John Sciacca

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CEDIA 2013
In-Ceiling Home Theater Speakers Sound Golden
John Sciacca  |  Sep 27, 2013
GoldenEar Technology's Sandy Gross knows how to make an outstanding sounding loudspeaker. Whether bookshelf or tower, Gross's designs never fail to impress. But in-wall and in-ceiling speakers can be a trickier proposition. GoldenEar Technology showed they were up to the challenge by building a new demo theater this year to highlight the company's Invisa HTR 7000 speakers designed for use as ceiling mounted main front left, center right speakers.
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Custom Installation How-ToThe Connected Life
Installations: A Higher Power
John Sciacca  |  Nov 05, 2007

Cathedrals are almost preternaturally quiet havens where even the softest whispers, shuffling in the pews, or footsteps across marble floors can seem blasphemously loud.

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Custom Installation How-ToThe Connected Life
Installations: Let Us Entertain You
John Sciacca  |  Oct 04, 2007

While it might take a village to raise a child, it takes an army and lots of time to build an estate! Custom Theater and Audio (CTA) in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, where I work as lead system designer, was recently involved in all aspects of the A/V design and installation for Phil and Janet Pate's new home in North Myrtle Beach.

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The Connected Life
Installing In-Wall/Ceiling Speakers: Part 1
John Sciacca  |  Jan 17, 2018
In my October blog, I listed 11 must-have tools for your DIY toolkit, laying out the minimum tools you need to tackle some basic audio/video installations. Then I tackled how to wire and mount a flat-screen TV in “Mount a TV Like a Pro:” Part 1 and Part 2. Now it’s time to learn how to install some speakers!
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The Connected Life
Installing In-Wall/Ceiling Speakers: Part 2
John Sciacca  |  Feb 09, 2018
Last month’s blog detailed the first part of the process of installing new speakers. Since planning before cutting is a massive part of retrofitting new speakers, I focused on making sure you could actually install speakers where you want. This involved determining the best wiring route to the new speakers and ensuring the route was clear of any obstacles like wall purlins.
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CEDIA 2019
Integra Launches Three Reference-Grade Surround Offerings
John Sciacca  |  Sep 14, 2019
Integra used CEDIA to do a refresh at the top of its cinema surround line-up, displaying two new reference grade receivers in its “Dot 3” series along with a new flagship pre-amp processor and matching 11-channel amplifier. All of the new products are fully featured, supporting Dolby Atmos and DTS:X formats in up to 7.2.4 channels with THX Ultra certification and IMAX Enhanced support along with a host of other top-shelf performance features.

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The Connected Life
Invest in Your Network
John Sciacca  |  Jun 09, 2014
The landscape of our entertainment systems and how we enjoy them has continued to evolve with changing technology. And the importance of different components has changed right along with it. Remember when a cassette player/recorder was the most important music playback device? And then it was a CD player. And then a CD changer. And then an iPod. Now you probably never use any of those devices any longer, rather relying on streaming music from a drive on your home’s network, some cloud-based service like Pandora or Spotify, or beaming it via Bluetooth or AirPlay.
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Other Tech
iPod Unleashed
John Sciacca  |  Jan 11, 2007
ViewSonic PJ258D DLP projector with integrated iPod dock

January 11, 2007 - What would a Consumer Electronics Show be without a ton of cool new iPod peripherals?

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CES 2014
Is Bluesound an Audiophile Sonos Killer?
John Sciacca  |  Jan 12, 2014
I stumbled across Bluesound at a suite in the Venetian on my last day of the show and I’m certainly glad that I did. This new company is comprised of many of the same people from NAD with a true passion for delivering uncompromised audio, and Bluesound looks to have an array of products that might be the first true high-end challenger to Sonos’ wireless music dominance.

The Bluesound system is comprised of four primary components: Node, PowerNode, Vault, and Pulse. With a combination of these units, you can build a wireless housewide music system that suits your needs and is capable of streaming FLAC, AAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, WMA, WMA-L, OGG and MP3 files up to full resolution 24-bit/192kHz quality!

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AV Receiver SetupHDTV SetupThe Connected Life
It's All Right to Be Wrong
John Sciacca  |  Sep 16, 2010

We definitely don't need to be bogged down with more rules. Practically everywhere we go, someone or something is telling us what to do or what not to do. Walk. Don't walk. This lane 15 items or less. Pants required to eat here. Enough!

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