Multi-room Audio Video

You came to the right place.

Amp AV will provide you with an installation proposal which will include all of the equipment necessary for a functional and enjoyable entertainment system.  If you already have some of the equipment, we'll certainly factor that into the project.

Even with a prewired home, it's still best practice for Amp AV to perform an on-site survey so that the proposal can be as thorough and accurate as possible.  On-site surveys/assessments are complimentary.

If you don't fully know what the home is wired for, it will be straightforward for an Amp AV sales representative to verify what is in place and what the potential is for the future installed system.

Here are some tell-tale signs:

1.  Wire bundle protruding from beneath the TV location in a living/family room or in a nearby closet/cabinet

2.  Blank cover plate(s) beneath TV location in living/family room

3.  Wires protruding from walls/ceiling in living/family room

4.  Blank rectangular cover plates on the walls and/or ceiling—these are potential speaker locations

• living/family rooms may have as many as seven of these plates—the most common quantities are 5 and 7 covered locations
• most other areas, such as bedrooms, dens, dining rooms may 2 covered locations
• Primary Bathrooms often have 1 or 2 covered locations
• Patios often have 2 or 4 covered locations

In most cases, yes!

Regardless of whether the home is prewired or not, Amp AV can assist with a system installation, even if it means retrofitting the wiring.  Amp AV technicians are experts in system retrofitting and wire fishing.  Wall and ceiling damage can usually be completely avoided.  If the scenarios that do involve wall and/or ceiling cutting, these necessary instances can be anticipated before starting the project.

For homes with flat roofs and no attic access, the amount of wall/ceiling repair costs can become too much to justify a retrofit audio wiring project.  Amp AV can still help with professional installation and setup of wireless audio systems, such as Sonos or VSSL.

Amp AV has the experience to know when a retrofit project is possible and what it will take.  Allow an Amp AV sales consultant to perform a complimentary on-site survey to assess the project and provide you with an installation proposal.

Yes, absolutely!

If the budget isn't there to install the speakers right away, this will save money and headache in the long run, especially for homes with little-to-no attic access, such as homes with multiple floors or flat roofs.

We recommend scheduling a complimentary on-site assessment with a sales consultant.  Our sales consultants are also experienced technicians, and will know exactly what it will take to get the system up and running properly.

Sometimes additional equipment is required to complete a system.  Other times the equipment is all there, but there may be a fair amount of work to connect it all properly, test, and provide a tutorial on how to operate the system.  In either case, the consultant can take notes of the situation and follow up with a sales proposal to properly complete the system.

If all the equipment is in place and only minor adjustments are needed to make everything operational, the consultation can change to be considered a T&M (time and materials) service call.  This would be at the discretion of the sales consultant and require customer approval.  It would also depend on both the schedule that day and possessing on-hand the necessary parts/cables to fill in any gaps.

There are a few different ways to do this, and all are good options.

One of the best streaming platforms is Sonos, and is what we recommend for those who have a mix of Apple and Android devices in the household.  The Sonos app makes it easy to queue the music from your phone or tablet.  A Sonos Port is a streaming device that can connect to an existing amplifier to pump high fidelity audio throughout your existing system.

VSSL is another great option that we recommend particularly for households that are all iPhone based, and use either Apple Music or Spotify as their preferred streaming platforms.  VSSL through Apple Airplay 2 technology, iPhones can natively connect a VSSL audio system without needing a separate app to control the system.

If system calls for multi-room audio and video controls, Control4 or Savant may be the best options, and both work well with most music streaming platforms, also.

Yes they can.

Older speakers eventually break down as the rubber surrounding the speaker cone dries out and tears.  Sometimes the cone itself becomes brittle or tattered.

Yellowed plastic bezels are a horrible eyesore.  More modern speakers grilles are either all metal, or have an ultra-thin bezel resistance to yellowing.

As long as the speaker is replaced with one of equal or greater diameter, it's a very straightforward process to swap them out.  Contact Amp AV for a quote!

As great as the Sonos platform is, it has a shorter lifespan than speakers that are built into the home.  In 2019, Sonos released its S2 mobile application for their newer generation of devices and restricted older, legacy devices to the S1 application.  This meant that old and new Sonos products could no longer reside within the same whole-home system.

The point is that wireless speakers like Sonos will change with time and eventually become obsolete.  Meanwhile, there are homes with 15-25 year old architectural speakers (in-wall or in-ceiling speakers) that are still going strong.

Aside from avoiding having your system mothballed, built-in speakers are less of an eyesore than wireless speakers and sound more proportional to large, open-concept home layouts.

Yes, but this requires the proper music streaming hardware with enough outputs to feed each audio zone with a separate music stream.

Sonos, VSSL, Control4, and Savant all make this possible, and are all great options for multi-room audio with independent streaming in different zones.

Yes!  This is the case for every audio system that Amp AV installs.

Modern audio video receivers (AVRs) and streaming amplifiers allow for mobile devices to connect wirelessly to the system and play music.

Depending on the preferred mobile device OS (Apple or Android), Amp AV will have different hardware recommendations to fit the application and make it as easy as possible for the end-user.

This is a very common scenario in many, many homes throughout Arizona. 

The most cost-effective way to play music in several rooms or areas is to connect the speakers to an impedance-matching speaker selector.  Too many speakers connected to an amplifier will damage the amplifier, which could in turn damage the speakers.  To avoid this, a speaker connection hub with amplifier impedance protection can be used.  This allows a single-zone amplifier to connect to several pairs of speakers in different rooms.

Since all of the speakers are connected to one amp, they will be affected by the amplifier's volume level all together.  Different areas of the home need the ability to control volume independently.  To achieve this, in-wall volume control dials or sliding controls can be used.  The amplifier is set to a consistent volume level, and the in-wall volume controls can be adjusted according to preference and comfort level throughout.

Again, this means that the same music feed will play everywhere, so it's not the ideal solution for a household where multiple individuals want different music in separate areas.

Homeowners should be aware of the pitfalls of using Zone 2 on their AVR (audio video receiver) for playing music throughout the home.  While very cost effective, it is not the most user-friendly method.  Consult with Amp AV about connecting you home audio system in the most intuitive and easy-to-use way for you and your family.

Video distribution is also referred to as centralized video, or a video matrix system.

Essentially, all of the video source devices are in a central "headend" location.  This is often an equipment rack, which serves to help keep the wiring clean and serviceable. Video source devices would include cable/satellite set-top-boxes, Roku's, Apple TV's, Bluray player, CCTV system, etcetera.

The video signal for each source device feeds into a video switcher, also called a video matrix.  It allows any input to be sent to any output.  The outputs of the video switcher are connected to the video displays in the system, i.e. TV's and projectors.

Centralized video systems use HDMI signal extension technology such as active HDMI cables, HDBaseT, and video over IP such as SDVOE.  Each of these technologies is designed to send HDMI signal over longer distances.  The method used will depend on the budget and application.

The primary benefit of a centralized, or distributed video system is to sync both audio and video between multiple adjacent rooms that are playing the same content.  Otherwise, playing the same TV channel or stream in multiple rooms would result in very noticeable audio and video delays, making the experience unenjoyable.

The second most important benefit is to allow TV audio to play through architectural speakers in each zone, which will sound far better than the TV's built-in speakers.  By having the video sources centralized in an equipment headend location or rack tower with the audio distribution system, the video's audio can be routed throughout the home's speakers.

Other benefits include:

• Remotely locate the source equipment, eliminating the need for TV furniture
• Access security camera feeds from any connected TV
• Less logging in to TV apps since TV's will share the same streaming player(s)
• Fewer set-top-boxes required overall and lower monthly TV bill
• Video sources are located in an accessible central location for service, reboots, etc., rather than in hard-to-reach places like the back of a TV

Equipment racks are a necessity for medium to large systems for the following reasons:

• Equipment can be spaced sufficiently for proper ventilation, which is safer and  prolongs the equipment life
• Equipment and connections are fixed into place so as not to be accidentally bumped or tampered with
• More room for more equipment in a more compact space
• Cleaner cable management
• More serviceable
• Less labor than wire managing closet or cabinet shelving

Yes we can.

We perform system takeovers for Control4 and Savant projects all the time.  This makes Amp AV the point of contact for service moving forward.

Part of a system takeover is an overall cleanup of any poor workmanship left behind by the previous company.  We do this to extend the life of the system, and also to be confident in servicing the system moving forward.  Equipment rack cleanups are important to make sure that the system will perform reliably.  As much a possible, we will assimilate your system to our standards.

If you have some other control system, such as Elan, RTI, Pro Control, URC, or Crestron, we can consult with you to determine if it makes sense to replace the system with an Amp AV-supported product, or we can refer you to another service provider who can help.

Our speakers are not generally sold in big box stores or by large online retailers, but they are well known among those who know audio.  Not by the DIY audio crowd, but by the true professionals in the CI (custom installation/integration) industry.

What's different about CI channel speakers versus box store speakers?  Quality, support, warranty, and overall performance.

We've shot out dozens of speakers from many brands and almost always the CI channel speakers dominate box store speakers within comparable price ranges.  Why is this?  Because custom integrators demand good sound.  Our next meal comes from the job that is referred to us by a satisfied customer.  Satisfied customers come from delivering awesome products with great support.

It's the Do-It-Yourself enthusiasts that review the box store speakers online.  They rely on the opinions of their DIY crowd.  By definition, a Do-It-Yourself-er is either tackling the project because they enjoy it, or because they are trying to get it done as cheaply as they can.  People who hire custom integrators instead value their own time, and choose to put their trust in the recommendation of a professional.  

It also helps to hear a demo of the product, and at Amp AV, we have a showroom where you can listen to our most popular speaker options.  Let your own ears decide if the speakers are any good.

Some of our choice speaker brands are Origin Acoustics, Leon, and Triad.

There's too much to get into here, but generally, better speakers have larger magnets and voice coils, superior material composition, and higher fidelity crossover components.

Good speakers are heftier than cheap speakers, and are quite often a little more power hungry, meaning they need a powerful amplifier to drive them efficiently.

Absolutely there is.  Using quality amplifiers is just as important as using good speakers.

Lousy amplifiers will not reproduce sound detail accurately, and will especially lack in low end performance.  Music will not have the same punch or impact with a cheaper amplifier.

A good amplifier can make a mediocre speaker sound like an expensive speaker, and a mediocre amplifier will make a good speaker sound cheap.

At Amp AV, we prefer AudioControl power amplifiers for multi-zone speaker applications.