY. How anyone could recommend a audiophile salon for custom work is beyond comprehension. In my life I have worked for some of the names mentioned and I can testify that they know as much about custom as I do about writing code in Netron C--which in case I am being too cute is absolutely nothing.

Do they have custom departments? NO!!! They have people who install the equipment they sell. They know as much about Crestron as Tom [sorry] tells them and without his help they would not be able to wire a Cresnet terminal block. Their purpose is to help sell boxes not provide custom solutions. There are a ton of really good small and large custom shops in the New York area. Chosing a large stereo salon to provide custom solutions is to ask for trouble. Want some small audio/videophile equipment poorly setup ( like one shop does Merridian ) then go to these perveyers of boxes. The only difference between Tweeter and these salons is size and the number of cities they are in. And I apologize to Tweeter's custom department who I am certain is superior to anyone in any of these stores. Let the buyer beware.

Alan

This message was edited by Audible Solutionns on 12/12/04 16:28 ET.

Wow ALan, that was a double Latte with a shot of Whiskey post!

Here! Here! for what Audible Solutionns said.