Daniel J SaitArtcoustic does far more than produce a versatile range of home cinema and media room speakers, the company delivers a full range of Home Cinema Consultancy services designed to make sure cinemas are easily designed and executed no matter what the venue allowing installers to deliver predictable, professional results every time.
Paul enthuses: “In this sector you cannot just sell a great product, you have to add as much value as is possible. This is not just true for installers, it’s especially true for us as suppliers. We helped specify, design and calibrate over 100 cinemas in the last year, as a company we have the experience, the knowledge and the services installers need to deliver the right result every time.
“The great thing about designing a home cinema to perform at its best, is that there are rules. Aspects of design such as the correct size of the screen based on room size, the distance the seats should be away from the screen, the angles of the speakers, the amount of amplification needed, all have industry recognised parameters, so get these right and you are well on the way to making sure each cinema sings as it should.”
So how are the best results obtained? Paul argues: “Right from the start, all cinemas should be a collaboration, that’s involving the client to find out what they want, what their priorities are and then the installer working with us to design and sell the system from the ground up.
“All the best cinemas come from a situation where we get as many eyes on the prize as we can, pool all the best insight, information and ideas and work towards the common goal of a kick-ass cinema.”
Artcoustic offers a full programme of site visits to help plan the cinema in the first instance, technical cinema design plans, 3D renders to share with the client, help with the installation and follow up calibration services.
Paul explains: “We can help installers create a repeatable model for any cinema they ever need to create, no matter what the size or type, as long as the correct principles of cinema design are followed, the results will be predicable and installers can concentrate on including those little extra touches that make a cinema really bespoke.”
Delivering the demo
Demonstration is also a key weapon in the Artcoustic locker, represented by its very own facility in Chelmsford. A fully-enabled Dolby Atmos cinema, potential customers can experience the reality for themselves rather than relying on plans and promises. At the facility, the customer can see and hear exactly what is possible.
Paul says: “Buying a cinema should be an emotional decision not a financial one. A demonstration should plant the seed in the customer’s mind of ‘how do I take this home?’ from there it’s that collaboration theme again, help them realise their cinema dreams and you have one happy customer who will be the best advert for you company you can have.”
The installers view
Melanie Malcolm, director at Bespoke Cinemas, is very positive about the offering the company delivers: “Artcoustic offers a fabulous range of speakers in aesthetically pleasing sizes to suite the smallest of media rooms to the largest of home cinemas. We love the fact the speaker sizes relate to their performance and use the same drivers throughout their product range, they don’t grade the speaker in ranges like gold or silver, the speaker ranges simply increase with the size of room and SPL which is required, all from ultra-efficient arrays designed to easily achieve reference volume levels at the seating area.”
Melanie is also a fan of the design and support the company delivers: “Exceptional 3D renderings are offered by Artcoustic at no extra cost to the dealer to put the client literally in the picture, we don’t know of any other manufacturer that offers this level of pre-sales speculative support. The Artcoustic team will happily visit site to help tune the systems to the highest standards that a room auto correction never gets quite right.”
The demonstration facility is also a boon for Bespoke Cinemas, Melanie says: “From the moment you enter the Artcoustic showroom you automatically feel at home. The beautifully designed spaces are each individually thought out with comfortable stylish design-led furniture that compliments the modern Artcoustic loudspeakers speakers on show.
“After visiting the Chelmsford showroom many years ago, we were so impressed and inspired with the whole showroom experience that it gave us the encouragement to open our own dedicated cinema experience centre in Leeds.
“We have seen the benefits working with Artcoustic as one of our premium partners, it has instantly paid off and our clients love what they see and hear. Our Artcoustic sales have increased dramatically since we’ve invested in the brand and we proudly specify Artcoustic in the majority of our cinema projects.”
Melanie also underlines how Artcoustic add in extra added value: “The Artcoustic team offer us one of the most unique one to one services in the industry, nothing is too much trouble and they regularly come and photograph our installations to use in marketing campaigns.
“They have an enormous social media presence on all platforms that is a benefit to us and our clients as they showcase some outstanding award winning projects. Their Flickr account gets an astronomical amount of views and has led to many enquiries for us at Bespoke, we have won the Installation Of The Month (IOTM) Award numerous times and they have promoted the award via Facebook advertising at no extra cost to us, one simple one week campaign lead to us winning a £30K contract.”
Artcoustic is active on social media, including on Flickr
Angus Murray of New Wave AV is also a fan of the hardware: “The Artcoustic range of speakers offer excellent options for our clients who want to ensure that not only do their rooms sound stunning, but they integrate beautifully with the interior. The range of colours and screens ensure that we can offer a solution that suits all type of room.”
The design service and demo space are also regularly used resources: “We have frequently used room designs and renders produced by Artcoustic to present a clear solution to the client. This has allowed them to visualise the solution we are proposing and helped with their decision to move forward with the project.
“The Artcoustic demonstration space has allowed us to demonstrate to a client in a comfortable space the range of solutions that Artcoustic can offer. This has been useful when explaining why certain speakers and configurations have been specified. Paul is very helpful at all stages of the project from initial design and specification right up to final configuration. He has worked closely with us on a number of projects and without exception the final solution delivered has exceeded client expectations.”
Peter Worthy of Smart Homes is also confident in the quality of the Artcoustic proposition: “We specify Artcoustic speakers when our client is looking for a high quality audio experience to every day in ceiling speakers or when creating a discreet cinema room. We find the Artcosutic range very easy to specify, easy to install and good value for money. The fact that the majority of the units are shallow in depth opens up all kinds of opportunities such as on wall and if building a cinema wall you don’t lose too much of the room.
“The 3D renders are extremely useful and give the client a very good feel of quality and importance. We often invite the guys to higher end installations to fine tune, which we all enjoy doing and gain the client feels very special. In particular on our recent IOTM install, the guys were very helpful throughout the design stages and the final calibration, it was a large project for us and everyone was thrilled with the outcome.”