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By 1touch, on May 2nd, 2011
 Got some Revel's up front for your LCRs and want to do the same for the sides and rears, without compromising preformance or space in your theater? Now's your chance. Revel, known for their excellent sounding, if somewhat whacky looking loudspeakers, is ready for a new foray into the world of architectural loudspeakers with their appropriately monikered, Architectural Series of in-wall and in-ceiling loudspeakers. If you’re looking to fill in your surround channels with something as inconspicuous as your Revel LCRs are not, they’ve now got a speaker you can really sink your teeth into.
Revel, part of Harman’s high performance group, and with good reason, has introduced these speakers to be an acoustic match for their free-standing Ultima2, Performa and Concerta models. There are 10 in-ceiling and 11 in-wall models in the new series, with woofers from 6-1/2 to 9 inches.
Tired of standing on the top of a 12 foot ladder balancing your Makita in one hand holding and the speaker in the other as you try to get everything cinched down? Well, you’ll love these new speakers. Your worries are over on that score. They use Revel’s RollerLock mounting mechanism that enables tool-less clamping to the sheet-rock.
To ensure a sleek appearance and easy installation, they also incorporate the company’s magnetic adhesion, bezel-less grill system. Designers will love the fact that the speakers come with either round or square grills to minimize the speaker’s aesthetic impact.
The driver compliment includes Micro Ceramic Composite (MCC) cone woofers and aluminum dome tweeters, mounted in a special waveguide that helps deliver a seamless transition between the drivers. The waveguide, coupled with the unique driver construction allow the speakers to show off the fine details in any soundtrack musical recording, while also rocking the room with thunderous dynamics and all the while maintaining tremendous accuracy.
Why is a rigid, yet highly damped speaker cone material such as MCC important? Well, if the speaker cone flexes, or breaks up, it introduces phase and frequency response anomalies that detract from the sound. In multi-element loudspeaker designs, speaker designers try to minimize woofer flexing because of the distortion it introduces.
The challenge comes when trying to increase strength without also increasing weight. All manner of different construction materials and techniques have been used to achieve this goal, with some being more effective than others. Modern materials science and computer modeling techniques have allowed loudspeaker designers to achieve performance targets heretofore unattainable.
Computer modeling lets different cone constructions be built in the computer, rather than being physically built. That means dozens or even hundreds of different cone designs can be examined for the best possible characteristics, rather than the 4, 5, or 6 that were possible before the advent of such technologies.
By 1touch, on April 21st, 2011
 This Crestron TPMC-8X is the "Mack Daddy" of remote controls. It will do everything, including let you see live video feeds right on the remote, and browse the Internet for the latest scores, schedules, and highlights. Obviously, you'll have to trade in the Corolla to afford it. Your remote control is the one piece of equipment that can really make or break your home theater system. It’s no good to have the latest and greatest gear and world’s biggest DVD collection if you can’t figure out how to use anything. True home theater nirvana is a fantastic performing system anyone can use with a single button press. Hell, your kids will probably figure out how to use it before anyone else.
AV Equipment Manufacturer’s Smart Remotes
Many of today’s home theater receivers and surround processors come with a “smart” remote control. Some of these are actually pretty good too. B&K, Marantz, Onkyo, and Denon come to mind. If you know what you are doing, you can get one of these babies programmed to orchestrate your entire system pretty well. If you haven’t the time or inclination for such a project yourself, hire a professional installer to bring everything together for you. A great place to start is CEDIA (Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association). They have member firms in every state, and many foreign countries, that are experts in making complex home theaters very easy to use.
Remote controls come in several flavors. The one most people are familiar with comes with almost any electronic component you buy these days. For the most part it does a pretty good job at making the particular component do what you want. Some of these even let you control other components, especially if they are from the same manufacturer. This way, for example, you can use your TV remote to also control your VCR or DVD player.
The Aftermarket “Smart Remote”
The next rung up the remote control ladder is the so called “smart remote”. This type of remote is able to control multiple pieces of equipment from different manufacturers. Some can control up to 8 or 10 different components. They are usually set to control each piece of equipment by entering a 3 or 4 digit code.
Some of these units will learn control functions from other remote controls. This is helpful if the unit you need to control is not in your remote control’s internal database. You usually accomplish the learning by entering a “learn” mode on the smart remote, pointing the “teaching” remote at the smart remote and pressing the desired button. Viola! Your smart remote has learned the command from the original remote control.
If you want things even easier than using just one remote to control everything, you need a remote that does macros. These are command sequences initiated by pressing one button. For example, you want to watch a DVD. Typically you would have to turn on your TV, Blu-Ray player, and surround receiver. Then, you would have to switch your TV to the appropriate HDMI input and your receiver to the DVD input. Talk about a cluster!
With a macro capable remote, this sequence is programmed into the remote. The remote then plays back all the commands in the appropriate order so you don’t have to. You can even have delays programmed into the sequence to account for how the equipment operates.
Touchscreen Remotes – If You Can Spare a Dime
If you want a remote that controls everything, you need a remote with a lot of different buttons. This can make the remote a little intimidating. Sure it can do almost anything but make toast, but where to start? If you have the budget, now is the time to get a touch screen remote.
With a touch screen, you typically have only a few actual buttons, the rest of the “buttons” are icons on the screen. The actual buttons are typically for the most used functions such as volume up / down, channel up / down, mute and possibly cursor functions, where it is important to have some tactile sensation for the best user experience. There are also some 100% touch screen remotes, but many people find these more difficult to use. More on this in a second.
The beauty of this “hybrid remote” approach is that you only need to have just a few icons on the screen at any one time. This really cuts down on button clutter and confusion often experienced with the 100% touch screen controllers. The icons can be graphical representations of the command, which makes everything very intuitive. For example, you can have an “NBC” logo you touch to go to the local NBC station.
Touchscreen remotes come in some basic variations. First, there is the choice communication with the remote. It can be one way or two way. Two way communication allows status to be updated on the remote itself. For example you can display album and artist information from a music server or satellite radio, check the status of your security system or look at the info from your thermostats. Two way communication has been provided via either a two way radio link, similar to a digital spread spectrum telephone, or over a wireless network.
Many two way remote controls from companies such as RTI, Universal, AMX, and Crestron use WiFi or some variation of wireless mesh network. This allows a whole host of other possibilities. The range is spectacular for one thing. You can roam around your entire home (with enough WAPs or extenders). On some units you can browse the internet too. Imagine, you are watching a game but you want updates from around the league. Just go to ESPN.com on your remote and take a look.
There are remotes that use a combination of a traditional RF link for control functionality, and WiFi for grabbing metadata from media servers or computers on your network. That’s a nice combination, because it ensures more reliable control functions that are free from network issues.
Display Remotes – Not Really a Touchscreen
Many remotes have the touchscreen look, but the display is not actually touch sensitive, it merely changes to conform
 Sure, it may look like a touch screen remote, but it's not. It won't lighten your wallet like one, either, but it will control the hell out of your home theater or TV room. to what you’re controlling. This re-labels the buttons along the sides of the display. You get much of the look, simplicity and flexibility of a real touch screen at a fraction of the cost.
How You Program Your Remote Can Make All the Difference
This statement actually has 2 meanings. First is the actual programming that goes into the remote. Obviously, what you program your remote to do, and how you program it to react can make the difference between a seamless user experience and a frustrating day explaining to your wife why you spent so much money on the damn thing.
The other side of the coin is the physical act of programming. This is split into two camps: the use a computer to program it camp, and the program it with keystrokes on the remote itself using it’s internal database. While you can do a pretty bang up job without a PC, using a computer to program it gives you 2 big advantages.
The first is power. You can simply do more and make it easier to use using the remote company’s software and a computer to make the remote do your bidding. The second is the fact that you’ll have all your work saved in the event of a catastrophe, or the desire to make a few changes. Having to recreate all your macros from scratch is no picnic. It’s much nicer to simply redo a few things in the computer program.
The Logitech Harmony series actually lets the end user program the remote through a web interface. Many end users find this intuitive and easy to set up. Some even love it. Many custom installers whom I’ve spoken to however, find the Harmony difficult to program, because they can’t set up the kind of macros that really make the system foolproof. Installers don’t want the remote asking the user if everything’s working fine, they simply want it to do what it’s supposed to, every time.
What Does Your Remote Talk To?
There is another difference between remote controls that has a huge impact on their power to do what you want, and that is what they talk to. Your remote will either control the equipment directly, or through a control processor. A remote that sends button presses to a control processor, which then decides what to do, is many times more powerful than a remote that simply sends commands to your equipment.
The thing is, you may not really need that kind of power. Sure, it is intoxicating at times, to be able to see if your kids turned off their bedroom lights while you’re sitting in your media room, open your gate, and to be able to see if the lake is a pleasant temperature for a late night swim. Intoxicating, yes, but also very expensive. If you just want to make sure that your media room comes on when you want, you can change sources with a single button press, and control everything with ease, than your well programmed stand alone remote will probably do you just fine.
 iPAD remote control? This is Crestron's version, but Lord knows that they're coming out of the woodwork, with seemingly every control system and audio manufacturer offering an iPAD app to let you do just about anything in your media room iPAD, Anyone??
Of course there’s the 6oz elephant in the room, and that’s the iPAD/app combination that threatens to overwhelm the remote control industry…..or does it? Yes, the iPAD is one fantastic piece of hardware, and the lust for it is extremely well deserved, but will it displace the “smart remote” entirely?
There are great arguments on both sides.
The three against the iPAD are that you have to wait for it to connect and download the manifest file so it can actually be a remote when you first enter the app. Of course, if you never exit the app, that argument goes away. The other argument is that you have to slide the slider to open the interface, then wait for it to connect when it times out. That’s a valid point.
The other problem with the iPAD as a dedicated theater remote is that it has no hard buttons for commonly used features, and many people just don’t like that. The other problem some folks have is that it’s just too big. They want a remote they can comfortably hold and operate with one hand.
My thoughts on the iPAD are that it makes a great whole house remote control, but I’d rather have a dedicate, “real” remote control for my media areas. What do you think?
The remote can really make or break your system. You can have an unusable system with 7 different remotes or a slick system that even visitors can use with no instruction. It’s all up to you, your budget and your programmer.
By 1touch, on April 19th, 2011
You still spend more for DVDs and Blu-Rays than for downloads, streaming, and video on demand content, according to a new report just released by the NPD Group. Well, you may not, but everyone else does. Although it seems everyone is all head over heels about Netflix, Blockbuster Online, and Vudu, the reality is that, from an economic standpoint, they have not yet caught physical video content delivery methods. Yet!
All signs point to the day soon arriving when you no longer purchase silvery discs. Content companies would love to free themselves from the constraints and added costs associated with pressing, packaging, and shipping. It’s an utter no-brainer for them.
The NPD report, “Entertainment Trends in America” , cited several interesting statistics (at least to me, although it could be argued I find all sorts of weird stuff interesting).
For example, people who reported they:
Watched a movie on a TV or cable network channel – 68%
Watched a movie at a local cinema – 49 %
Watched a movie using paid VOD services through their TV set – 21%
For all the trouble people claim they have actually getting in their car, on their bike, walking, or riding their horse to their local theater, the fact remains that a large number of people continue to do just that.
Where did you spend your video entertainment dollar (and no, that triple X Internet video subscription service doesn’t count)? While no one can argue the proliferation of Netflix streaming service has been impressive, the facts don’t bear out the popular notion that it’s taking over any time in the near future. In 5 years, maybe. Tomorrow, not really. How can I say this?
Easy, according to the report, 78% of video entertainment dollars are spent to whip out the plastic at the local electronics emporium, or submitting it to the shopping cart at various online video outlets and actually, gasp! purchase a DVD or Blu-Ray disc. On the flip side, only a piddling 23% report that they subscribe to a VOD/streaming video service or a service that both rents physical media and streams content, such as Netflix or Blockbuster Online. I know that’s 101%, and presumably they do, too. Rounding errors, you know.
Surprising, yes, but that’s what people say they do. Maybe sound and picture quality really does matter, or maybe it’s that broadband penetration rates don;t yet support as much VOD content as we’ve been led to believe.
Another thought is that too few people have purchased a device (Internet enabled TV, Blu-Ray player, Apple TV, Roku box, etc.) that allows them to have the ready access to streaming necessary for the medium to catch physical media at this time.
So, those silver platters of fun aren’t dead yet, but there are plenty of folks counting down the days until they are.
Do you agree with the NPD report? How do you buy your video and movie content?
By 1touch, on April 15th, 2011
 The new Sharp LC-70LE732U, perfect when only the biggest will do, and you're too cheap to pop for an 85in Panasonic. Actually the Sharp is the largest consumer LCD set available, at 70 inches dia. Need a bigger TV in your theater, but don’t want a projector, and the thought of an 85in Panasonic plasma at nearly 30 grand makes you worry for the safety of your breakfast? Fear not, Sharp has you covered with their new LC-70LE732U LCD, which delivers a robust, 70 inch display size.
At only $3,800, it’s not only large, but relatively affordable, especially for those of us that remember the days of nearly $10,000 50 inch sets. It seems only yesterday……… Anyway, Sharp’s new baby is replete with many of the features you want to see in your home theater display, including their Quattron four color LED back lighting system, 1080p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and a plethora of inputs out back.
Wait a second, did I just say 120Hz? I sure did. You’re going to have to wait a bit longer for the 240Hz and the 3D varieties of the 70in set, which Sharp assures us will be forthcoming. Expect your wait for these to over by the time you’re sweating in the sun, out by the pool.
Naturally, Sharp has included connected IPTV system with built in Wi-Fi so you can easily access a variety of apps, including Vudu, Netflix, Blockbuster and CinemaNow streaming video services, and of course, Facebook.
Sharp has indicated they want to achieve dominance over the large screen TV segment, one of the last bastions of profitability in video. Will they go the same direction as Mitsubishi, and drop smaller screen sizes altogether? No word on that yet, although they are the sales leaders in the 60”+ size category already, and looking to expand their lead with the new, larger TVs they’re introducing now.
Current trends bode well for Sharp, as demand for large screen TVs is growing faster than in any other size category. That trend, coupled with the now looking like it won’t go completely in the toilet after all economy, may spell large profits for the boys from Osaka.
As prices continue to drop on larger screen sizes and picture quality only gets better, are you going to finally install one of these big guys in your theater or family room? After all, 50 is the new 42, and that means 70 is the new 50, right?
Let me know in the comments, and have a great weekend.
By 1touch, on April 14th, 2011
Sidney Harman, founder of Harman Kardon, one of the oldest and most renowned names in audio video, which later morphed into what passes for a conglomerate in the audio industry, Harman International, died yesterday in Washington DC. He was 92 when he succumbed to acute myeloid leukemia.
He was one of the audio industry’s true pioneers, much like Saul Marantz. Sidney co-founded Harman Kardon back in 1953. Praised for his electronics acumen and entrepreneurial abilities alike, he graduated with a Physics degree in 1939. After founding the company that bears his name, he won praise for his workplace initiatives aimed at making his company a great place to work and keep productivity high. His was a forerunner of many such programs that followed in many different industries.
Although he already had a physics degree, 20 years after he founded Harman kardon, he received his doctorate in Education. Although he was a true leader in the audio industry, he didn’t stop there. His contributions to business and society outside of the audio industry are too numerous to mention here, but his latest venture was as publisher of Newsweek Magazine.
A true one of a kind, he’ll be sorely missed. RIP Sidney.
By 1touch, on April 11th, 2011
 Want a Marantz SR-7005 like this one to really make your home theater speakers sing? Well, be prepared to cough up the requisite amount of loot to get it. In an attempt to help their dealers both stay in business and afford to provide customers with top level customer service product s like this demand, there's a new sheriff in town, put there by D&M to guard the kingdom. Unilateral pricing, where the retailer is to keep a hard line on pricing and not offer any discounts unless pre-approved by the manufacturer, has been used by Bose for years. It now comes to Denon, Marantz, and Boston Acoustics, in a plan announced by the 3 company’s parent firm, D&M Holdings.
In attempt to protect dealers from unauthorized resellers, and ensure a high level of customer service, D&M is launching a new dealer support website and implementing new dealer agreements. The new agreements are designed to help prevent dealers from facing price eroded competition from unauthorized (mostly Internet) dealers.
D&M brass gave the primary reasons for this initiative as a way to help “protect our brand integrity “ and “forge stronger relationships with our dealers “. The initiative affects direct dealers and those authorized to purchase through D&M authorized distributors.
By 1touch, on April 7th, 2011
 Home theaters are all about many different things, but if you ask 20 different people, it’s likely that bass will be in their top 5. If there is one thing Velodyne knows, it’s bass. They’ve been in the subwoofer business for decades and have earned their reputation for producing prodigious quantities of tight, clean, powerful way down town.
They were also one of the first to demonstrate that you could have your bass and hide it too. If you need killer bass, but a box in the room
 Where the action is on the new, SC-600D subwoofer amp. just won’t fly, you need a hidden subwoofer solution, so you can well appreciate the importance of something that goes in the wall, rather than in your listening room.
Velodyne’s in-wall subwoofers, the SC-600IW among them have given home theater owners with a taste for the discrete killer bass for a few years now. Their SC-600 subwoofer series has been a key part of their in-wall bass success story. These subs locate the amplifier remotely, in a cabinet or equipment rack, rather than with the sub, as you’d do with a traditional powered sub.
Since the SC-600s introduction digital amplifiers have continued to improve. In a day and age where efficiency is revered so much that a weird looking, medicore performer has gone on to sell huge quantities for Toyota simply because it is an efficiency leader, it only makes sense that a much more efficient subwoofer amp would be attractive to consumers.
How much more efficient? The outgoing SC-600 power amp, which was a class A/B unit was about 40% efficient, not bad for a traditional amplifier design. That pales in comparison to the new SC-600D’s 80% efficiency rating however. While those in Minnesota or Alaska may well have appreciated the way the old amp threw off heat, the new amp runs very cool, simply because so much more of the energy it uses is transformed into moving air, rather than heating it.
As an added bonus, the new, digital iteration also weights much less, tipping the scales at an almost svelte 17lbs, rather than the old amp’s 25lbs. That’s probably not a huge deal if you aren’t the type to stack 5 pieces of gear on a shelf, but a nice improvement nonetheless.
Everything else about the new amp is basically identical to the old one, so if you have one ready to go into a project, all the goesintas and goesouttas are still in the same place on the back panel. It also has all the same features, such as room equalization with an included set up mic, and the same 200 watts of power to the speaker terminals.
The new amp can be used with both the in-wall SC-600IW sub and the SC-600IF/IC in-floor / in-ceiling sub.
What Other Crazy Stuff Does Velodyne Do?
In case anyone was wondering what else the boys at Velodyne do in their spare time, it makes their subs look positively pedestrian by comparison. There’s this little race called the DARPA challenge that was sponsored by the folks over at the department of defense. The object is to have your vehicle find it’s way through an off road course completely pilot-less. That doesn’t mean remote controlled, but entirely autonomous, as in no one is at the wheel, whether on board or back at the ranch.
These vehicles have to use their own on board sensors and GPS to get themselves from one end of the course to the other. One kind of sensor that proved especially effective was a laser based sensor called lidar; kind of a smart cousin to the laser speed guns state troopers use to clock you doing 85 in a 70 out on the 5. The ones in the DARPA challenge go far beyond simply measuring speed, though. They help paint a picture of the landscape so that the vehicles can navigate their way through the course.
Velodyne engineered and built the LIDAR sensors for these vehicles. So, not only can they make great amps and subwoofers, either in the wall or out, but one day, when your car is zipping down the freeway of it’s on volition, there’s a chance that Velodyne will be helping you get to the mall while you enjoy the latest ESPN3 streaming feed to your car’s in-dash touch screen monitor.
By 1touch, on April 7th, 2011
 What you'll see staring back at you if the new Onkyo HT-RC370 receiver's in your rack. Onkyo has announced that their new home theater receivers, the HT-RC370 and HT-RC360 models will be released this month. As with some of the recent Yamaha receivers announced a few months ago, the new Onkyo pieces employ the new Marvell Qdeo 4K video upscaling processor to handle video chores. This allows them to focus tremendous power on such processor intensive tasks and to deliver video at up to full high-definition 1080p resolution with superb clarity and accuracy.
The new Qdeo™ video processor uses a suite of QuietVideo™ processing technologies that produce quiet and natural video free from noise and artifacts. The processor used in these new receivers does its processing in three main stages:
• Noise Reduction: Per-pixel noise and compression artifact reduction removing noise inherent in digital video.
• Format Conversion: Per-pixel motion-adaptive 3D de-interlacing and advanced nonlinear scaling transforming the image to the desired resolution while suppressing artifacts like feathering and jaggies.
• Enhancement: 2D Edge Enhancement increasing detail and sensation of depth, Adaptive Contrast Enhancement (ACE) providing larger dynamic range and Intelligent Color Remapping (ICR) rendering rich and vivid images.
While video is important for anything labeled “home theater” the real reason to fire up any receiver is to drive your speakers to the kind of volumes that would have your deaf grandma banging on the door and imploring you to please turn it it down, and doing so with grace and finesse. Onkyo has built a reputation for highly capable amplification, and their past receivers have delivered it in spades.
Amplification – The Heart of a Receiver
These new home theater units do nothing to dispel that hard earned reputation. Laden with Onkyo’s WRAT amplifier technology, the HT-RC370 and HT-RC360 deliver plenty of good, clean power. The HT-RC370 adds Onkyo’s three-stage inverted Darlington circuitry to the mix, enabling it to deliver very low distortion where it counts.
Onkyo is one of the only manufacturers to use this type of circuit topology. An inverted Darlington circuit, has advantages over an ordinary Darlington circuit. To wit; good non-linear distortion between the transistor’s base voltage and collector current, and very little distortion due to local feedback, and low output impedance. In addition, the initial level has class A operation (with extremely little distortion), so the system has even less distortion than a conventional Darlington circuit. The result of all this technical mumbo jumbo is that non-linear distortion is improved on all levels, resulting in excellent sound, especially for a receiver.
In addition to WRAT, other sound enhancing features found on these two new receivers include Burr-Brown 192kHz/24-bit DACs for all channels, and all discrete amplifier circuitry.
Naturally, for a receiver with home theater aspirations, a full complement of inputs and outputs is found on the back panel, with all A/V sources being converted to HDMI at any resolution that’s best for your display, up to and including 1080p. The HDMI supports 3D and the audio return channel, in the event you’re using the HD tuner built into your TV (and it also supports the HDMI audio return channel), and want to save an optical digital cable.
Streaming media? Of course, it’s 2011, don’tcha know? These new receivers are fully network capable, as denoted by the “N” in their nomenclature. If you’re a fan of Pandora, Rhapsody, Sirius/XM online, vTuner, Slacker, or virtually anything else you can find laying around on your PC, you’ll be able to stream it and play it through these receivers. They’re also fully compatible with Windows 7, including both the 32 and 64-bit varieties.
Differences Between the HT-RC370 and HT-RC360
 The rear view of the HT-RC370  What you're missing out back when you step down to the 360 So, what else do you get if you step up and go for the HT-RC370 instead of the little brother HT-RC360, besides what I already referred to? A great question, that. Besides the fact that the 370 retails for $899, and the 360 will only set you back $599, there are some other distinct differences. Here are a few of the more important ones:
THX Select2 Plus certified – 370 yes, 360 no
Audyssey – 370 gets MultEQ XT, while the 360 makes do with Audyssey 2EQ
HDMI inputs – the 370 has 7, and the 360 only 6
Sub outputs – 370 has 2, and the 360 only a single
Remote Control – The 370 also has a better remote for those of you who don;t already have or aren’t planning to purchase a special home theater remote.
S-Video inputs – The 370 has 4, but the 360 has none, not that you’ll probably need them anyway.
Digital Inputs – the 370 gives you an extra coaxial digital input, for a total of 3
Phono Input – the 370 has an honest to goodness, RIAA-equalized phono input!
Both have Ethernet and Onkyo-RI control inputs, but neither come to the custom install party with an rear panel IR input jack or RS-232 control input.
Although the 370 has better amplification, and is certified to run day and night into 4 ohm loads, both units are rated at 100 watts per channel.
If you’re looking for a reasonably priced new power and control center for your home theater, you should check out these new Onkyo home theater receivers.
By 1touch, on March 30th, 2011
 Da-Lite screen company is about to become another cog in Milestone AV's wheel. Da-Lite joins Sanus Systems and CHeif Manufacturing, ensuring that if you need some sort of display mounted, lifted, or otherwise secured, they can take care of it for you. Projector and TV mount, lift, and equipment company Chief Manufacturing and Sanus Systems, who also makes TV mounts and AV furniture will be combined with Da-Lite Screen in a merger of their parent company, Milestone AV and Da-Lite, it was announced this morning, effectively creating an 800lb gorilla in the AV mount, lift, and projection screen industry.
Milestone AV CEO Scott Gill stated :
“We are pleased to announce the combination of these two great companies. Through the strength of this combination, we will be able to offer a more comprehensive product line to our joint customers, open up new sales channels for our brands, and provide growth opportunities for our employees. We look forward to expanding our reputation for innovative products and market-leading customer service.”
Da-Lite will continue operations as a subsidiary of Milestone AV and continue in it’s current Warsaw, IN location.
For all you financial types, here are the nuts and bolts of the transaction:
The merger will be funded under a new credit facility at Milestone. The transaction will trigger a Change of Control (“CoC”) under Da-Lite’s $94.2MM principal amount outstanding 12-1/2% Senior Notes due 2015 (the “12-1/2% Notes”). According to the terms of the indenture governing the 12-1/2% Notes, holders will be offered a right to sell their notes back to Da-Lite subsequent to closing at the 101% CoC price.
In addition, Da-Lite intends to exercise the “equity claw” provision under the 12-1/2% notes and repurchase up to the maximum original principal amount of such notes permitted under the “equity claw” provision (i.e., at least 65% of the original $105 million principal amount of such notes is required to remain outstanding after such repurchase) at the 112-1/2% equity claw price. Otherwise, the 12-1/2% Notes are expected to remain outstanding
By 1touch, on March 30th, 2011
Just when you thought using your iPAD to control your home theater, lighting, and security system was the greatest thing since sliced bread or 5.0 Mustangs, a Boston restaurant has gone an upped the cool factor for Apple’s tablet yet again, using them as menus in lieu of the stodgy, old paper menus that are so 1890′s.
Temazcal Cantina, a Boston Mexican restaurant hands out iPADs to customers, who have a much more interactive ordering experience than is possible with menus of the paper variety. Unfortunately, the whizbang technology doesn’t extend to actually placing an order for your favorite fajitas. For that, you still have to summon a waitstaff member, who relays your order to the kitchen.
Commercial Integrator has more on this story here:
Comm Integrator Article
Last year a Sydney, Australia restaurant Global Mundo Tapas garnered a bit of press for the iPAD as menu concept when they were one of the first to hand out tablets for guests to peruse instead of folded booklets. Now it is almost becoming mainstream. Chicago steakhouse CUT began using the flat technological wonders as menus earlier this year to much acclaim from patrons, who enjoy using them.
The amount of information that could be included about menu and wine list items is staggering. Everything from multiple pictures, recipes, and extensive vineyard information to video interviews with the chef about certain dishes, and wine reviews from the web could be easily included. The problem will arise when guests take four times as long to order because they’re so engaged with the menu’s interactivity.
You have to wonder, will this replace kid’s menus too? You could fill them with puzzles, games, and for older kids, facebook and YouTube. No better way to kill conversation at dinner than to give everyone an iPAD with AngryBirds and facebook. The waiters will have to fight to get them back.
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