How to get the most out of your whole house audio system

When looking to invest in a home audio system for room-to-room entertainment, one should consider what audio sources you will utilize when listening to your house audio. By increasing your available audio sources when configuring your house audio system, you will have an increased music selection resulting in higher usage. Most requests are for an iPod dock, which is the bare minimum when making this type of investment (more on the iPod dock later in this article). One should very seriously consider also adding the following as well: Sirius satellite radio, FM tuner, Pandora, Compact Disk, digital Cloud storage, and Music Port for your MP3 collection from your PC or Mac. The properly configured system will allow the entire family to listen to each of the following; Pandora in the kitchen, 101.1 FM in the den, Sirius satellite in the living room, 97.1 in the basement, your digital MP3 collection streaming to the backyard, MP3 cloud storage in the game room, and your daughter’s favorite CD in her bedroom, all simultaneously! Each room has its own wall mounted keypad which will display the artist name and song title.

Having a party and need full control from a single keypad? No problem, just use the “party mode” found on the wall mounted keypad and the whole house is now listening to the same source and is controlled from a single keypad.

Nuvo Grande Concerto touchpad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Far more flexible and scalable than Sonos, however this is a wired system and does not have a wireless option. Sonos is a much simpler option for listening to only your iTunes or digital music collection and does not offer the robust versatility found in the Nuvo Grande Concerto.

Whatever your needs or desires, please call Michigan Home Theater today to schedule your in home consultation at (248) 956-0072

 

 

Who is Michigan Home Theater?

michigan home theater - logo

Michigan Home Theater is a family owned and operated Detroit area home based business, we service Oakland and Macomb County. We specialize in surround sound and home theater equipment sales & installation; we are licensed, bonded, and insured. We have been in business since 2001, our original website is still found on the web, http://www.hometheaterintegrators.com 

In early 2009 Home Theater Integrators, Inc. purchased Michigan Home Theater, today we operate as one company with two websites. Our client base has grown over the past several years in spite of a declining Detroit area (and US) economy. Many of our clients have written positive reviews of our work and those reviews can be found on our Home Theater Integrators website, the reviews are hosted by an independent third party source, we have no control over its content, for that reason you can be assured the reviews you are reading are un-filtered, un-moderated client reviews.

By reading through either website one thing is clear; we are passionate about our field and our profession. We discuss things like best speaker placement, new technology, choosing the right cables, differences between film screen materials. We do this so you, as a potential buyer can become informed about your next home investment. Consumers which are able to research their options first make better decisions; we feel that customers that are aware of their options and aware of what our competition is trying to sell, ultimately conclude we offer better equipment at better prices. We have won many home theater projects over brick and mortar specialty stores because our equipment selection is better. We have been told this time and again, that our bottom line was not the cheapest but we offered something our clients felt our competition was not offering, better value. We won those estimate battles on equipment selection, not because we were inexpensive.

Ask yourself, do you want a great home theater or is “good enough” OK for you? Michigan Home Theater offers “great” home theaters! Why else would so many of our previous clients write independent reviews about us? (See our Home Theater Integrators website to read those reviews!).

Michigan Home Theater has direct relationships with many high-end specialty custom installation AV manufacturers, a partial list can be found here. We are able to offer lifetime warranties on select speakers, our AV receiver selections are far superior to those found in most area AV stores. Don’t forget, we offer a 6 month full labor guarantee on all work performed! Call Michigan Home Theater today at (248) 956-0072 to schedule your in-home consultation.

Written by Marc Howley; Owner: Michigan Home Theater

power conditioning

power conditioner

power conditioner

You’ve invested a lot of time, effort, and money to build the best high-performance system possible. You expect and demand the most realistic cinematic performances your home theater technology can provide. But, in the span of a single movie frame, your entire investment can be lost due to bad power. Power Conditioning Battery Backups are an affordable solution providing complete protection from all power threats found in the home. Ideal for TVs, home theater surround-sound systems, digital video recorders (DVRs), game consoles, cable/satellite boxes, routers/modems, computers and more! An electrical surge can destroy your most expensive electronics in seconds! Don’t take the risk, get a power conditioner to ensure the safety of your valuable electronic devices.

Electronic appliances, cell phones, and even home theater components all generate electromagnetic noise that degrades audio and video performance. In addition, the current coming from AC power outlets is inherently unbalanced, creating high-frequency oscillations that cause hum, buzz, and static. This unbalanced, dirty power can seriously degrade audio clarity and corrupts video color and sharpness.

Clean Power filtering that minimizes electronic noise to maximize the performance of audio and video
components. All power conditioning products with Clean Power Stage 2 and above feature isolated filters. As the Clean Power Stage increases, so does the quality of noise rejection and source component isolation. Isolated filters specifically designed for video, analog audio, digital, and ultra high current AV components ensure that any connected AV components don’t interfere with each other, and give you all the home theater performance that you’ve paid for. The current that comes from your wall outlets is inherently imbalanced, causing high-frequency oscillations that get picked up by your sensitive home theater system in the form of performance-robbing hum, buzz, and static. And while filtering radio frequency (RF) and electromagnetic (EM) interference can remove much of the hum, buzz, and static from your system, only a power center with perfectly balanced power can fully remove interference for the best possible picture and sound from your home theater system.

In-wall subwoofer vs. floor standing subwoofer

Often during the installation phase of a media room or personal theater, we begin unpacking the floor standing sub-woofer and the home owner interrupts and admits they didn’t realize the difference between floor standing sub-woofers and/or in-wall flush-mount sub-woofers. We stop and explain that for slightly more money, they can have a better sounding and visually discrete sub-woofer. Floor standing models are portable and often cost less than in-wall sub-woofers, in-wall models require an additional amplifier. The frequency response of an in-wall model is greater than floor models, and if installed correctly, in-wall models will dramatically enhance the surround sound quality. Michigan Home Theater is the Detroit area number one choice for professional home theater design, sales and installation. We carry a full line of floor standing models and in-wall model sub-woofers, call today for your in home consultation. A popular in-wall choice is either the Velodyne SC-600-IW or the SpeakerCraft Cinema sub 12, both available through Michigan Home Theater.

Blu-Ray DVD Player For Home Theater Use

Blu-Ray DVD players are extremely popular for home theater use.  Check out what the team at Consumer Reports has to say about purchasing and using Blu-Ray DVD players.

Michigan Home Theater is based out of Oakland County, MI and is the area’s most popular audio – video specialty retailer. The company is a family owned and operated business offering top quality name proven products and a six month full labor guarantee on all custom home theater installation services. They offer home theater design services, professional sales, and custom installation and have been in business since 2001.

Big Screen Audio For Home Theater Systems

Looking to enhance the sound associated with your big screen television?  The following video courtesy of Consumer Reports and Michigan Home Theater offers some “sound advice” on how to improve audio quality for your new home theater system.

Michigan Home Theater is based out of Oakland County, MI and is the area’s most popular audio – video specialty retailer. The company is a family owned and operated business offering top quality name proven products and a six month full labor guarantee on all custom home theater installation services. They offer home theater design services, professional sales, and custom installation and have been in business since 2001.

Home Theater Fun Facts – 3DTV

3DTV is one of the newest and most popular home theater feature requests that we encounter.  So with this in mind, our team at Michigan Home Theater thought our followers would like to learn more about this new technology.

When was 3D invented?

In 1844, Scottish inventor and writer David Brewster introduced the Stereoscope, a device that could take photographic pictures in 3D.  (Courtesy of Wikipedia.org).

Popular Movies Made In 3D:

  • House of Wax (1953)
  • Dial M For Murder (published in 2D)
  • Robinzon Kruzo was the first full-length feature film released in the Soviet Union (1946)

What Does A 3D Movie Look Like?

Michigan Home Theater is based out of Oakland County, MI and is the area’s most popular audio – video specialty retailer. The company is a family owned and operated business offering top quality name proven products and a six month full labor guarantee on all custom home theater installation services. They offer home theater design services, professional sales, and custom installation and have been in business since 2001.

Home Theater Systems And 3DTV

Quite a few clients of our company are requesting the integration of 3DTV with their home theater systems.  3DTV is a new technology that offers a unique viewing experience to what we all consider to be just typical movies and television shows that we watch in our living rooms.

There are several manufacturers that offer 3D High-Definition televisions for inclusion in a home theater or movie room, they are:  Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Mitsubishi, LG, Sony, and TLC.

Michigan Home Theater is based out of Oakland County, MI and is the area’s most popular audio – video specialty retailer. The company is a family owned and operated business offering top quality name proven products and a six month full labor guarantee on all custom home theater installation services. They offer home theater design services, professional sales, and custom installation and have been in business since 2001.

HDTV Buying Guide For Home Theaters

One of the most important elements to a new home theater system or media room is the television.  There are all types of televisions that can be incorporated into a new system with the most popular being High Definition Televisions or HDTV.  The team at Michigan Home Theater realizes this and would like to offer a complimentary video from Consumer Reports (below) that can offer some unbiased assistance when designing a theater system for your home.

Michigan Home Theater is based out of Oakland County, MI and is the area’s most popular audio – video specialty retailer. The company is a family owned and operated business offering top quality name proven products and a six month full labor guarantee on all custom home theater installation services. They offer home theater design services, professional sales, and custom installation and have been in business since 2001.

Home Theater Buying Advice

Looking to purchase a new home theater system, but don’t know where to start?

You have come to the right place.  The team at Michigan Home Theater are experts in the design and installation of home theater systems and media rooms in the metro Detroit area.

The video below, from Consumer Reports, offers insightful unbiased information on what to look for when purchasing a new home theater system.

Michigan Home Theater is based out of Oakland County, MI and is the area’s most popular audio – video specialty retailer. The company is a family owned and operated business offering top quality name proven products and a six month full labor guarantee on all custom home theater installation services. They offer home theater design services, professional sales, and custom installation and have been in business since 2001.