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In the Forum: Audio News
In the Thread: MillionDollarStereos.com

Post Subject: It is a question of being able to calculate when you start and when you are finishedPosted by rowuk on: 7/13/2014

Any type of charged project needs a plan so that everyone involved knows what needs to be done, when the proper people will start and when they are done.
I see no possibility to set up speakers in one working day - even bookshelf speakers need knowledge of the room, the rest of the playback chain and a method to confirm that the customer got what they paid for. I think that it is "nuts" to just add "installation services" to the price tag.
Where I work (we sell CADCAM solutions) we differentiate between INSTALLATION (just double click on setup and wait until the procedure is finished), IMPLEMENTATION - this involves actually configuring the software so the machine "works" and finally INTEGRATION which includes process optimization, training and adaptation to the customers established workflow.

In the case of speakers: Installation=take them out of the box and put them in an "attractive" place in the room. Implementation=plug them into the amplifiers and confirm that the position of the speaker is not too bad, that playback geometry is "standard audiophool equilateral triangle" and the distance from the wall is OK for a fairly even bass reproduction. This stage would only involve things that could be put on an objective list and checked off.

Finally there is the integration stage. Here someone comes to live with you for n days, moderates any issues between you and the wife, fine tune the playback, teach you about the factors concerning Playback, sell you upgrades for things found deficient.

A strip joint is FAR easier to check off as successful than integrating playback........

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