SONOS: New Kid on the Whole Home Audio Block

By: Michael Manouel, Jr., Social Media

What’s a Sonos?

SONOS is a company you might have heard a few things about. They’ve been making waves in the home automation industry with their steadfast mission to provide whole home audio, in the form of their wireless Hi-Fi line of premiere speakers, Playbars (or soundbars), and subwoofers to the everyday homeowner. And they’re making good on that promise too.

Out With The Old, in With the New

Honest Install Sonos App
Sonos App Viewed On An iPad

When Sonos means ‘wireless,’ they connected to the internet in such a way that an app on a smart phone or a tablet becomes your audio controller, and you can have many of them integrated onto the same network. This means the day is done for invasive, fully-drilled-and-wired, expensive types of distributed audio installations of old, with disparate parts of a speaker system here, a receiver there, a CD player here—and best of all no ‘head unit’ or control pad. In this case, you would have had to actually get up and walk to the unit to turn up-or-down the surround sound while watching a movie in your home theater or to play a different song in the family room.

What Makes Sonos The Grooviest Home Audio System?

Sonos Products Lineup Honest Install, Dallas TX
The Sonos Family of Hi-Fi Audio Products

Sonos works with your typical home internet router, creating its own wireless mesh network (basically, its own compartment within your Wi-Fi, so there’s no bogging or slowing down your internet connection) to blanket your entire home—with each room having its own audio ‘zone’—in the golden sounds of internet radio (Pandora, Spotify, Google Play, Sirius XM, Beats Music, Rhapsody, etc.), your own carefully and painstakingly-arranged (and totally perfect) collection of songs on iTunes, or literally any wireless radio station in the world.

Sonos App Android Media Room Honest Install Dallas, TX
Set Your Sonos Zone On Your iPhone (or Android)

A Sonos ‘zone’ is set-up to be infinitely-customizable, so every room in your home can have a different audio setting and play various pieces of music all at the same time: a movie’s soundtrack in your son’s room, a party-mix for the Saturday night BBQ out back, your daughter’s favorite music in the living room—the free, proprietary app will allow you to control all these scenes at once, all from the palm of your hand. Sonos’ learning app will even memorize and index all songs from your home music library. It can also be integrated with a turntable, CD-player, iPod, or an analog music player to boost them to the best sound possible. And while Sonos still may be the new-kid-on-the-block, they are a new and elegant breath of fresh air to the formerly-stodgy whole home audio business.

Honest Install carries the entire line of Sonos products, call now to receive a free-consultation for your D/FW home today, 972-470-3528.

 

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Photo credit: Sonos

Three Misconceptions about Mounting Your TV Above the Fireplace

By: Michael Manouel Jr., Social Media

Debunked: The Fireplace TV Experts Tell-All

You might have heard that home fireplace TV installations have been given a bad rap. But if you’re considering mounting a flat panel on your fireplace, don’t worry: in the hands of a custom engineering A/V installer, these false claims fall flat.

Rock Fireplace TV Install Dallas, TX
Staggered Rock Fireplace TV Install — Home In Dallas, TX

Unlock Your Untapped Living Room Real Estate With A Fireplace TV Installation

Not only are they the most aesthetically-pleasing, stylish, and outright gorgeous of mounting spaces, they are some of the most structurally sound of large electronics installations as well. Sometimes the layout of a home will feature the fireplace as the centerpiece in a living room or great room–mounting your TV to the fireplace can free up some extra space for other pieces, while also not requiring you to rearrange the present design of the room.

Marble Fireplace TV Installation Dallas, TX
Marble Fireplace TV & Soundbar Install — Residence in Dallas, TX

The Three Common Myths About Fireplace TV Installations

  1. There’s no way to run electricity to the TV at all, or at least not without visible wires.
  1. The angle of an LCD TV against the fireplace will strain your neck and the brightness of the bulbs behind the TV will show through the screen.
  1. The heat or smoke from the fireplace burning will detrimentally affect the bottom edge or internals of the TV mounted above the mantel on a stone or brick fireplace.

No Truth in Myths: Each Claim Explained

  • Prewiring or outlet relocation is a simple process. If you have a newer home, your fireplace is most likely already prewired for electrical and coax, and even if you do not have a prewired fireplace, the ability to become properly wired is an easy, quick, and safe process for a professional custom electronics (CE) installer to do.
  • Swivel brackets tilt both on a Y and X axis—that means no glare or sore neck. The use of an affordable, commercial grade full motion arm or “swivel” bracket to hold the flat screen will allow you to alter the angle and the axis of the flat screen for optimal viewing. No craning or cramping your neck!
  • Ever touched the top of your fireplace, was it warm? A flat panel or LCD TV, like a laptop or most electronics, will give off a certain amount of warmness during normal working operation, but a TV professionally mounted on your fireplace, even with a warm fire kindling, will not cause the TV to become any hotter than usual. This is because every fireplace that meets basic residential building code is designed to trap all the heat and smoke of a fire inside the flue–and are so well-insulated and thick that no smoke or heat would ever harm your TV.
Outdoor Weatherproof Fireplace TV Installation in Dallas-area Sachse, TX
Outdoor Fireplace Weatherproof-TV Installation — Home in Sachse, TX

The fireplace TV experts at Honest Install have done literally thousands of brick, stone, marble, staggered sheetrock, and wood fireplace flat panel installations in the Dallas-area. Our specially-trained techs have the practical know-how and experience that comes with daily exposure to these and other types of specialty-installations. No two fireplaces are exactly the same, but our technicians have never come across one which was impossible to mount any size TV onto. This means your installation, whether above a fireplace or on a ceiling, will be of the highest quality and will always meet or go beyond your exact expectations.

If you would like to schedule a free on-site consultation or would like to learn more about fireplace TV installs, contact the audio/video engineers at Honest Install at 972-470-3528 or visit HonestInstall.com for more information.

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Photo credit: Honest Install

Prewiring, the Smart Wire Concealmeant

By: Michael Manouel Jr., Social Media

Wire Concealment Means Thinking Ahead

Prewiring or wire concealment is a little thought-of service when designing your home theater. There are much more important decisions, like which flat screen to buy (Ultra HD or 4K?) or what projector and speaker combination would best complement your media room, right?

Projector Screen Media Room Dallas TX
Your Media Room Should Be A Comfortable Sanctuary, Choose What Most Embodies That To You — Home in Dallas, TX

But not all your electronics can be Wi-fi-enabled and most need a direct power source. Wire concealment can take the attention off ugly cords and place it on all the aspects of your media room design that you want to indulge in the most, like that new “floating” SONOS Playbar or your 16:9 perfect movie-theater-ratio projector screen.

Prewiring: the Smart Solution?

Low Voltage Prewire/Prewired/Prewiring Dallas Home Wire Concealment
Before You Build, Wire — House in Dallas, TX

Prewiring your Dallas, TX home for CAT5 or CAT6 or surround-sound speaker wire, along with electrical outlets strategically placed around your home can greatly reduce or totally eliminate the need for (sometimes just as unsightly) raceway to hide power cords. Prewiring can save on money, time, and critical decision-making energy when choosing every nut-and-bolt of your dream media room. Pick the fabric of the plushy, ultra-comfortable seats you’re installing for your guests and family instead of where to hide the projector cord!

Prewiring Wire Concealment Dallas, TX
Prewire: It’ll Save You More Than You Think — Residence in Dallas, TX

Whether you want a wired security and whole home automation system, just a way to display an HDTV flat screen without any visible cords, or prewire for surround sound, running the wires inside your pre-built Dallas, TX home can keep you in the knowledge that you can change up the arrangement of your devices on-the-fly and still have you set-up for the entire life of your home.

Low-Voltage Prewiring: The Power You Need at a Price You Can Stomach

Prewire Dallas, Texas / Prewiring a home in D/FW
Neatly Stowed Wires You Will Never See — Home in Dallas, TX

Honest Install, locally based in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, can prewire your home, and then also build your home automation system from scratch utilizing a one-touch solution. We specialize in built-in-wall iPad controllers utilizing an RTi system, with an in-wall charging supply and docking station, but which are also portable for modern, on-the-go convenience. Programmed controllers can be customized by Honest Install to carry a slew of options, and we service prewiring, smart home automation, and any audio/video need for all of D/FW.

 

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Photo credit: Honest Install