Lessons Taught, Lessons Learned
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ACOUSTIC TRANSDUCERS LABORATORIES ^®

Since 1968,

offering the many gifts of music… and of sound with sight… enjoyed by all, all of the time

through innovative, knowledgeable, high value, high-fidelity A/V system designs.

47 Years of Experiences, Many Lessons Learned

The Greatest Gift

To experinece life is The Greatest Gift.

For over 6 decades, I've done just that.

Although most are not about audio (and video), many are.

The Greatest Purpose

To share what you have learned with others so that they can experience life better than if htey had not meet you is The Greatest Purpose.

It is very easy to design a home theater system. In fact, marketers have put together many Theaters-in-a-Box systems that you can buy at virtually any A/V retailer. Just like it is very easy to design and build a loudspeaker (although there is not any Speaker-in-a-Box systems available for purchase). But, as most people know, even though it is easy to make a loudspeaker; it is very, very difficult to create a good one – just as it is with designing home audio with video systems.

It is easy for someone or some company to set up shop and advertise that they are professionals because, after all, you are a “professional” if you say you are. But, a real professional is known by his experience. I do not mean that you can judge a quality system designer by how many years he has been doing it because, as one of my best salesman said, “Is your experience many years long or just one year, many times.”

I did a Google search with the term “design audio system” and within 0.29 seconds, I got 99,500,000 hits. So, which one should you choose?

How to Determine the Best Designer

If I were not me, here are some of the things I would do to determine which design service I would use:

Ask questions! If the person cannot give you an understandable answer, then he probably does not know what he’s talking about.
Ask what support he has for his designs, equipment selection, installation, and the system. If he does not have extensive testing equipment, then he probably has no support at all… No support for anything.

Do Not Succumb to That Siren of Low Price

Baskin-Robbins ice cream shops display a sort of motto or credo. It is: "There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person's lawful prey."

Or as I would like to paraphrase it to be: “The bitterness of poor quality endures long after the sweetness of low price has disappeared.”

Industry realizes that advertising a come-on, can get people into the store. Like “drive any car for only $99 per month – forget the facts that the lease is inordinately long, the down payment is absorbitant, etc.

Look at the Whole Package

Consider at the expertise of the designer.

Consider the support that designer has for his clientele.

Consider the total cost of the system by adding together the cost of the:

design service,
recommended equipment,
installation,
testing of the system,
calibration of the system.

When you do all of this, you'll get the real cost of the system.

To contact us:

Craig Rutten, Senior System Designer

craigrutten@AcousticTransducersLaboratories.com

3917 Kristencreek Ln

Round Rock, TX 78681-1001

Phone: 512-547-2410

General e-mail: info@AcousticTransducersLaboratories.com

Consultation by appointment. Closed: Sunday & Monday