Homebuilder Offers Budget Theaters as Optional Amenity
 CIS - For All Your Home Theater and Media Room Electronics and Furniture! This tech-savvy Oklahoma-based builder incorporated a modest home theater into one of his model homes as an example to prospective owners.
Jeff Click of Jeff Click Homes in Oklahoma City specializes in building mid-priced homes, but don’t think of him as your average homebuilder.
For one thing, he embraces technology. His company even does the installation work on simple home theaters in some of his homes. So the logical next step for him was to add a modestly priced home theater to one of his model homes.
“We’ve noticed increasing demand for rooms like this one in modestly priced homes. People are looking for theater rooms, but not the high prices that typically come with it,” Click says.
The builder set out to do an affordable home theater for under $5,000—and he wouldn’t settle for a flat-panel TV hooked up to a receiver and speakers in the family room. No, this is a separate room, about 12 by 18 feet, with a Full HD 1080p front projection system and 5.1 channels of surround sound—and it sells as an $8,450 option on the $245,785 house.
Click also wasn’t content with just filling up the room with audio/video gear and home theater chairs. “We set out to make it unique in style and to accommodate recreation use,” he says.
The soffit surrounding the tray ceiling provides a contemporary splash and lightens the dark room, while a counter in the back row offers raised seating and a place to eat. A wraparound sectional replaces theater-style seats and allows plenty of space in front for Wii games. That’s right: The room is equipped with a Wii game console for family-style fun. Hence the room’s name: Wii-ater room.
Click researched available audio/video gear for his budget. He’s a fan of Denon receivers, so he went with a Denon AVR-587 and added Polk Audio RM7 satellites, two of which are on stands, with the center channel on the equipment console and the two surround speakers mounted on the back wall. No wiring is visible, as electronics installation company Wiring Solutions prewired the room before construction.
But it’s the video system Click is most proud of. It features a 1080p BenQ W1000 DLP projector and a 92-inch gray screen to enhance the DLP’s contrast. “I’m most pleased with the affordable HD projector. It has 1080p resolution and costs around $1,000 to $1,200.
“For our price range and demographic, it’s a little over the top to go with top-of-the-line equipment. [Our buyers] don’t want to have to spend that kind of money,” he says.
That didn’t stop Click from adding an Apple TV system. “I’ve had those since it has come out. We use it like crazy for music or when we miss a show.”
There are some compromises when doing a budget system like this, especially for a model home. For one, he’s got component video cables going into the projector and not HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface). And one thing Click would do over is add an IR (infrared) relay so that someone sitting on the sectional doesn’t have to point a remote backwards to fire up the projector.
Want More?
Jeff Click Homes offers its clients all kinds of options for home theater. Here are some projects they’ve done above and beyond:
Multiple style packages, some with tray ceilings.
Made a room wider for a five-flat panel multiplex system.
Created an additional platform for seating areas.
Installed creative lighting for accents and LED lights.
Used no equipment in a room and routed cabling back to the closet and the equipment rack.
Equipment
BenQ W1000 Projector, 1920 X 1080 ($1,100, with mount)
Elite ezFrame ELIR106H1 Cinegrey 52-by-92-inch Screen ($400)
Denon AVR-587 Receiver ($300)
Polk Audio RM7 Satellite Speakers ($500)
BIC Venturi V-80 Subwoofer ($200)
AppleTV ($230)
Nintendo Wii ($300 with accessories)
Scientific Atlanta HD Cable Box (provided by cable company)
Equipment Console from Ultimate Electronics ($400)
Sectional from IO Metro Furniture ($2,500)
Bar Stools from Directions in Furniture ($600)
Rapid Run Component Cable (prewire) ($500)
Elevated platform and raised bar ($1,250)
Harmony One Remote ($200)
by Steven Castle
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/homebuilder_offers_budget_theaters_as_optional_amenity/
Custom Installation Services, LLC – Audio/Video Sales, Service and Installation in North Carolina and South Carolina
Posted in Audio Systems, Blu-ray, Home Theater, Media Rooms, Music and Movies
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iSuppli: Strong PS3 Performance To Lift Global Console Business
El Segundo, Calif. – According to a video game system market forecast by iSuppli Tuesday, Sony’s strong U.S. PlayStation3 sales performance during Black Friday week should help the global video game console market return to growth during the fourth quarter.
If accurate, the feat would mark the first time this year that the market has expanded on a year-over-year basis, iSuppli said.
Global video game console shipments are set to rise to 24.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2009, up 5.2 percent from 23.4 million during the same period in 2008, iSuppli said. This follows declines of 2.1 percent in the first quarter, 35.7 percent in the second quarter and 10.9 percent in the third quarter.
“Sony’s PlayStation3 sales reached an all-time high during the week of Black Friday as consumers were attracted by its new low pricing and alluring bundle deals,” stated Pamela Tufegdzic, iSuppli consumer electronics analyst. “According to Sony, 440,000 PlayStation3 consoles were sold in the United States during the week of Nov. 29, a record for the product and nearly double from a year earlier. In comparison, Nintendo Wii sales were down year over year during the same period.”
Since its introduction in November 2006 the PlayStation3’s sales performance has lagged that of Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, due primarily to its higher comparative price.
Sony now appears to have somewhat leveled the advantages enjoyed by its rivals and has found ways to attract consumers back to the popular PlayStation line, iSuppli said.
“Sony has finally gotten it right with the PlayStation3,” Tufegdzic said. “The company has made a number of moves that now are paying off in terms of increased sales. These include a new product design that has allowed a price reduction to $299, down from $399, making it more affordable for consumers. Sony also is selling the PlayStation3 in bundles with popular game titles that cater to all ages. Furthermore, the PlayStation3 is being sold in bundles with Sony high-definition LCD TVs, pushing the game console’s Blu-ray player capabilities. These deals are perceived as good value by consumers. Finally, Sony increased its level of advertising on television, newspapers and the Internet, further boosting its sales during Black Friday and likely throughout the Christmas season.”
On the other hand, the Wii system has slowed down from its blockbuster pace during Black Friday 2008.
“Wii sales during the week of Nov. 29 likely amounted to 550,000, compared to nearly 800,000 during the same period in 2008, according to Nintendo,” said Tufegdzic.
Despite the decline from a year ago, the Wii outsold both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 over the recent Black Friday period, iSuppli said.
The big driver for Wii sales was gaming titles, particularly the new Super Mario Bros Wii, which is estimated to have sold more than half a million units in the second week of release.
Other popular titles for Wii include Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit Plus and Mario Kart Wii. In addition, the $50 price reduction from $249 to $199 has helped to prolong the Wii’s popularity among consumers.
Microsoft did not report actual sales during the Black Friday week, but the company offered bundle deals to promote sales.
However, the strong performance for the global game console market in the fourth quarter won’t be sufficient to make up for weak conditions through the first three quarters of the year, according to iSuppli.
Worldwide video game console shipments will amount to 51.6 million units in 2009, down 6.7 percent from 55.3 million in 2008.
By Greg Tarr — TWICE
http://www.twice.com/article/439134-iSuppli_Strong_PS3_Performance_To_Lift_Global_Console_Business.php
Custom Installation Services, LLC – Home Entertainment Audio and Video services in North Carolina.
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Review: Panamax MX5102 UPS
 MX5102, a great addition to any theater, offers battery backup and voltage monitoring.
The Panamax MX5102 delivers exactly what it claims — battery backup and voltage monitoring. While there are other choices out there, the Panamax has its own feature set that may make it perfect for your application.
On looks alone, the Panamax MX5102 is a winner. The black brushed aluminum case just begs to be shown off.
The Panamax MX5102 ($649.95) would make a great addition to any home theater.
Build, Features
It isn’t hard to know that the Panamax MX5102 UPS is a quality piece of equipment. You just have to pick it up. At 27 pounds, its diminutive case belies its weight. The MX5102 comes with a number of cables. Short coax and Ethernet jumpers are included as well as telephone cords (does anyone use these anymore?) and a pair of adapters for rack mounting.
The back of the unit includes 10 outlets in four different banks. Each of the banks is isolated from the others so that any noise from one component can’t contaminate the power going to the other banks. The most important in this case is Bank 4 with the 2 UPS outlets. These two outlets receive power from the batteries (at a 10ms delay when the power goes out).
Bank 1 is always on which is good for gear that you never want to power down (aside from power outages). Bank 2 is the switched bank that provides a shutdown delay. Bank 3 is for high current devices like amps and subwoofers and includes a startup delay. This means that your amps turn on last and off first. Both of these delays are designed to reduce speaker “thumps” that occur when the amplifier amplifies another piece of gear that is turning on.
The front of the unit includes a rather large readout, two buttons, and a few lights. The button to the left is the power On/Off. The button to the right is the Meter Dimmer/UPS Test button. With a quick press, the display will cycle through various levels of brightness until you find the one you like. If you press and hold the button, the UPS will run a test cycle.
Putting it to the Test
The first test of the MX5102 came barely 30 minutes after turning it on for the first time. We had just finished installing a projector and screen and were taking a break after preliminary setup when the power went out.
We saw the lights go out and ran to the home theater. The Panamax MX5102 was beeping (as it was supposed to) and the projector was still on. We switched the projector off and noted the amount of time left on the battery. According to the manual, the MX5102 should be able to maintain full power for 3 minutes at full load. While to the uninitiated that doesn’t sound like very much, most of the competition is in the same camp (similar APC models can run up to 6 minutes at full load).
We had an SMS-1 plugged into the second UPS outlet. According to the readout, we could have run the SMS for another 60 minutes. Obviously, with most gear you’re going to have plenty of time to shut everything down before the batteries die. We’ve had the power go out a number of times since then and the unit has never failed to maintain power to our projector so that we could cool down the bulb properly.
Needs Removable Power Cord, More UPS Protection
We really have only two complaints about the MX5102. We’d really like to see a removable power cord rather than a fixed one. Secondly, we feel a little confused that only two of the outlets are UPS protected.
The Panamax M5102 does has LAN protection and IR control. In our application, our power rarely varied much off of 120 (as low as 116 rarely above 120) so voltage regulation was not as needed as the additional LAN protection. The fact is that if you have one unprotected inlet for a surge, your entire system is compromised. With the MX5102, we are completely protected.
Read the entire review at Audioholics.com.
Summary
Product: Panamax MX5102 UPS
Performance: 5 out of 5
Value: 3.5 out of 5
MSRP: $649.95
Pros:
IR control
Battery backup works flawlessly
Fantastic aesthetics
Easy to read display
Cons:
No detachable power cord
Only two outlets are backed up by the battery
By: Audioholics.com
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/review_panamax_mx5102_ups/
Custom Installation Services, LLC – Home Entertainment Audio and Video services in North Carolina.
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Tagged audio advice, battery backup, Best Buy, coax, Deals, high current, home audio consultation and design, Home Theater, i-pod, jumpers, LAN protection, lights, Marantz, mx5102, Netflix, outlets, panamax, projector, rack mounting, Samsung, screen, Sony, surround sound, telephone cord, ups
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