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Calibration the Right Way

Having designed over 400 pro, commercial, and residential projects, and tuned over 300 systems, we have a certain way of doing things that we consider "the right way." You'll hear us talk about the right way a lot because we just don't believe any client is going to get the best possible result from cutting corners. So here's a little primer from PMI.

Calibration is the last step in the design/build phase of a project. Once all of the gear is in place, the panels positioned, the decor defined, then it's time to calibrate. We believe the job of a calibrator is to check and validate that everything was built and installed properly before beginning to tune the room.

   Step 1:  Check that every piece of gear is installed and connected correctly
   Step 2:  Verify that every piece of gear is actually working
   Step 3:  Set up configurations and verify proper operation
   Step 4:  Tune the speaker system to the room

We find that in steps 1-3 there is almost always one piece (if not more) that is not connected, not installed properly, or just not working. We were recently called by a homeowner to check their new home cinema system which had already been tuned by a professional. The homeowner could tell something was still not right so they called us in. When we discovered the tweeter in the center speaker was not connected, we then checked the entire system's connections and configurations. We found countless other bugs, and painstakingly corrected each one before going through the tuning process.

Doing it the right way, you'll have a project to be proud of, and the client will be more likely call you again when they have another project in mind or want to refer you to their friends and colleagues.

For more information on this and other topics, please visit our website where you'll find a range of published articles and informative links.

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