CE Pro October 2023 - 21

SPONSORED CONTENT
Leveraging Invisible Loudspeakers
to Enhance Homes' Style & Sonics
Eyal Akler of CE Pro 100 integrator ATTYWON leans on vendor Stealth Acoustics speakers' shallow depth
and versatility to satisfy design-minded clientele, while earning higher margins on product and labor.
E
arlier this year, Great Neck, N.Y.-based integrator ATTYWON
chatted with CE Pro about how it leverages its relationship with
Stealth Acoustics to earn more business with designers and homeowners.
ATTYWON - an acronym for " All the Technology You Want or
Need " - has the task of catering to affl uent customers from Manhattan
to eastern Long Island.
Eyal Akler, principal of CE Pro 100 integrator, shared more of his
insights about why Stealth's invisible loudspeakers - now in the Mount
Vernon, Wash.-based manufacturer's 8th generation of products - are
so vital to their sales strategy.
What are the challenges of installing invisible loudspeakers
in New York City high-rises?
Actually, these speakers are relatively low profi le. Getting them into
ceilings is oftentimes easier than traditional in-ceiling speakers that
might have a 3½- or 4-inch depth. Th ese don't have the same kind
of depth. Some buildings require you to have a metal backbox, a
certain kind of fi re rating and more. So if an apartment is being built
or renovated, there's usually some kind of a drop to the ceiling that
has plenty of space for us to install a backbox, certainly a speaker,
and we don't have any problems.
In fact, often in the city the walls could be masonry and installing
in the ceiling might even be easier than going into a wall. Sometimes
we have to get [builders] to chisel it in... so our preference is to go into
the ceiling.
ATTYWON oſt en pairs Stealth speakers with Samsung Frame
TVs. In large residences on Long Island, how do you capitalize
on that combo?
It usually goes into about two to three rooms, very often in places
like an eat-in kitchen, where they don't want to see a black TV on
the wall when it's off . In a living room or family room, especially
when it's designed a little bit fancier, again you don't want to see a
black screen when a TV is off . We often sell a dozen or more Frame
TVs in a very large house, and we've had houses that have had
north of 30 TVs installed, and a pretty decent percentage of them
are Frame TVs.
So for invisible speakers, it's usually two to four per room, depending
on what it's being used for. If it's a larger living room or great room,
there could be four, sometimes even six speakers. Bedrooms we typically
do two, and since we're hiding them, we don't have to worry about
symmetry in the ceiling.
We'll pull them closer to the bed, so when a person is sitting there
listening to music or even watching TV, the sound actually is a little
bit closer to you so you can play everything at a lower volume, and it's
more intelligible. You're not disturbing people in the in the bedroom
Thanks to their flexibility to install virtually anywhere in a ceiling or wall, ATTYWON
typically deploys two to six Stealth Acoustics invisible speakers in great rooms,
bedrooms, bathrooms and elsewhere.
next to you - it's a room that makes perfect sense for invisible speakers.
You can install them right behind the bed if you don't have a very tall
or imposing headboard; we'll put speakers in the wall very low, down
close to your ear.
Invisible speakers require more labor than traditional architectural
models - has ATTYWON profited from the extra
work involved?
Certainly. Th e speakers cost a little more than your traditional inceiling
and in-wall speakers, and so clients who want them understand
that the labor is going to cost a little more. Also, if you spend
twice as long installing these speakers, you just charge for twice the
time. I really haven't had any kind of experience of pushback or any
kind of issues with labor.
Sometimes the way certain ceilings or walls are framed, it's more
diffi cult. We'll have to install some bracing or make some adaptable
pre-installation boxes, where if you have 14½ inches between the studs
it's not a problem but if some are closer together or further apart, you
can adapt it and put a pre-fab box into the wall. Otherwise, we'll just
have the framers or the GC reframe a certain section of wall or ceiling
for us to make it easier, and we have our own techs put the speakers in.
We explain to the Sheetrock and tape guy what needs to be done,
and we show them the documents that recommend a certain amount
of spackle and stuff like that. Th ere's reciprocity [for bringing each other
projects] for sure.
Learn more about invisible loudspeakers at stealthacoustics.com.
IMAGE CREDIT: ATTYWON

http://www.stealthacoustics.com

CE Pro October 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CE Pro October 2023