Getting your priorities straight.

I was reading a back-issue of Rolling Stone this morning and came across this photo of 27 year old Steve Jobs at home in Cupertino.  All he needed in his living room was a  Persian rug to sit on, a lamp to read by and... a great stereo to enjoy music.

For the gear-heads this 1982 vintage system consisted of Acoustat Model II speakers, Michell Gyrodek turntable and (I think) an Accuphase amplifier

Neil Young Advocates for high resolution recordings.

Neil Young has always been renouned for his amazing recordings. If you need proof just pick up a copy of "Live at Massy Hall" recorded in 1971 but unreleased until 2009. (of course you need it on 180g vinyl).  He has been strong advocate in the music industry for improved recording quality and dumping the comproimise of MP3s in favour of high resolution downloads.

He makes the arguement better than I could.

New Wireless Technologies

No one wants to see the wires that connect their AV equipment. They don’t want to see them running across the floor, they don’t want to see them running up their walls and they especially don’t want to see them running across their fireplace to their new flat screen TV.  We broke the umbilical chord with our internet connection, why haven’t we been able to do the same with our AV equipment? 

The problem we have to deal with is the volume of data and speed. Transmitting CD quality audio takes about 4 times as much data per second as a decent internet connection and sending wireless HDMI video takes on the order of a thousand times as much raw data. The other issue is that we want this all to work in real time. We want our song to play continuously, not pause and start and cut in and out. If a webpage takes a couple of seconds to load its tolerable. If your song or tv show pauses for a few seconds  it’s unlistenable.Thankfully there have been some recent breakthroughs in data compression technologies and transmission capabilities that have produced some really remarkable new wireless products for wireless HDMI transmission and wireless music systems.

There are lots of folks that love the look of a flat-screen TV hovering on the wall and they don’t want to see any equipment. Unfortunately in many existing homes it is difficult, expensive and messy to retrofit the HDMI cable necessary for these TVs.  Until a few months ago reliable, high quality solutions didn’t exist... at any price.  No Peeless has changed all that with a product called HD Flow.  You can leave you equipment in a cabinet or closet across the room, or across your house and beam a full 1080p high definition signal wirelessly without noise or interference. Peerless HD Flow sends HDMI video signals wirelessly through your home.

The HD Flow has the added benefit of including an infrared remote control repeater that allows you to control the equipment that you have hidden away on the other side of your home. But if that isn’t enough the HD Flow is also a video switcher that allows you to connect your cable box, bluray and a PC simultaneously for transmission across the house. At $550.00 the Peerless HD flow costs about as much as a 45ft HDMI cable and a remote control repeater. The labour to install it takes only minutes.

I have sung the praises of the Sonos wireless music systems for years. In my opinion it is still the best way to send music around your home. Sonos has expanded their system to include a new wireless speaker called the Play 3. At $330.00 the Play3 is small enough and affordable enough to allow you to have music in any room of your home. With Sonos you can expand your system quickly to up to 32 rooms if you wish.The Sonos Play 3 is the affordable way to build a wireless whole-house music system.

The wireless technology getting the most buzz right now has to be Apple Airplay.  Apple has licensed dozens of electronics manufacturers with Airplay to enable their products to receive music wirelessly from your iPod touch, iPad, iPhone or any computer with iTunes. The iPod docking station has become a relic. There is no need to tether your iPod with cables. You can have it in your pocket and send music to your AV receiver, bookshelf music system or even clock radio using your existing wi-fi network.  There is no special software to install or complicated configuration to perform. Just connect to your network and you can have your entire music library at our disposal in any room.

It is becoming a brave new wireless world in the electronics industry. The ability to send high quality audio and video without wires has reduced the time and mess necessary for many applications. For some, it opens the door to install electronics in locations never before possible.

The Denon AVR-2112 is part of a new breed of audio equipment licensed with Apple Airplay technology.

"Old in Box"

Before our fiscal year end on June 30th, we hold an inventory reduction sale. We work with our suppliers to find extra savings and some unique values for our customers. This year Bowers and Wikins (B&W) came up with a doozy. A skid of discontinued THX speaker systems turned up in their former warehouse.  They used to share a warehouse with a food distribution company and somehow these were left behind when they moved their new facility.  If you still have a CRT tv these babies are magnetically shielded. The subwoofers are passive so they require a dedicated power amplifier.  The the satellite FCM-8 speakers were $1,300.00 when new, the FCS-8 subwoofers were $1,500ea.  You can pick up either for $500.00. Quantities are limited but the deal is great.

The Bowers and Wikins FCS-8 subs come out of hibernation and find a new home at London AudioThe Bowers and Wilkins FCM-8s can sit on top of the FCS-8 subwoofers, be mounted on stands, in cabinets or on wall.The styling may be a bit dated but the performance of the Bowers and Wilkins THX package still holds its own.

Don’t rely on wireless technology for your new home or renovation.

Does your cordless phone sound as good and work as well as your traditional landline?  Think about the compromise in performance and reliability that we encounter just in transmitting voice. Speakercraft SonicAir wireless speaker sender/receiver $430.00Extrapolate that to transmitting high definition video or multi-channel audio.  We have lots of wireless video and audio solutions available and they all have one thing in common: they cost more and generally don’t work as well as running a wire.  Tributaries speaker wire 200ft- $140.00

Wireless senders were introduced to solve installation problems when it just isn’t possible to run a wire. They were not intended to replace traditional wiring.  Not a week goes by that someone walks through the door to buy a great new AV system for installation in the home they just built or room they just renovated. If only they had talked to us before construction was finished we could have done so much more and saved them so much money.Gefen EXT-HDMI wireless HDMI sender, range 30ft- $1,200.00Gefen EXT-WHDMI wireless HDMI sender-range 30ft $1,200.00For most builders and renovators AV and network wiring is just not on their radar. They’re worried about coordinating electricians, plumbers, dry-wallers and all the other trades. Tributaries 33ft HDMI cable $220.00A professionally laid-out and installed AV systems just isn’t in their critical path. Ultimately it becomes the responsibility of the home owner to do the research and make sure the right wiring is in the walls. London Audio offers full professional installation to make your project go smoothly or we can supply the materials for the do-it-yourself enthusiast. Whichever category you fall in be sure to visit London Audio before your dry-wall goes up.

Don't leave your AV system stuck in the '80s

Take a look at the two photos.

If your house looks reminiscent of the top photo there is indeed  a better way to enjoy your music, movies and video games. You can shed visible bulk and clutter of your old system by hiding al your electronics. With radio remote controls  all your equipment can be tucked away in a closet or basement.  A new flat screen TV and on-wall speakers can free up an extra three feet of space in your room.  We can even hide your TV behind art or mirrors when it’s not in use .Your new system will sound better, look better and be much easier to use. 

The same applies to your whole home music system.

Don’t rely on your old intercom system to pipe FM music around the house.  It can easily be replaced with a wireless system that allows you to access music from your computer, the internet or any of your conventional sources like a cable box or radio. You can control your sound system or hometheatre with your ipad, iphone or ipod touch.

 

For a demonstration of our family room make-over skills visit the Home and Garden show this weekend at the Western Fair Grounds.  It may be time or an A/V intervention in your house.

Outdoor audio in December?

Busy shovelling snow? The Outcast wireless speaker system works just as hard in your driveway during the winter as it does around the pool by summer.

The Outcast Jr pictured here is $849 with transmitter.

Visit London Audio for the full line of Soundcast audio products.

The world's smallest microwave oven

Size Matters!

In jest I often throw out the phrase: “Real home theatres images are measured in feet not inches.”  Watching movies on a flat panel TV can be very entertaining but it really isn’t “cinematic.”  Even sitting up close to a 65 inch flat panel TV fails to create the larger than life experience we encounter in the movie theatre.  Only truly large screens, on the order of 6 to 12 feet really deliver that same emotional rush.  The great news is that experience can actually cost you LESS than a large flat panel TV.  For example the remarkable Epson Home Cinema 8100 and a basic 100 inch pull-down screen will cost you about the same amount as an entry level 58 inch TV.  Many of you will recognize Runco as the king of the home theatre.  Runco projectors are featured in all the magazines pictured in the top home cinemas.  Their three chip DLP projectors with anamorphic lenses offer simply the best images your money can buy.  While these projectors can cost as much as a car Runco projectors start for as little as $5,500.00 for the Lightstyle LS-3.   This is not light-weight projector. It offers the best colour pallet and contrast under $10,000.00.  The projector getting all the press these days is the Runco Q750i LED projector.  There is no lamp in the Q750i, instead high output red, green and blue LEDs generate the light resulting in a projector that is the  longest lasting and most energy efficient on the market.  Whatever your budget requirements or performance expectations may be,  we have the projection technology to fit the bill. 

 

 

The Epson Home Cinema 8100 is a 1080P LCD projector offering a remarkable life-like image. Only $1,879.99

 

The LS-3 is the most affordable Runco 1080P projector ever produced. It offers the best value of any projector we haver ever offered $5,499.99

 

The Runco Q750i provides breakthrough performance with a new state of the art LED light engine $16,499.99

 

For “Extreme” viewing the Runco VX22d with Autoscope lens offers uncompromised performance $65,999.99

Sound Values for Your A/V System

The falling price of TVS could mean better sound for your money. Let me be clear   I am not suggesting that the headphone-sized speakers  that are built into TV actually sound good.  However the money you save on a TV can be spent on a great sound system to compliment your video purchase. We are amazed that we  can now install a complete systems for  the same price of just the TV 18 months ago. At the shop we have just received a new 58” Samsung TV that is selling for $2,195.  We can pair this TV with Boston Acoustics Soundware 5.1 system with the  Pioneer VSX919 AV receiver on special at only $949.99. With this combo you can enjoy better picture and sound than with the TV that sold alone for $4,499 only 18 months ago.  You could upgrade the sound system even further using the  higher powered  VSX1019 AV receiver and 5 Boston Acoustics Bravo II speakers with subwoofer at $2,500.00.   Both of these AV receivers come equipped with all the latest connections and features required for Bluray and the newest flat panels, such as HDMI, and auto speaker setup.  Don’t suffer with terrible sound, put the savings on TV back into a quality audio system.

Award winning  Boston Acoustics Soundware EXS51 5.1speaker package Reg $599.00

 Pioneer VSX919 home theatre receiver Reg $599.99

Special package price only $999.99