Great A/V Systems Are Home Seller's Edge

If you tour a lot of homes for sale, it soon becomes clear what amenities one expects to find in great homes, though perhaps not considered to be in the "high-end" range.

You might expect, for example, triple-crown moulding, granite counter-tops, stainless appliances and extra-large walk-in closets.  In terms of electronics, you might look for flatscreen TVs, built-in speakers (both indoor and out) or even a security system with closed circuit cameras.

But consider what your reaction to the home is when you find a dedicated media room or even a home theater?  Or perhaps you learn the home features fully-distributed audio and video to all the rooms in the house.  How does that affect the home's desirability factor?  Then again, what if you learned the home is programmed to operate from a tablet or remotely from your smart phone?--adjust the temperature, check the security cameras, or turn lights on or off?  Wouldn't any of these amenities create the sort of "wow" factor that tells you THIS home seller has one great home!?

Distinctive home electronic systems not only put the "style" in your lifestyle but could be the very thing that helps your own home outclass the others on the market when its time to sell.

Jerry Del Colliano write in hometheaterreview.com:

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Apartment Therapy

Nothing helps "get you home" from your day in the trenches better than by filling your home with the music you love.  But whether you're in an apartment or even a dorm room, you need portability while getting major impact from a simple system.

For simplified sound with robust tones, we want to recommend to you the SoundLink by Bose.  This little beauty is a mobile speaker which delivers amazing sound quality while weighing in at a mere 2.9 lbs!  Not even the size of a textbook, SoundLink is Bluetooth compatible meaning you can wirelessly connect to this handy delivery system from your phone, computer, tablet or other Bluetooth device from up to 30 feet away!  Cnet.com calls it "the best portable Bluetooth speaker on the market."  Click here to see how they get such LOUD, distortion-free sound in such a small package!

Open the cover to turn it on and continue folding it back to serve as its own stand.  And because its battery holds a charge up to 8 hours, you can fold it up and carry it with you to enjoy outdoors as well!  For $299.95 you get the fantastic technology you expect from a Bose product.  Click here for a one-minute video to see it for yourself.  If you order from us, you save on the shipping charges plus get local, dealer support for it and all your Bose products or upgrades.

Our next recommendation from Bose is a beefy package for the apartment when you're looking to have a complete entertainment center that you can handily take with you later.  Its the Bose VideoWave Entertainment System.  It begins with a 46-inch flatscreen HD TV.  What's truly incredible about this TV is that it delivers cinematic sound while it eliminates the need for extra speakers.  The speakers are BUILT-IN BEHIND the screen!  The Bose technology fills the room throwing sound more deftly than a ventriloquist.  Its practically eery to have sound coming at you even from behind!  So your "surround sound system" is compressed right into the flatscreen.  Watching the big game or your favorite movies doesn't get more exhilarating!  Click here for a look "under the hood."

Now to that, add your portable music via the dock included in the package to launch from your iPod or iPhone.  That wrap-around sound is now bathing your home in your favorite tunes.  So when its time to have the friends over, you're ready!  And what a great time awaits when you bring out your Xbox or Wii.  Check out this review of a VideoWave set up in an apartment.

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Invisible Speakers

“Invisible” speakers seem almost impossible to grasp unless you’ve seen them in action!  Imagine standing right in front of a wall speaker seeing nothing but a drywall surface yet with your favorite music emanating from that very surface.

Yes, they do exist and audio-video integrators have been using them since the 1990’s.  Loved by architects and interior designers,

these speakers are ideal for the main gathering space in your home because their appearance (which doesn’t exist) doesn’t interfere in any way with the décor or design of the room.  But they are not as popular as you might think…for two good reasons.

First, they’re not inexpensive.  Second, while they sound good, they don’t sound as impressive as similarly-priced flush-mounted speakers.  That’s why we carry Live-Wall Speakers.  These speakers produce convincing soundstage with plenty of nuance and detail.  Everything is about enjoying the end-result and these speakers were engineered to produce the kind of resilient sound we expect from the systems we install.

Most previous invisible speakers suffer from a somewhat veiled sound that didn't have extended high or low frequency response. Manufacturers would try to compensate for this by using special equalizers that added to cost and complexity, and only partially solved the problem. Live-Wall not only clears that hurdle but creates such a broad and even sound dispersion that it is difficult to determine audibly just where in the wall the sound is centered!

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The Science of Subwoofers


When surround sound systems came out, everyone became familiar with what 5.1 meant--five speakers dispersed around the room and the ".1" was the subwoofer, centered down low and in front.


But there is a science to subwoofers that create those deep, rich, bass acoustics beyond what can be delivered by a single speaker.


The single subwoofer approach suffers from an unevenness in bass which is to say it is impossible to get smooth bass response in a home theater or media room from seat to seat. While one seating location might be outstanding, the other seats would suffer from bass peaks or dips...in other words, depending on the bass frequency, either too loud or too quiet.


Dr. Floyd Toole and Todd Welti have together been an invaluable asset to the home sound reproduction industry doing a lot of experimentation with subwoofer placement, numbers, and bass sound quality. This breakthrough work on bass reproduction has allowed us as home theater designers to create a room where we can significantly minimize bass response problems. Their whitepaper on the topic was the end-product of countless tests and acoustical models of playing with multiple subwoofers in different locations in a room to improve bass response over a much wider listening area.


In the end, Toole and Welti concluded that there are three ideal configurations for maximum bass reproduction.  They are listed here in order from optimum to acceptable:

  1. Have four subwoofers with one located at the midpoint of each of the four surrounding walls. This configuration displayed the least amount of variation in bass response from seat to seat.
  2. As an alternative to the above, locate the four subwoofers in each corner of the room.
  3. Yet a third alternative is to have only two subwoofers; one centered on the front wall and the other centered on the rear wall.
You might be wondering how ugly a home theater can look with four subwoofers taking up space in the room. The good news is that there are many subwoofer options available today, including good-quality in-wall subwoofers. Hiding technology in an aesthetically pleasing way is something we're good at.
 
 
 
by Bryan Naquin.  Follow Bryan on Twitter @ACIexperts.  And you can always contact him at 225.906.2589 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Bryan Naquin is president of Acadian Home Theater and Automation based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  CEPro Magazine has ranked Acadian in the top 100 consumer electronic companies in the U.S. for the third year in a row.

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Movies for Independence Day-Part 2


This is the second part of our suggestions for movies to consider for your July 4 holiday.  Each one tells its part of the drama of the American story.

Glory (TriStar Pictures)

Glory is the true story of the first African-American military fighting force. No, this film does not take place during World War II. This is the Civil War and in Glory, these men have gathered in the North as former slaves seeking to literally earn their freedom. Glory is tense, dramatic, powerful and beyond compare when it comes to witnessing the birth of the racial coming together that in 2008 would elect America's first black president.  Starring Denzel Washington and Matthew Broderick.
Top Gun (Paramount Pictures)

Tom Cruise is not the only star burning bright in Top Gun. The U.S. Military is the true star of this patriotic classic. Bruckheimer would not have such a hit in Top Gun if not for those incredible flying and battle sequences that gave a country something to cheer about in the fading days of a Cold War that still could have gone either way

Patton (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment)
Does it get any more rah-rah American military tough guy than Patton? Chronicling the infamous General's career culminating in the great war -- World War II -- we truly understand that it's men that fight wars, not countries in this classic.

Apollo 13 (Universal Pictures)

Sometimes brave Americans aren't fighting on the battlefield, but exploring space and risking their lives in the pursuit of knowledge, and our country's reputation. This true mission to the moon story has it all -- danger, valor, and devotion.

Air Force One (Columbia Pictures)

How could we leave out a movie that features a tough-talking, gun-toting president taking down a bunch of terrorists? Harrison Ford plays an American president whose plane is hijacked by evil Soviets. Being both the president and Harrison Ford, he knows that he has no choice but to hunt them all down himself.

Tora! Tora! Tora! (20th Century Fox)

This 25-million dollar epic collaboration accurately recreates the events that led to the Japanese attack on the American naval base during World War II. Key American personnel ignored warnings of the possibility of Japanese aggression. The first part of the film divides scenes from both countries. Part two contains spectacular battle scenes of the bombing that destroyed the American naval base of operations in Hawaii. Governmental errors on both sides add to the confusion, but the Japanese ultimately carry out the deadly mission. The film remains an insightful and well crafted World War II action drama that was the result of years of negotiations between the two countries.

Casablanca (Warner Bros. Pictures)

At first glance, Casablanca is hardly a patriotic movie. Rick is an ex-patriate living in France. He might not be a fan of the Germans, but he’s also run guns for different sides of the war, and generally takes care of himself and nobody else. But Rick’s love for Ilsa starts him on the path to doing the right thing – and soon, he and everyone else are making sacrifices to do what’s right. He might not be draped in the American flag, but Rick shows his heart is true red white and blue.

The Hunt for Red October (Paramount Pictures)

The Hunt for Red October is a well-crafted political thriller about a reputed Soviet submarine captain who plays a cat-in-mouse game with the Americans. Piloting a submarine with a revolutionary new propulsion system, Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) plays a brilliant game of strategy with the CIA. Definitely a great pro-American feel to this one, and the best Tom Clancy novel-to-film adaptation.

Field of Dreams (Universal Pictures)

This is a movie that has a subtle patriotic message; if you build it, they will come. Kevin Costner stars in this quirky drama about an Iowa farmer who receives a message to build a baseball diamond in his corn field. He’s told that if he builds it, a mysterious “they” will come. Of course, baseball and America are practically synonymous. But beyond that, a certain spirit of “if you build it, they will come” has been urging America on for decades; building up cities, technologies, and other advancements.

To Kill A Mockingbird (Universal International Pictures)

Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical novel was translated to film in 1962.  Set in a small Alabama town in the 1930s, the story focuses on scrupulously honest, highly respected lawyer Atticus Finch, magnificently embodied by Gregory Peck. Finch puts his career on the line when he agrees to represent Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape. The trial and the events surrounding it are seen through the eyes of Finch's six-year-old daughter Scout. To Kill a Mockingbird won Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction

Red Dawn (MGM/UA)

Set at an indeterminate point in the future, this drama with an overt anti-communist message begins as an ostensible war movie: Russian and Cuban forces have invaded the U.S. and are viciously eliminating the inhabitants of a small town, when a group of teens escapes and plans a counterattack. Jed (Patrick Swayze), Robert (C. Thomas Howell), and six of their friends watch in amazement as soldiers parachute into their town and start shooting. The teens grab a pickup truck, stock up on supplies at the local store, and head for the hills. After a successful ambush, the teen guerrillas gear up for future forays, when they are suddenly betrayed by one of their number and by doubts about the morality of what they are doing.

by Bryan Naquin.  Follow Bryan on Twitter @ACIexperts.  And you can always contact him at 225.906.2589 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Bryan Naquin is president of Acadian Home Theater and Automation based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  CEPro Magazine has ranked Acadian in the top 100 consumer electronic companies in the U.S. for the third year in a row.

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