Just Moved to Chicago. Looking to Buy a New Home Theater System and Have It Installed. Where Should I Go?

Call circuit city

Good god. Stay away from the big stores. I install Home Theater professionally, and I will be teaching soon. The stores want volume and there aren’t very many purists on staff.

You need to go to your local electronics wholesalers. They won’t sell to you, but, they know the local pros. The real pros, not the slam bam thank you mam’s. Can you find a good install with a large store? Maybe, likely not.

Get a purist who knows what he or she is talking about, but, better yet, can prove their statement in a manner you can understand. Nothing worse then a pompous jerk who just reads magazines and regurgitates big words to make themselves look intelligent. Crap. Define it. Say it.

Then make them guarantee it. My systems come with a no holds barred 30 day free audition. I tell them to use the system for 30 days, turn it up, crank it up, and if it doesn’t do what I say it will do, and I say it will rock their very world, then I will return their home to ORIGINAL condition, at my cost, remove the equipment, and give them every single penny back they have paid. Period. This is a brazen guarantee, and you have to be very very good at what you do, to make this kind of guarantee. Well, I am. To date, now going on many years, I have never had a customer even slighty not satisfied, let alone want their money back. None.

Try to find this guarantee at the chain stores. Doesn’t exist, and they know why.

Find a technician, not an "installer". "Installers are a dime a dozen. No, 6 cents a dozen. An "installer" can put the system in, but, hell a monkey can put the system in. A "technician" can tell you why, and will tweak the system to its absolute maximum performance, and nothing less. Not "loud", but "clarity", "articulation", and "dynamics", then volume.

I could go on for days. E-mail me and I will give you what to ask your, hopefully, technician, BEFORE he starts installing. hometheaterdesign2000@yahoo.com