The early days of custom installation (CI) were typified by visionary companies who possessed a very strong hi-fi heritage. 

The dealers and programmers of the day were passionate, enthusiastic people who cared about the quality of the entertainment system they created for their customers. The focus for CI was very much on providing the highest quality audio and video that money could buy, with integration adding an extra level of utility for customers to enjoy their system in every room of their house.

So what’s different today?

Well, in my view, there’s been a shift away from performance and a move towards greater systems integration for the sake of convenience and improved concealment within the home.

True, the best CI companies can balance these sometimes conflicting issues to deliver a stellar quality system.

On occasion, however, the demands of the client and the interior designer for greater convenience and superior aesthetics can outweigh those of the system designer. The result can be lower quality audio and video where home entertainment performance is compromised to meet those requirements.

As the CI market has also grown and matured significantly over the last decade, there are now many more companies active in the sector than ever before. It’s great to see how far the industry has evolved since its early pioneering days. But it’s also a concern that many of the new entrants seem only to value system control and integration, forgetting the magic of music and movies while they enthuse instead about the wonder of automated blinds.    

At the same time, convenience today is very much the king. Quality for the consumer has been sacrificed at the altar of the digital revolution. The rise of the MP3 together with online services like YouTube and Netflix have reduced audio and video quality yet increased both the access we have to content and the amount of that content exponentially. There is a popular saying today that “content is king”, but in CI it has to be different.

After all, CI remains a premium priced product and service. As a result, it needs to be backed up by high audio and video calibration standards so that customers who are paying premium prices get premium performance from the installed system.

Audio performance matters in home cinema and it matters to the success of CI. Great music and movies deserve great reproduction to deliver the incredible experience that all CI customers crave. And I’m not talking about the differences that cables can make here. The quality a modern Blu-ray uncompressed sound track deserves to be heard through high performance amplification and speakers. Getting a home cinema system right requires real attention to detail for the customer to be swept along and lost in the experience. 

Cinema sound and the best sound systems have upgraded their performance massively in the last ten years. And yet, while I see huge leaps in control and convenience in CI, I don’t think our industry has improved by all that much in the same period. George Lucas said that great sound and music was 50% of the complete movie experience. Many of us in CI would agree with that view, and arguably, make every effort to ensure clients value the audio system provided accordingly. 

Increasing this value proposition will also help demonstrate the added value that a CI company can bring to their customers. After the cool automation features in a home lose their wow factor the quality of the music and video will endure. If we dedicate ourselves to delivering ultra- high quality sound and video then we show we have standards that are worth maintaining. To quote William A Foster “Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention; sincere effort and skilful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.”  

Arcam has recently launched a great range of new receivers designed to deliver that quality experience to suit different sizes and types of installation, at different price points, for the CI market. Over the years, we have shown our ability to make the finest sounding AV electronics on the planet and the new AVR750, the AVR 450 and the AVR380 set new standards here but also add all the control tools that the CI specialist needs.  

We are focused on delivering outstanding AV performance in home cinema, media room and whole-house installations. We have always worked closely with our custom installation partners to deliver AV solutions which we and our customers could be proud of.

We also understand the CI mind-set and the unique set of demands they often face in the field. Technical innovation is obviously important so that we can optimise quality, performance and ease of use. This helps create compelling reasons for consumers and installers to select Arcam when they specify CI projects or upgrade existing legacy systems. We also appreciate that product reliability and sales support are essential in this part of the market. That’s why we have invested, and will continue to invest significantly, in these areas, allowing installers to specify Arcam with confidence, whatever the size or scale of their project.

The truth is we see many ‘expensive’ CI systems which celebrate invisibility and convenience but deliver very mediocre audio and video. A failure to recognise this distinction will drive CI downwards until it too becomes a commodity sector with developers claiming that they have achieved “smart home” status for their properties when they’re simply providing poor quality ceiling speakers from Maplins.

We need to achieve a harmony between ease of use and access to content so that quality is maintained. Let’s make sure that the CI industry dedicates itself to raising standards and educates the customer so that they can appreciate real quality in sound and video for the good of its health.