Home Theater Rx: See A Specialist

Are you one of the millions of people planning to buy a DVD player this year? You may not buy the one that's best for you. Why? Because, if you buy at a place where price rules, you could miss out on some important information. You may get a terrific deal at a superstore or at a discount website, but maybe another player with different features would serve you better down the road.
It's not easy to sift through the choices of electronics today. Consumer electronics gear including DVD players and audio/video receivers are a lot more complicated than the VCR and stereo receiver of a few years ago. All it takes is a peek at the back panel of an A/V receiver to get an idea of just how many options there are when it comes to setting up a home theater system. Most people who try to do it themselves get it wrong.

Yet an audio/video receiver is key to making the most out of a DVD player. You also want to be sure the DVD player is matched properly with a TV. And you need to be sure the six speakers you buy are well matched to your system and room so you get the best performance. Oh yeah, and how will the family control the whole shebang? If you thought blinking 12:00s on the VCR were difficult to master, wait until you try to set up and operate a home theater system.

What you need is a specialist. Specialty audio dealers have been around as long as hi-fi music systems have been sold. Maybe you remember them as snobby audio salons you didn't dare enter unless you could discourse on the differences between audio cables. Times have changed. Now when you go into a specialty audio store you see video, too, and if the store does it right, it has a showroom that looks and feels like an entertainment room you'd want in your own house. You can sit on a couch and get a demo of the kind of movie you watch at home. Not only do these dealers make their stores look inviting, they know their stuff and can dummy-down home theater information to a level you're comfortable with.

Compare that experience with the overwhelmed feeling you have when you go into an electronics superstore that sells everything from Dust Busters to rear-projection TVs. You go in, spot the consumer electronics section, and plop yourself among the DVD players. Then what? Maybe you've had an experience like the following.

"I went into a mass merchant several years ago to buy my daughter a laserdisc," says Andy Regan, VP at Meridian Audio, a high-end electronics and speaker company. "The salesperson told me laserdiscs wouldn't be available until next year."

When Regan led him over to a stack of laserdisc players the store had on display, the salesman apologized and said he had just started in the department. "The week before he had been selling computers," Regan says.

In contrast, specialty A/V stores typically have far less turnover and employ salespeople who have an interest in home entertainment. Specialty salespeople are trained to qualify you before trying to sell a product or system that might not meet your needs. They'll ask about what you're looking for, current equipment you own, and the room you'll use it in. Some speakers are better suited to certain rooms than others based on their sound characteristics, for example. They'll also ask what you'd like to be able to do down the road. Then they'll ask about budget. Ideally, they'll make an informed decision about what product best meets your needs.

In Meridian's case, sophisticated digital processing enables dealers to tailor speakers to any room and to a customer's listening tastes, an expertise that only a specialty store can deliver. "Our product has a lot of flexibility in how it's designed and installed, and that flexibility creates a level of complexity for salespeople," says Regan. Meridian requires its dealers to complete a two-day training class, for example. "Larger retailers can't support that because there's too much employee rotation," he says. "We have to sell through outlets that are dedicated to learning the product, keeping up their learning curve and installing the product correctly."

Meridian loudspeakers and electronics, like other high-end audio products, have to be experienced to be understood. That experience includes proper setup and calibration, precise placement of speakers and a quiet environment in which you can hear the subtleties that separate audiophile-grade equipment from mass-market boxes. When you shop for a luxury car, a salesperson takes you for a spin on a route that shows what the car is made of. The vehicle has to earn your investment. When you buy reference-level audio equipment, you should make the same performance demands of the products that will deliver your music and movie soundtracks. The products that can meet those challenges are sold in specialty salons where consumers who care about great sound and images take the time to compare amplifiers, DVD players and speakers and then select those that meet or exceed their standards for quality. You won't find these products stacked in boxes on warehouse store floors.

Specialty A/V stores specialize not only in selling top-grade electronics but also in integrating products. Having a simple means for controlling your entertainment system is key to your being able to enjoy them. Specialists can suggest and program a remote control that consolidates the functions of every remote in the system into one simple touchscreen device.

They can also suggest other ways to make technology work for you. Did you know that with a professionally installed video camera and distribution system you can monitor the baby sleeping in the nursery or see who's at the front door from any TV in the house? You can have music channels from a digital satellite system play in multiple rooms in the house. And you don't have to see the stuff, either. If you or your spouse objects to ugly black boxes, a specialty dealer can install in-wall speakers instead or hide components in cabinets. All these options are available from specialty audio/video dealers who will custom install electronics to meet your needs.

You pay for this expertise. In some parts of the country installation and setup charges run $35-$40 an hour. In pricier neighborhoods, such services fetch a per-hour rate of $60-$80. But that's a small price to pay for peace of mind when you have a home theater system that works as it's designed to and is simple to operate. And don't expect salespeople to haggle over prices because the products they sell aren't typically the leader models touted in bait-and-switch ads from the local newspaper. At the same time, they're not likely to sell you more than you need. Much of their business comes from word of mouth referrals and establishing trust with customers is part of the business model.

What should you expect from a specialty dealer? Expect a salesperson to listen first and ask questions, not tell you what to buy. After you purchase a product, you should be able to not only get a live voice on the phone but also have any question answered. The store should have its own service department. If a product does need to be sent out for repair, there should be a replacement product available if you absolutely need one.

The company should also be equipped to provide home setup. A cutting-edge specialty audio store will keep you up to date on products and technologies that are coming out and new ones in areas you might not be familiar with. Many specialty A/V dealers hold special events sponsored by manufacturers to help demystify new technologies. Some have special upgrade programs that let you trade in a pair of speakers, for example, toward the purchase of a better model. Many sell system packages they've designed, which is good for people who'd rather leave those decisions to someone else.

A lot of specialty dealers have also branched out into custom home electronics such as programmable lighting systems that let you turn off all lights in the home with a single button. And they know how to integrate electronics so that you can control several different subsystems for lighting, security and climate control from a single control panel. Some are now selling phone systems that allow you to send out a whole-house page for dinner through the same in-wall speakers used for room-to-room music. They can make the music mute when the phone rings.

Technology is more a part of our lives than ever, and that's not likely to change. Along with that, the complexity level of electronics is tenfold what it was 10 years ago. Most consumers simply don't have time to learn this stuff. You need someone who understands the technology and can distill what you need to know into clear language and idiotproof operation. Basically, you need a magician who can give you all the benefits of technology while making it invisible. "People have money these days," says Regan of Meridian Audio. "The currency they don't have is time, and specialty audio/video dealers serve that niche."

To find a specialty audio/video dealer near you, contact the Professional Audio Video Retailers Association, 10 East 22nd Street, Suite 310, Lombard, IL 60148; (630) 268-1500; www.paralink.org. For information on custom electronics, contact the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association, 9202 N. Meridian, Suite 200, Indianapolis, IN, 46260; 800-669-5329 or 317-571-5602.

Rebecca Day is a freelance journalist specializing in consumer electronics. She is a frequent contributor to Popular Mechanics, The Robb Report, Sound & Vision, Audio Video Interiors, and Home magazines.