DENVER, Sept. 3, 2008—More and more custom installers are offering front- projector home theater systems to their customers. To support installers, Capitol Sales Company offers 10 tips for optimal system design and installation.

1.) Bigger Picture and Bigger Sound

Look for opportunities to suggest a room for big impressions. The room should be isolated from noise and distractions with enough space for a ceiling mounted projector, screen, associated equipment and ability to control the light. Make sure your customer understands the benefits and disadvantages of the large image along with how a reflected view through projection is different than a direct view on a flat screen television.

2.) The Room and the Screen

Your ceiling height will determine the size of the image—the higher the ceiling potentially the bigger the image. You’ll also need to determine which wall will be best for viewing, equipment and seating arrangements in the room. And, you’ll need to determine whether a wall-mounted screen or retractable option will be best for the application and homeowner’s preference.

3.) Math for Sizing the Screen

First, determine the top of the viewing area for your screen. Minimum should be 6 inches from the ceiling for fixed screens and 12 inches for retractable screens.

• Measure to the floor.

• Subtract 3 feet for height of viewing area from the floor

• Multiply by 1.33 for width of 4:3 screen

• Multiply by 1.78 for width of 16:9 screen

4.) Math for Seating Distance from the Screen

There is an ideal seating distance from the screen for viewing that’s easy to calculate. First, you determine the actual width of the screen. Seats should be positioned between 1½ to 2½ times the width of the screen.

Example: a 110-inch with a 16:9 screen has an actual width of 96 inches.

• 96 inches x 1.5 = 12 feet for nearest seating

• 96 inches x 2.5 = 20 feet for farthest seating

5.) Project Location

Mounting the projector on the ceiling works best because the projector will be out of harm’s way. When measuring, remember to take into consideration where the wiring will go and spacing for the brackets to hold the projector. The distance you’ll need to be from the screen varies greatly by project, so it is best to determine the projector that will be used before prewiring. If you wire to near the end of the range of the projector, it will provide you with more options if you need them once you begin setting up the equipment. If you have not determined a projector, most will work if you wire to an area 1.75 times the width of the screen.

6.) Offset Project Lens

Lenses are not always in the middle of the projector so consider this before you begin mounting the project in order to center it properly. Some models do have horizontal and vertical lens shift built in, which will make you job a bit easier. Connections can also be in different locations depending on projector type so make sure you have the projector available when you are planning where the wires will be located in the ceiling.

7.) The Wires

Here are some of the wires you need to consider for the source signal:

• RF for cable TV or off air

• Composite (VCR or “Legacy” source) cable or RG59 pure copper

• SVHS cable or 2 RG59 pure copper or Cat5

• Component cable or 3 RG59 pure copper or serial digital

• RGBHV in one jacket i.e. IXOS XHV806CL or Monster MCTSRGBM5-250

• HDMI for best picture quality

• VGA for computer connection

• 12 volt trigger out for electric screen control

• Carlon raceway—1.5 inch for the next great thing or a replacement

• 2 conductors for IR connection

• 2-6 Cat5 wires for future add-ons

You may only need a few of these wires for your current project, but always prepare for the future with extra wires or a flexible raceway.

8.) Backlit Learning Remote

Consider upgrading the remote to one that will be more user-friendly. Look for a learning remote that’s easy to program, and one that is backlit so your customers can easily pick up the remote and use it when they are sitting in the comfort of their easy chair in a darkened room.

9.) Equipment Location

Ideally, the equipment can be placed out of sight for fewer distractions. You’ll need to ensure the space is properly ventilated because the equipment will get hot. Make sure you quote a proper rack setup along with fans to help keep equipment cool and protected. Because the equipment is out of sight, you’ll need to include an IR repeater as part of the setup. And make sure to include media storage space.

10.) Power and Protection

Plan for enough amperage and surge protection for all equipment in your system.

To learn more about Capitol Sales Company, visit www.capitolsales.com, call 1-800-INSTALL (467-8255) or e-mail info@capitolsales.com.

Capitol Sales Company partners with system integrators and low-voltage installers as an emerging technology distributor. We offer solutions from over 125 leading manufacturers in home theater, telephone systems, integrated home systems and commercial A/V. Installers nationwide depend on our multi-branded system design, expert technical support and application-based education. Visit www.capitolsales.com to research and order over 5,000 products and access Knowledge Base, an on-line resource featuring useful manufacturers’ diagrams, charts, formulas and configurators.

DENVER, Sept. 3, 2008—Mike Marko from the technical sales and design staff at Capitol Sales Company is the first in the Company to achieve status as a CEDIA certified instructor. This certification enables him to teach CEDIA University Core curriculum comprised of more than 140 courses in five industry-specific colleges. Marko, an employee at Capitol Sales since 2002, was one of a select number of instructors invited by the CEDIA Certified Instructor Action Team to participate in the certification course.

“This process is a critical step toward validating CEDIA University courses on the worldwide certification stage,” said Jeff Gardner, Director of Technical Training at CEDIA. “By training and certifying our volunteer instructors, we ensure that our core curriculum is always delivered in an accurate and professional manner. As we update and fine-tune our courses, we must also make sure our instructors are the very best. We are always pleased to add someone of Mike’s caliber to our team.”

Marko joins 158 other instructors in successfully completing certification. One requirement to become a certified instructor was attending CEDIA’s Train the Trainer program. That course includes a review of the adult learning process, managing the learning environment and effective, quantifiable content delivery techniques.

“We’re very proud of Mike’s achievements with the CEDIA-status certification,” said Curt Hayes, Capitol Sales Company’s President and Chief Financial Officer. “His courses are always well received and highly rated by dealers who attend them whether at a trade show, our annual dealer conference or at our headquarters training facility. His certification not only shows the level of commitment we have as an organization to support CEDIA, but speaks highly to the skills that Mike brings to the classroom as an instructor.”

To learn more about Capitol Sales Company, visit www.capitolsales.com, call 1-800-INSTALL (467-8255) or e-mail info@capitolsales.com.

Capitol Sales Company partners with system integrators and low-voltage installers as an emerging technology distributor. We offer solutions from over 125 leading manufacturers in home theater, telephone systems, integrated home systems and commercial A/V. Installers nationwide depend on our multi-branded system design, expert technical support and application-based education. Visit www.capitolsales.com to research and order over 5,000 products and access Knowledge Base, an on-line resource featuring useful manufacturers’ diagrams, charts, formulas and configurators.

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DENVER, Sept. 3, 2008—Capitol Sales Company held a team-building session with NEC’s Regional Sales Representatives during the month of August. NEC is a global leader in providing voice, data and video solutions, and this meeting helped round out the Company’s annual sales meeting, which was held in Minneapolis.

“In April, we began distributing the NEC Unified Solutions’ DSX telephone system product line, so this was a great opportunity for my team to meet directly with the NEC sales team and get to know them face-to-face,” said Steve Konsor, Senior Vice President of Sales and Capitol Sales Company. “The reps from our two teams are working closely together to support the needs of our dealers who are installing the NEC system for homeowners and small- to medium-sized commercial businesses.”

“The strong NEC global brand enhances the broad assortment of products that we can offer dealers,” said Curt Hayes, Capitol Sales Company’s President and Chief Financial Officer. “Having our two teams work together helps both our companies, and we greatly appreciated the opportunity to collaborate.”

To learn more about Capitol Sales Company, visit www.capitolsales.com, call 1-800-INSTALL (467-8255) or e-mail info@capitolsales.com.

Capitol Sales Company partners with system integrators and low-voltage installers as an emerging technology distributor. We offer solutions from over 125 leading manufacturers in home theater, telephone systems, integrated home systems and commercial A/V. Installers nationwide depend on our multi-branded system design, expert technical support and application-based education. Visit www.capitolsales.com to research and order over 5,000 products and access Knowledge Base, an on-line resource featuring useful manufacturers’ diagrams, charts, formulas and configurators.

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DENVER, Sept. 3, 2008—As front-projector prices drop and homeowners become more aware of technology advancements, Capitol Sales Company dealers want to be on the cutting edge of proper design and installation. One strong selling point of front-projector systems is the large viewing screen, but customers don’t always understand that size is dictated by the room space to ensure optimal viewing.

Capitol Sales has developed a “Top 10 Myth list” to help dealers get started with front-projector theater systems.

MYTH #1: Bigger is better.

FACT: Customers will often tell you, “I want the biggest screen you can get in the room!” Technological improvements in sources and projectors allow bigger images to look better than before. However, if a projected image becomes too large, the viewer will start to see the limitations in the sources and equipment. This is similar to holding a newspaper photo too close and only seeing dots. A good rule of thumb for sizing a screen to a room is that the seating should be at a distance of 1.5 to 2.5 times the width of the screen.

MYTH #2: Brighter is better.

FACT: Finding the projector with the highest ANSI lumen rating for the least amount of money and combining it with the screen with the highest gain ratio does not guarantee greatness. Quality of optics, uniformity of brightness and color accuracy can outweigh the lumen rating.

MYTH #3: A less expensive presentation projector will work as well as a more expensive home theater projector.

FACT: Although presentation projectors work well in a meeting room with still images, they usually don’t have the correct shape for home theater or the inputs needed to display consumer electronic sources. That’s why they are less expensive. For maximum quality, select a projector designed for home theaters.

MYTH #4: Any room for an in-home theater will work.

FACT: Front-projector systems need a room in which ambient light can be reduced to a specific level of darkness—if it’s almost impossible to read in the room, it’s dark enough. That typically means a dedicated room. “Great Rooms” do not make “great theater rooms” because of all the windows, traffic and noise distractions.

MYTH #5: I’ve pulled all the wires I need throughout the house.

FACT: Installing a large conduit or flexible raceway from the equipment rack to the projector location is the best approach to wiring a projector system. This also allows for future upgrades. Digital video signal technology is changing so rapidly that from the time a homeowner accepts a proposal to the time the project is completed, the needs and desires of your customer may have already changed. You could have initially designed for an HD component video when the homeowner now wants to use a product that requires an HDMI plug at the end of the cable. An expandable wiring system will allow flexibility in completing or upgrading the system over time.

MYTH #6: All sources will look equally great.

FACT: With a projected image 15 times larger than the homeowner’s last TV set, HDTV broadcasts will be brilliantly displayed while old videotape or a weak cable channel will look even worse than on a smaller set. Expectation management is critical to customer satisfaction. All video sources are not equal and front-projector systems reveal those differences. If you want to give a homeowner a solid idea of what an image would look like magnified on a 110-inch screen, have them stand about 30 inches away from a 27-inch TV and look at several sources, from home video to digital DVD to understand the range of quality they may experience.

MYTH #7: I should run all wires to the middle of the room’s ceiling and center them to the middle of the screen.

FACT: All projectors specify the distance from lens to screen, known as the throw ratio. This is defined as the ratio of distance from lens to screen compared to the width of the screen. A ratio of 1.5 would mean an 80-inch wide screen would require the projector to be 120 inches away. Usually, the zoom lens allows some flexibility in the minimum and maximum distance the projector can be placed from the screen. Once you have determined the width of the screen you will be using and the throw ratio of the selected projector, you will know where your wires should appear. Most projector lenses are not built into the middle of the projector. Your mount should be offset left or right by the same amount to center the lens to the horizontal middle of the screen. Some projectors have a mechanical lens shift which allows for off-center placement.

MYTH #8: All DVD players with progressive component output will have the same picture quality.

FACT: A $60 DVD or a $120 DVD/VCR combination works great with a smaller TV, but for front-projector systems, you should recommend a top-of-the-line model. You will want to assure top video quality to withstand the scrutiny that a large image brings.

MYTH #9: My customer should pick their projector first and then decide what room they want me to install it in.

FACT: On the contrary, it’s important to have your customer select which room they want the home theater system in so you can size the screen based on the ceiling height. Eight-foot ceilings can limit the screen size based on speaker locations and viewing comfort. Nine-foot ceilings provide you with more flexibility in sizing the screen to the room. Armed with this information, you may eliminate projectors that will not work because of throw ratios or resolutions.

MYTH #10: I can cut corners on the audio equipment and speakers and the homeowner will still have a great theater experience because their picture is huge.

FACT: Big images should have big sound. This is not the place for a home theater in a box. While accurate speakers perfectly placed around the listener starts you down the road, the effect of a super-sized subwoofer will ensure maximum impact for your customer’s home theater experience.

To learn more about Capitol Sales Company, visit www.capitolsales.com, call 1-800-INSTALL (467-8255) or e-mail info@capitolsales.com.

Capitol Sales Company partners with system integrators and low-voltage installers as an emerging technology distributor. We offer solutions from over 125 leading manufacturers in home theater, telephone systems, integrated home systems and commercial A/V. Installers nationwide depend on our multi-branded system design, expert technical support and application-based education. Visit www.capitolsales.com to research and order over 5,000 products and access Knowledge Base, an on-line resource featuring useful manufacturers’ diagrams, charts, formulas and configurators.

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DENVER, Sept. 3, 2008—Home technology continues to evolve with iPods® morphing into music servers, video systems serving up movies throughout the home and web cameras hooked into PC-based home security systems. All of these changes in the home drive the need for a dizzying array of cabling, from component and composite video to DVI, HDMI, CAT5, RG6 and more.

While no one dares to predict how technology will evolve in the next decade, Capitol Sales Company provides six simple wiring steps for installers to future-proof homes:

1. Install flexible tubing for cables from the attic to the utility room and from the utility room to the equipment rack.

2. Run a minimum of 2 RG6 Quad-shielded coax cabling and 2 CAT5e cabling to every room.

3. Install CAT5e cabling for all networked devices including servers.

4. Run CAT5e and 16-gauge 4-conductor cabling to all keypad locations.

5. Install FM and AM antennas in the attic.

6. Color-code wires so you’ll easily know which cables are for voice, data, control, video, audio or other needs.

To learn more about Capitol Sales Company, visit www.capitolsales.com, call 1-800-INSTALL (467-8255) or e-mail info@capitolsales.com.

Capitol Sales Company partners with system integrators and low-voltage installers as an emerging technology distributor. We offer solutions from over 125 leading manufacturers in home theater, telephone systems, integrated home systems and commercial A/V. Installers nationwide depend on our multi-branded system design, expert technical support and application-based education. Visit www.capitolsales.com to research and order over 5,000 products and access Knowledge Base, an on-line resource featuring useful manufacturers’ diagrams, charts, formulas and configurators.

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DENVER, Sept. 3, 2008—Capitol Sales Company has expanded its technical sales and design team with two new team members, both with consumer electronics retail experience. Dennis Anderson and Duane Finney bring their expertise to Capitol Sales and will play important roles to help the Company continue on its growth path.

“We are very pleased that both Dennis and Duane have agreed to join our team,” said Curt Hayes, Sales Company’s President and Chief Financial Officer. “They both bring excellent experience and the skills we need. We work hard to hire people with the right credentials—that ensures that we can consistently provide the highest level of technical support and service in the industry.”

Anderson comes from Absolute Audio and Video Solutions in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. In this role he was responsible for marketing, sales and installation of audio, video and security equipment and during his tenure there, achieved double-digit sales growth annually.

Anderson also has a strong background in the restaurant management operations business, having won numerous awards for his ability to create a positive work environment that maximizes the customer experience. His education is from Hamburger University in Chicago.

Finney brings 21 years of consumer electronics experience to his new position at Capitol Sales Company. He previously served as General Manager for Maury’s TV & Appliance in East Grand Forks, Minnesota. In this role, he was responsible for all phases of the successful consumer electronics retail business including sales, sales management, purchasing, product training and general management.

In addition to consumer electronics, Finney has sales experience in the retail furniture business as well as commercial and residential real estate. His education is from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks along with current studies in economics through Manatee Community College in Florida. Finney has been recognized with honors for “best customer service” and “top sales performance” during his career.

To learn more about Capitol Sales Company, visit www.capitolsales.com, call 1-800-INSTALL (467-8255) or e-mail info@capitolsales.com.

Capitol Sales Company partners with system integrators and low-voltage installers as an emerging technology distributor. We offer solutions from over 125 leading manufacturers in home theater, telephone systems, integrated home systems and commercial A/V. Installers nationwide depend on our multi-branded system design, expert technical support and application-based education. Visit www.capitolsales.com to research and order over 5,000 products and access Knowledge Base, an on-line resource featuring useful manufacturers’ diagrams, charts, formulas and configurators.

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DENVER, Sept. 3, 2008—Many companies are looking for ways to keep their businesses healthy and viable in the midst of the struggling economic forecast. And custom installers are no different. Capitol Sales Company has outlined five reasons why custom installers are in a great position to grow their business by taking advantage of current technology trends. more

Crestron App Provides Fully Integrated Control From Apple® iPhone®

DENVER, CO, September 4, 2008 — Crestron announces the release of its control application for the Apple® iPhone® at CEDIA booth #301/SR-1. The Crestron control app is available as a free download from the iTunes® App Store and provides seamless control of the home and office. Launch the Crestron app from the iPhone for complete control and management of home entertainment, AV presentation and environmental systems such as climate, lighting and shades. Control multiple locations from a single, intuitive graphical interface that provides real-time status of room temperature, lighting levels, shade position and digital media meta data such as volume, title and artist. more

ERLANGER, KY, September 3, 2008—AV Toolbox has added two inexpensive, compact conversion products the AVT-3310 Video Scaler and AVT-3155 Down Converter. The AVT-3310 allows you to view Composite Video and S-Video in high resolution on a PC Monitor while the AVT-3155 converts computer signals to standard analog video. Both units are available for immediate shipment. more

Miami, FL – September 2008… D.A.S. Audio, recognized globally as a leading manufacturer of loudspeaker systems, power amplification, signal processing, and related components, is pleased to announce the addition of five new firms representing the company’s products in the United States. The rep firms include Anew Communications Technology, Inc., Dick Bellew Sales, The Healy Group, Bob White Associates, and Pacific Coast Audio. more