The secret ingredients to a great system
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Unique to ListenUp is our engineering staff. Trained professionals review and document our system designs, providing autocad drafting and schematic system drawings. Our engineering department identifies potential problems before your system is installed. Additionally, block diagrams and system documentation allow any ListenUp technician to properly service your system.
While we can't predict the future, sophisticated engineering done today also allows for upgrades and new technologies to be properly integrated into the system at a minimal expense.
Coordination
Once your system is decided upon and properly designed and engineered, ListenUp assigns a Project Manager to your system. It is this person's job to coordinate with the architect, general contractor, interior designer, electrical contractor and anyone else involved with your home. The Project Manager is responsible for scheduling and managing the installation staff, and making sure your equipment is delivered on a timely basis. |
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| Three phases of every installation |
1. Planning and design
From the most elementary point of view, a custom home installation involves three primary stages. The first is the planning and design phase. Unless you've owned (and perfectly installed) several home entertainment systems yourself, and you're constantly keeping up to date on all the changes going on with home entertaiment technology (like five-, six- and seven-channel surround sound, Digital TV and multi-room music and movie distribution technologies), you'll want the advice of a consultant
— we just happen to know the names of some really good ones who eat, sleep and drink electronic home entertainment.
A good consultant not only knows what products best fit particular applications, he or she can often save you money by suggesting alternatives you might not have been aware of. A good consultant can also introduce you to technologies and products that will make usage of your system
— and living in your home
— much more relaxing and enjoyable. |
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2. Pre-wire
After you've decided the extent of the system you want installed, it's the job of the installers to make it happen. If your system is going in a new home under construction, or in an existing home undergoing significant remodeling, the second phase is called the pre-wire. During this phase, all the hidden wiring that forms the important infrastructure of your system is run inside the walls before the sheetrock closes everything in.
3. Finish-out
Once the walls are up and the construction is finished, the installers return during the finish-out stage to complete the system by installing all the hardware (TVs, speakers, receivers, etc.) that gets connected by the hidden wiring. If you're installing a system in an existing home - what's known as a retro-fit installation - the pre-wire and finish-out stages are often done at the same time. |
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An installer is part artist, part craftsman, part carpenter and part electrician, and at times, a troubleshooter and trainer. If you've ever see one of these multi-talented people at work in your home, you can't help but feel a little bit sorry for the torture a typical installation normally puts them through — especially the retro-fit installs. Installers are called on to crawl through attics, come up with ways to pull wire through impossibly tight spaces and figure out ways to fit equipment into spaces no normal person would ever dream of doing - while at the same time making the system look like it belongs in your home and work flawlessly. In addition to being familiar with electrical code, the installers need to know everyting about low-voltage wiring and how it differs. Unlike the electrical wiring connecting the AC outlets in your home, for example, it's not functional to connect speaker wire from speaker to speaker. More than one overly cost-conscious homeowner has painfully discovered (after the home was finished) that the electrician who did such a fine job on the electrical wiring didn't understand the unique requirements of audio/video wiring. When it comes to the best installations, the result of all that hard work should be virtually invisible — but that doesnt mean it's not important to the proper operation of your home entertainment system. Ironically, the job of a good installation team is to make themselves and the hidden parts of your system totally forgettable so you can simply sit back and enjoy. |
 Our trained installers turn all of your components, speakers, volume controls and remotes into beautiful music and pictures. Following detailed instructions from our engineering and project management staff, you can be sure that your system is installed the exact way it was designed. |
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 All touchscreen remotes are custom programmed and stored on a computer, allowing for simple, future upgrades.
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Integration
Installing your equipment is only part of the completion of your system. A new generation of touchscreen learning remotes have revolutionized and simplified system operation. ListenUp can take five or more remote controls from different manufacturers and combine them into one, easy-to-use remote. The level of sophistication and automation is only limited by your imagination.
We'll make sure you know how to use everything
It's not enough to design and install a great system; ListenUp staff will teach you how to obtain the maximum enjoyment from your system. For a personal consultation, call us at (303) 744-1179 or you can send an e-mail to the custom home division. One of our experts will be glad to talk to you.
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So how do you make sure you get the best installation for your money?
1. Ask your prospective installation company how long they've been doing business, and how long their installers have been working for them. There's no substitute for hands-on experience
— but you definitely don't want them gaining it in your home.
2. Ask to meet members of the team who will be handling your installation. Unless it's a pair of speakers in the ceiling, a home installation is a complicated process that benefits from a good team that often includes a salesperson or designer, a project coordinator and multiple installers (not to mention important people like service department managers and installation department managers).
3. Do they have a showroom? Showrooms are more than just environments in which salespeople can demonstrate products for customers. A working showroom also provides a custom install company with an area to try out new equipment and technologies before they begin recommending
— and installing
— them in customers' homes.
4. Do the people you're dealing with have a reason to come to your aid if you have a problem after the installation? Hiring an electrician or a guy working out of his van on his spare time may save you some money today, but will he be willing to come back in a month to fix something that doesn't work?
5. Make sure that the installers are insured
— both for their protection and yours. There's nothing like the threat of a lawsuit over medical expenses for an installer hurt on the job in your home to take the fun out of any home entertainment system. |
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