Where To Buy

Where To Buy: Custom Installer

We audio/video types are pretty knowledgeable. We read magazines to get the latest info on the hottest equipment, we shop intelligently, and we think we know how to assemble and operate our systems reasonably well. Some of us actually read the owner's manuals. Most of us are unaware that, below the surface of today's installation-intensive landscape, there lurks a festering swamp world, wriggling with toxic faux pas and riddled with potential electronic land mines. When these conditions are allowed to fester, trouble comes a'knockin'. Things short out or blow up. Systems fail. The truth is, most of us need guides to help us navigate through this foggy land, eliminate the bad mojo, and emerge once again into the golden glow of righteous system performance.

Take heart. The world of custom installation is populated by professionals who know the terrain well. They came from humble origins, born the moment someone plugged a patch cable from their VCR's audio jack into an available auxiliary input on their stereo receiver. And look what's happened. We now rely on these custom guys to provide proper design, engineering, connection, and setup on a daily basis, sometimes with budgets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. They're also here to save us from installations gone awry.

When you delve deeper into the world of custom installation, you'll see that there are several areas of specialization: design, engineering, project management, and installation. This inner world doesn't have to be a frightening netherland that you don't understand. Today I'm going to reveal the secrets of the scouts, to outline how they think and approach their work. My goal is to help you learn how to recognize the better installers or, if you're a do-it-yourselfer, how to approach your own theater the right way—the custom installer's way—for optimal performance.

Design
Custom installers' heads are filled with thoughts of small parts, wires, tools, formulae, and all sorts of measuring devices and floor plans. These people envision how to get you to "Wow!" Coordinating a project from scratch begins with a lot of questions for the client, from which the designer develops an outline of steps, a design and engineering plan, a parts and equipment list, and a picture of how the system is to operate. Only then are papers signed, products purchased, and the actual installation scheduled.

The best system integrators apply many hours of forethought and planning before taking any action. Here's why: Before the designer envisions any new theater, the first requirement is to grok the room. A 65-inch widescreen display might be fun in a 10- by 10-foot loft, but it's probably too large to live with comfortably. A giant 18-inch subwoofer may cause your next-door neighbor to hear and feel building-shaking explosions before you do.

Designing a system takes into account what you want to realistically achieve, what technologies you want to include, how they can work together, and what the room calls for. The designer brings it all into focus. He or she first creates the broad strokes and then fleshes out the details. System design is where vision and reality collide.

The Plot Thickens
Once the designer blends the client's needs and dreams with the room's characteristics, the plan begins to unfold as you and your installer work with the room layout to determine proper equipment placement.

If you're doing your own install, you must do a scale drawing of the room. I have the added advantage of applying my son's eighth-grade math skills because I sure as heck don't trust my own. Plotting the room to scale on paper has several benefits. With known room dimensions, you'll be able to determine the proper screen size and seating distance from the screen. Add all of the room's details, including doorways, windows, and furniture. Seeing the room on paper will highlight certain potential problems: glare from windows and lighting fixtures, furniture blocking the screen, traffic patterns interfering with viewing, etc. And what about that heirloom lamp that's blocking the left front speaker?

With all of the information at hand, you can make better equipment choices—for example, the right kind of video display. You should examine your room's viewing angle, appropriate screen size, and other parameters and compare them with the characteristics and abilities of various display products: a CRT direct-view, a plasma, an LCD flat panel, an RPTV, or a two-piece screen and projector.

The key word for custom installers is predictability; no oopsies allowed. Lay out the system and draw an elevation: a straight-on view of the wall where you'll place the TV, speakers, and anything else (like a gear rack), confirming the screen height from the floor. When you're seated, your eye should be level with the center of the screen or thereabouts. Be very detailed. If you're going to house a video display in a cabinet with pocket doors, make sure to measure the cabinet's inside width, including the hinges and doors. Think about ventilation. Once your map is completed, you're ready to move to the next step.

Selection of Equipment
Few rooms and homes are designed to accommodate A/V entertainment. Often, room layouts severely limit the placement and selection of equipment. A case in point is the now-popular kitchen/family-room combo floor plan. When a cable-TV wall outlet in the corner is the only nod to an entertainment system, placing even a simple multichannel A/V system is challenging.

While shopping one day, you might see some hot new speakers and develop a case of the gimmes. Only later might you consider whether your environment can accommodate them—sometimes too late, unless remodeling is within the project's scope. Custom installers approach things more pragmatically: They consider specific products only after defining the room's limits. If, for example, a plasma's jack pack and electrical input are located on the side that you see when you enter the room, you'll forever be forced to view this eyesore. So the room's layout and architecture become key in the selection of equipment. Your budget then determines how to apportion the dollars and which products to purchase.

Engineered to Disappear
The engineer's craft is the unglamorous but essential part of the planning work. Engineering is the nuts and bolts—listing the parts, measuring the angles of sound dispersion and focal distance from projector to screen, etc. Solid engineering will also help preserve the room's aesthetic. These days, most people who hire custom installers want to enjoy the home theater experience without feeling like they live in a science lab.

Engineers can make the equipment disappear: They can disguise speakers as framed art or panel them into drywall, using paint to help them vanish into the wall. They can install a motorized articulating arm for your plasma monitor or a hydraulic lift that allows your projector to descend from the ceiling, and they can tuck professional racks into your cabinetry. A sharp design/engineering team can even hide all of the gear to which the owner doesn't need immediate access (amps, tuners, satellite receivers, etc.). This, of course, assumes that the installer will include an IR or RF control system to operate hibernating components.

Quite simply, visible equipment interferes with the viewing experience. When was the last time you went to your local cineplex and saw 40 red LEDs and a fluorescent panel flashing minutes and seconds to the left of the screen? One of the fundamentals of the movie experience is the ability to suspend your disbelief and immerse yourself in the story. You can't do this with distractions. The finest custom professionals take this into account when positioning the components.

Engineers factor all of the elements into the equation: Is there a tired mini fridge or ice maker clattering away in the room? Are HVAC compressors and air ducts introducing noise? No custom professional should say that these details don't matter. Everything matters. The designer and engineer may even be the same person, although the required skills are different. In a well-rounded custom team, everyone does a little of everything, including installation. Don't trust anyone who's afraid to get his or her hands dirty.

Wire Management
Why should you care whether your cables are neatly bundled and cleanly laid out? Isn't that just a manifestation of an obsessive/compulsive personality trait? No. Here's why you should show your wires some TLC. First, if left alone as a rat's nest, the wires kink and twist, which spells death for CAT-5 and Toslink optical cable. Kind of like that cheap garden hose in the tool shed. Leaving cables in a crazy wad also can put undue stress on the terminations, which is begging for trouble. And, as you hopefully know by now, cheap wire with flimsy terminations won't last.

A quick glance at the typical system's backside (see Photo A) uncovers a horrific world of mutated ganglia. Just look at that mess, sprawled there with reckless abandon. How the heck can you expect to trace a wire or make any sense of the signal path in that pretzel puzzle? Clean it up. Even if you aren't going to the trouble of mounting everything in a professional metal rack, using wire ties to keep the cables orderly also makes each one easier to trace. The proximity of AC power cables to signal-bearing wires can cause hum and all sorts of unwanted noise, so keep them separated. Where they need to cross, do so at 90-degree angles wherever possible.

You want another reason to clean up your behind-the-scenes act? Dust and grime collect on the wires and throughout the area. As we know, dirt and dust kill equipment. In fact, wire management is so important, the Consumer Electronics Association gives a Mark of Excellence award each year to the custom installer with the "Best Dressed System."

Documentation
You might not think it's very important now, but, as your system evolves and grows, you'll suffer if there's not at least some basic organization. It's akin to doing your taxes. Those people who organize their paperwork are just plain better off. The rest of us lazy slobs are only postponing the day of reckoning. There are hundreds, sometimes thousands, of wires going hither and yon in a full-on project, so a professional installer absolutely must track the wiring path of every cable.

Being able to trace each cable is vital, especially for troubleshooting and service. Take a look at Photo B, and you'll see what's called a box schedule. This assigns a number to each cable and destination. Especially if you're integrating various types of systems (CAT-5e, lighting, control, high voltage, audio, component, RGB, XLR, etc.), identifying each cable can help prevent cross-interference.

Even if you're only installing a basic A/V entertainment system, imagine how easy it will be to identify each cable and its termination points when you number each one. A well-designed system incorporates simple "as-built" drawings that clearly trace the signal path and show how the system is connected. The best custom firms even measure and document the locations and height of wallplates, touchpanels, media, and LAN/TEL jacks. They do this so that other trades can match their panels: lighting, security, electrical, etc. Nothing looks sloppier than a wall that's trashed up with misaligned, off-center wallplates.

Manuals
I used to keep my manuals under each piece of equipment. It kind of made sense. However, the books got dog-eared, the pages tore and yellowed, and my system was just plain unsightly. It performed great, but it looked like a wreck. Consider three-hole-punching your manuals and storing them in a binder. You'll be able to find them quickly and, in the event you sell any piece, the value will increase because the manual is in good shape. The more manuals you have, the happier you'll be.

Professional custom-installation firms three-hole-punch every owner's manual and collect them in a binder for you. The best ones keep their own copies, along with their CAD plans, box schedules, spreadsheets, elevations, and notes. It's all there for you in case you need it. If you're interviewing potential home theater contractors, ask about their record keeping.

Housing the Equipment
If you've accumulated enough stuff to stock a small hi-fi shop, it's time for the next step: Rack it up. Racks are measured in terms of rack spaces (1.75 inches high each). Your equipment is secured to the interior rails by using the built-in rack ears on the equipment's front panel, adding a pair of rack ears, or buying a custom faceplate. Home equipment can sit loosely on a rack shelf, but it's not preferred. Infrared emitters attached to the front panels can pull away more easily if the equipment isn't rigidly mounted.

When custom installers mount equipment in a professional metal enclosure, everything is orderly and clean. Why? If you've ever removed anything for service or disassembled your system to add another piece, you know the answer. In new projects, the pros lay out the rack logically, so associated components are in close proximity to each other, which minimizes extraneous cabling. The shorter the cable lengths, the better. Heat accumulates and causes breakdown, so they cleverly position the heat-producing amplifiers close to the top. A well-appointed rack includes fans, vents, and power-cord management.

Custom guys also provide blank panels and make sure the rack is large enough for future growth. Wire-management accessories like ladders and troughs control the plethora of cables. There are many rack variations to fit virtually any location: pullouts from built-in cabinets, freestanding, pivots, low profile, and more.

Control Systems
What? You can't get your sexy new all-in-one after-market touchpanel remote to work in the same room as your wireless phone? And sometimes you try to turn the system on but something shuts off instead? That's definitely frustrating. If you're tired of spending increasing amounts of money to be continually frustrated, you're not alone.

If you're controlling your system with the remote that came with a high-end preamp or mega-receiver, chances are you're in good shape. However, as many of us add more and more equipment, we try to control the stack with IR-driven touchpanel/hard-button hybrid remotes that often disappoint.

In the pro world, installers make equipment choices partially with their controlability in mind. Does the plasma have an RS-232 connection? Does the VCR have time-base correction to make it control-friendly? Custom designers set out their interconnectivity goals first. Sharp custom guys will always recommend that you spend some money for an RF-based touchpanel with a separate processing unit mounted with the equipment. I won't mention any brand names here, but look for features like non-volatile memory, expandability, intuitive button layout, and easy navigation and operation (an element the programmer builds in).

Hey, it might cost $3,000 to $5,000, but consider the control system to be less an accessory (that's what got you in trouble to begin with) and more the most important component that you need to make everything work. . .every day. Look for companies with lots of experience because there are many control system wannabes, and you don't wannabe someone's guinea pig. It takes a big commitment to be in the control business. Always ask to see some samples of the programmer's work.

Testing and Calibration
The best custom companies confirm all of the components' functionality before final installation. In their shops, they load the racks with the equipment, do the prewire, and dress and label the cables. The more-serious control-system integrators test the programming and the touchpanel hardware to eliminate any glitches. They run the remote-control system through its paces to guarantee easy, intuitive operation. Final onsite setup is not complete until each component is tested, tweaked, and calibrated for maximum performance.

For video displays, this takes the form of gray-scale adjustment, convergence (if using a three-gun CRT projector), color-bar tests, and more. These painstaking procedures may seem unnecessarily time consuming, but they actually save time by minimizing troubleshooting or, even worse, product exchange. This step, sometimes known as commissioning, takes the dream off of the paper and puts it on the road. If the preliminary work is right, now is the time to hit the ignition.

Futureproofing
Perhaps the greatest service a fine custom installer can provide is to help you protect your investment by making sure that you can make changes down the road with a minimal amount of trouble and expense. It's no secret that we can't take a breath without another new technological breakthrough. Make sure that you'll be able to enjoy whatever you buy for the foreseeable future. DVI and HDMI interfaces are primary examples. Consider a control system that can extend to lighting, motorized drapes, and other related subsystems. Think about futureproofing before you buy.

Every Mistake in the Book
The following is a composite of several true stories.

Alan and Sandi Wilkins couldn't wait to get their new plasma set. Since they needed a new TV anyway, they figured they might as well buy the most current technology. Alan had some experience at the campus radio station several years ago, so that made him an expert. Surely he could hook it up himself.

Sandi contacted her part-time designer friend who had always wanted to work with a plasma. Together they fashioned a cute little wall niche and got a builder to frame and finish it. They thought the plasma would look great if it fit into the wall so that its front was flush with the wall's surface, truly built-in.

The plasma, purchased over the Internet, was delivered a few weeks later. Oops! No one told Alan that it needed a wall bracket. It took a few more weeks for one to finally arrive. On the big install day, he followed careful directions to install the wall bracket. Oops again! The connecting cables were poking through the wall on the wrong side. The plasma's inputs were on the right, and the cables were too short to reach. "No worries," thought Alan, "I'll just use some barrel connectors and extension coax cables. I've got a whole bag of extras that have been lying around for years. They're probably still good. This 12-footer's a little sticky. No matter, I'll bundle it up and stuff it behind. . ."

Alan inset the bracket into the space. With some help from neighbor Jack, he carefully lifted the set. But what's this? Sandi and her friend didn't leave any headroom, so there was no way to slip the unit over the top of the bracket. Fudge. The niche had to go. While waiting for the builder to come back, Alan read the manual and discovered that the top needed some breathing room to allow heat to escape. Whew! Good thing they blew it. Imagine what would have happened as the heat built up with nowhere to go.

The big day finally came. . .again. The wall was built out, the bracket was remounted, the extended cable was ugly but ready, and the plasma was carefully slipped onto the bracket. Oh man. . .what now? The power-cord was so big, it protruded; the set couldn't fit flush on the bracket, and it kinked the power wire something wicked. Oh yeah. . .Alan had heard something about a clock box, an electrical J-box inserted into the wall to allow the power cord to fit below the wall's surface. Well, he'll deal with that later. Nothing was gonna stop him from firing up this puppy. He turned on the power but couldn't figure out how to change channels on the thing. And where's the sound? The speakers must be hidden. Wait a minute. What do you mean it's "just a monitor"?

Whether you're a do-it-yourselfer or about to hire a custom firm, hopefully I've given you some insight into what professional design and installation entails. Today's equipment is loaded with many ways to interface with other systems. In fact, I just counted 10 different types of inputs and outputs on the back of my high-def set-top box. Clear thinking and organization from the project's beginning to its completion should keep you on track. When you think like a pro, your system will thank you every time you fire it up.