Part 3 of 10: Dealers
If you're just joining, check out Part 1 in the series to get up to speed.
Part of this series title—“That Budget Sucks”—was inspired by the dozens of answered (and unanswered) emails I got that boiled down to “That budget sucks. We can’t help you.”
My third stop on the hunt to find the best home theater that $30,000 could buy was asking AV dealers how they would build one.
Our dealers span America from Thousand Oaks, California, to Chappaqua, New York. Four out of seven companies CEO’s answered the questions themselves.
“The price is a bit low for what I have been doing...it is not that it is a bad number, it is just not quite what I have been dealing with for a long time. The higher numbers are fun, but the more you have to spend, the more options you have. Honestly, a $30K theater is more difficult to achieve, despite what people may say. At some point, whether you are using Lumiere, Wilson, or CAT, it is the best you can do with current technology. At $30K, you are quite limited and have to become much more creative to get the best value for the money. The “best” is always subjective to how you achieve the “it’s good enough” level. That holds true whether you are spending $3K or $3M…” —Seth Bowen, CEO of Perfect Control
I knew I was in trouble when I started asking people on social media and they laughed at the budget, but I didn’t expect that getting answers out of dealers would be a problem.
At one point I received a phone call from a well-respected CEO (who wanted to remain anonymous) that said he couldn’t tell me any specific brands and products because, “If I choose Crestron, Savant will hate me and visa versa”. He stated that since the quality of products in the AV world changes so rapidly, he didn’t want to name names for fear of burning bridges.
Dealers came up with unique systems. One choose to spend 16% of the budget on cabling, while another spent only .05%. One spent 63% of their budget on video alone.
Tom Farinola of Atlantic Home Entertainment and Stereo called after he received my questions. Instead of doing the best overall home theater, he argued, I needed to choose a specific aspect of home theater. In a later email he gave these four different aspects to focus on:
A ) Visually the most amazing system for a single room like a Great Room or Family Room (TV or Projector)
B ) Speaker Quality, what is the the best system for in-walls or in-ceiling speakers including sub-woofers for a single room
C ) Speaker Quality, what is the best speaker system period in-walls or box speakers for a single room
D ) Audio equipment, AVR or Pre-pro / multi-channel amplifiers for a single room
Five dealers commented back with estimated budgets for the theater they would build. The six dealers in alphabetical order are:
- Home Tech South Florida of Miami, FL, Ben Abgott, COO and Head Programmer
- Magnolia Design Center of Colorado Springs, CO, Joe Cook, Speciality Sales Manager
- Multimedia Resource Group of Chappaqua, NY, David Kapke, CEO
- Ultra Media of Richardson, TX, Pat Johnson, CEO
- Wilshire Media Systems of Thousand Oaks, CA, Brandon Jackson, Engineer
Home Tech South Florida
Speakers:
1 Sonance LCR1 for the center channel speaker = $1,250
2 Sonance LCR2 for the front right and left speakers $2500 = $5,000
2 Sonance SUR1 for rear speakers $1250 = $2,500
2 Sonance SUR1 for high rear speakers $1250 = $2,500
Subwoofers:
Sunfire HRS12 Subwoofer = $1,100
Amplifier:
Processor:
Marantz SR7010 Receiver = $2,350
Audio Total: $14,700
Projector:
Epson Home Cinema 3500 Projector = $1,850
Projector Screen:
Vutech Screen 133 inch = $2,000
Video Total: $3,850
Sources:
Samsung Blu-ray Player = $200
Apple TV = $185
Sources Total: $385
Control:
RTI XP3 Processor = $650
5 port Network Switch = $250
iPad License (for RTI) = $225
iPad Mini = $250
Custom iPad Programming = $2,000
I love using RTI, it is the most cost efficient, and completely customizable unlike Control 4 or élan which all look the same. Clients wants unique and custom products not something their neighbors have which looks 90% the same.
Control Total: $3,375
Interconnects + Power Conditioning:
Wires = $1,500
Power Surge = $350
Interconnects Total: $1,850
Total: $26,910
Magnolia Design Center
Speakers:
Bowers & Wilkins CM10S2, front = $4,000
Bowers & Wilkins CMC2S2, center = $1,250
Bowers & Wilkins CM6S2, rear = $2,000
Bowers & Wilkins CCM685 4 in, ceiling = $1,200
Subwoofers:
Rel S5 Subwoofer = $2500
Amplifier:
Marantz 2 Channel Amp = $600
Processor:
Marantz 7200 Surround Receiver = $2,200
Audio Total: $13,750
Projector:
Sony 4k Projector = $8,000
Projector Screen:
Stewart Filmscreen Cima 120" = $1,800
Video Total: $9,800
Sources:
Oppo 103D BD Player =$600
Sources Total: $600
Control:
ProControl Single room = $600
Control Total: $600
Interconnects + Power Conditioning:
Furman Elite 15DMI Surge/Conditioner = $600
AudioQuest Cabling = $5,000
Interconnects Total: $5,600
Total: $27,550
Multimedia Resource Group
Speakers:
Totem Acoustic Tribe III On-Wall Speakers = $5,670
Totem Acoustic Kin Side In-Wall Speaker = $1,500
Totem Acoustic TAC-4 In-Ceiling Speakers = $850
Subwoofers:
Totem Acoustic Double-8 In-Wall Subwoofer = $2,200
Amplifier:
Processor:
Anthem MRX-1120 Surround Sound Receiver = $3,499
Audio Total: $13,719
Projector:
Samsung 85” JU7100 Series 4K LED TV = $6,999
Projector Screen:
Sanus VLL5 Wall-mount bracket = $119
Cine-Living Acoustically Transparent Fabric = $750
Video Total: $7,868
Sources:
Kaleidescape Strato 4K Movie Player (supports up to 100 4K Ultra HD movies, 200 Blu-rays, or 900 DVD’s) = $4,495
TiVo Bolt = $299
Sources Total: $4,794
Control:
Crestron MC3 Control Processor = $1,600
Crestron HR-150 Handheld Remote = $350
Pakedge SE-8-EP 8-Port Gigabit Megaswitch Switch = $170
Control Total: $2,120
Interconnects + Power Conditioning:
HDMI cables, speaker wire, and interconnects = $200
Torus Power TOT = $1,299
Interconnects Total: $1,499
Total: $30,000
Ultra Media
Speakers:
Totem Acoustic Tribe Side/Center = $5,400
Totem Acoustic Kin In-Wall Speaker = $2,625
Subwoofers:
REL S/5 = $2,600
Amplifier:
Processor:
11.2 Channel Dolby Atmos DTR-70.6 = $2,800
Acoustic Treatment:
Primacoustic Panel Room Kit (room size dependent) = $1,200
Audio Total: $14,625
Projector:
3D Sony ES 1080p projector = $2,000
SnapAV projector mount = $450
Projector Screen:
110” Screen Innovations Filmscreen = $3,100
Video Total: $5,650
Sources:
Kaleidescape Alto 6-TB = $3,295
Apple TV = $200
Roku 4 = $130
Sources Total: $3,625
Control:
RTI XP-3 Remote Control Processor= $500
RTI T2x Remote = $900
SnapAV 8 port Gigabit Network Switch = $100
Control Total: $1,400
Interconnects + Power Conditioning:
Furman Elite 20 PFi = $1,200
Episode Surge 8 Outlet Stand Alone AVR UPS = $150
AudioQuest cables = $2,500
SnapAV Binary HDBaseT Extender = $500
Materials (cables, wires, etc) = $350
Interconnects Total: $4,700
Total: $30,000
Wilshire Media Systems
Speakers:
Bowers & Wilkins 684S2 Floorstanding Speaker’s = $1,150
Bowers & Wilkins CMCS2 Center Speaker = $700
Bowers & Wilkins CCM683 Ceiling Speaker;s = $850
Subwoofers:
JL E112 12” = $1,900
Amplifier:
Processor:
Anthem MRX-520 5.1 Surround = $1,399.99
Audio Total: $5,999.99
Projector:
Sony 4K = $9,999.99
Projector Screen:
Stewart Filmscreen 120” Cabaret = $5,690
Stewart Filmscreen LED System = $1,453
Stewart Filmscreen E-Node = $1,717
Projector Accessories:
Chief 4" Ceiling Plate = $42.99
Chief 6" Fixed Pipe = $17.99
Chief Universal RPA Mount = $205.99
Video Total: $19,126.96
Sources:
DirecTV receiver = OFE
Oppo BD-103 Blu-ray player = $499.99
Sources Total: $499.99
Control:
Savant HST-Savanti Host Controller = $1,500
Savant Remote = $800
Apple Time Capsule = $199.99
Control Total: $2,499.99
Interconnects + Power Conditioning:
AudioQuest = $1,105
Furman Elite-15 DMI = $559.99
Interconnects Total: $1,664.99
Total: $29,791.92
Summary
Who do you think built the best system? Vote below, and tweet or email me (jsanchez@adelyte.com) your comments! We will do a follow-up post analyzing the results, so stay tuned for that.
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