pac-nj

A Beautiful Mind: The Passing of a Rare and Gifted Soul

Ralph Tarnofsky — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:24:14 +0000

The entire staff both past and present want to acknowledge the contributions that Thomas Churchill AKA Church imparted to Professional Audio Consultants. Church was integral to the success of PAC from the original formation in 1974 up until his untimely passing on July 20th 2011.

Church provided the technical oversight and training that all of us relied on to provide system designs that deliver high performance and reliability. Many of PAC’S key vendors also depended on Church to scrutinize the design of their products and to provide his feedback to help them to discover and remediate flaws that may have been overlooked by their R and D dept.

Church earned an Electrical Engineering degree from Cornell University and therefore had the educational background and natural talent and intellect to go into a variety of high tech fields.

His choice to work in the audio and video electronics field was primarily motivated by his love of music. Tom loved to play drums and percussion and actively played with the Local Band for many years. PAC’s long term clients have come to depend on Church to help keep their home electronics systems up and running. They knew that no matter how challenging the circumstance, Church would not rest until he diagnosed and resolved whatever pesky gremlin was plaguing their entertainment systems. This was evidenced by the impressive turnout of PAC clients at Thomas Churchill’s memorial service that was held at our showroom on Sept. 17th 2011.

Church’s legacy will live on. His son Justin has recently graduated from Cornell with the same E.E. degree that his father earned. PAC will honor Tom’s memory by continuing to provide exceptional system designs, with equally exceptional aftercare. The positive influence that he imparted to all of us at PAC continues to motivate us to make him proud of the company that he helped establish.

Sincerely,

Ralph Tarnofsky

President and Founder of Professional Audio Consultants

MusicLites Combines Music and Light in a Simple Wireless System

Ralph Tarnofsky — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:05:18 +0000

It’s a symphony of light and music! That’s MusicLite’s slogan, and also it’s the first LED recessed light and wireless speaker combination. This exciting new product truly lives up to its billing. MusicLites fit in any existing or new recessed lighting fixture and combines a state-of-the-art 10-watt LED light bulb, a 70-millimeter full range high fidelity loudspeaker, a 20 watt audio amplifier, and wireless audio receiver. In the home, it’s a great way to add music to any room with recessed or track lighting. How many rooms in your home fit that description? Hallways, bathrooms, living rooms, the kitchen and garage – the list goes on and on. Here at Professional Audio Consultants, northern New Jersey’s source for home theater and professional-quality audio video equipment and installation, we’re finding some big interest from customers in this innovative sound and light technology.

The concept of combining a speaker and light was invented and patented by Cary Christie is 1999. His company, Artison, an innovator in high-end audio technology, partnered with Osram Sylvania, a leading lighting company, to bring the concept to market. MusicLites fits into four-, five- or six-inch recessed lighting cans, with each LED light emitting the equivalent of a 65-watt reflector bulb. Plus, the energy efficient LED light has a 60,000-hour life – that’s more than twenty years of normal usage. The speakers also pack a punch, with a maximum system output of 96dB SPL Audio, and a frequency response 50Hz – 20kHZ, +/-3dB. The amplifier delivers 20 watt RMS with 95% efficiency.

MusicLites are compatible with any audio source, and each MusicLites comes with a remote control that allows you to raise and lower the lighting and volume level independently. The system works with three types of wireless transmitters, each with a range of about 60 feet. A starter kit that includes one MusicLite and a transmitter costs $400. It’s a great way to light up your life with a little music just about anywhere in the house.

The Ultimate Tech Holiday Gift Guide

Ralph Tarnofsky — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:38:00 +0000

The holidays are right around the corner and these great tech toy gifts are sure to delight family, friends and even business colleagues! See our top picks below, from all different price points.

Bowers & Wilkins C5 In-Ear Headphones

The world’s best sounding and best fitting ear bud headphones.
Secure loop design
Noise isolation
Micro porous filter that delivers bass response that rivals most subwoofers
$180

Bowers & Wilkins P5 Headphones

Super comfortable
Performance levels that rival models 2x the price
Natural and highly detailed sound (but light and comfortable enough to wear jogging)
$300

Sonos Whole House Music System

A solution for easy installation of a music system that can provide digital music sources throughout your entire house.
The Zone Bridge connects to your router to allow Sonos zone players to play in any room of your home ($50).
The Play:3 can be placed in any corner of your room. This is a self contained music system for one room and one zone. Use multiples for more rooms and zones ($300).
The Zone Player 90 can connect to your existing music system and allowed digital music sources (Pandora, Rhapsody, iPods) to play through your already installed speakers ($350).
Many configurations are possible.
[Click here for more information].

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air

No compromise iPod and music streaming capable of filling large rooms with great sounding music
Wireless AirPlay allows you to stream music from iTunes
Compatible with all current iPhones and iPods
Compact enough to move from room to room or take on vacation
$600

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Mini

Incredible sounding and sleek looking iPod dock music system
Intelligent design and advanced acoustic technology
Compact; perfect for desktops and other small spaces
$300

Bowers & Wilkins MM-1 Computer Speakers

Most advanced acoustic technology brings hi-fi sound to your desktop
Compact, attractive and will most likely out perform your current full-size stereo speakers
Connects via USB to your computer or via mini plug to portable music devices
$500

MX-880 Universal Remote Control

Single, hand-held, custom programmed remote control
Easy to use and will eliminate the clutter of multiple remotes
Bright 2″ LCD screen
Automatic motion sensing
$495

MusicLites

A great way to add music to any room with recessed or track lighting
High fidelity combined with state-of-the-art LED lighting
Dim light and lower music volume with remote control (included)
Choose from 3 types of wireless transmitters (each with a 60ft range)
$400 (starter kit including one MusicLite and transmitter)

Peachtree Audio iPod Music Systems

iPhone and iPod music meets high performance listening experience
Simply dock your iPod to one of the several Peachtree solutions and enjoy your high-end music performance
$800 (Music Box System One, including speakers)
Many other more advanced models are available

At Professional Audio Consultants, here in northern New Jersey, we have a wide selection of tech-toys to choose from. For more information on our product selections or to place an order, please call us at 973-467-1950.

For more information about our home theater, home audio and other audio video services, please visit our website at http://www.pac-nj.com

Happy Holidays!

Ralph

Sonos Music: Behind the Revolutionary Wireless In-Home System

Ralph Tarnofsky — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:22:47 +0000

The Sonos music system is a new and simple way to distribute audio throughout your house wirelessly. With a Sonos system, you can stream Rhapsody, Pandora, Sirius XM, and over 100,000 Internet radio stations, as well as your iTunes or digital music library, all throughout your house, without wires. Here’s how it works: A music box – in the Sonos system, a Zone Player 3 or Zone Player 5 – is linked to a music box router. The router, in turn, feeds the Sonos Bridge, the transmitter for the music system. The Bridge transmits the music and Sonos audio you select to speakers throughout the house. You control the system with your Smartphone, Tablet, or with a Sonos remote control.

The Zone Player 3 contains 3 separate Sonos speakers with individual built-in amplifiers driving them. It is perfect for the office, kitchen, bedroom, or wherever you want music. A Zone Player 5 is for larger rooms and contains two tweeters for high frequencies, two midrange speakers for middle frequencies and a built in subwoofer for low frequencies. Each of the five speakers has its own individual “green” amplifier. Sound quality is better when multiple speakers are powered individually.

You can also connect an existing home stereo or home theater system to a Sonos system with the Zone Player, adding access to an almost infinite amount of music choices. The Zone Player 90 receives the signal the Zone Bridge is transmitting and sends it to the existing home theater or stereo system. The Zone Player 120 is similar, except that it has a built-in amplifier. It is perfect if you have a pair of home stereo speakers and nothing else. The ZP 120 receives the signal the Sonos Bridge is transmitting, directs it to an internal amplifier (rated at 55 watts/channel) which then powers your speakers.

No wonder so many of our customers at PAC-NJ, northern New Jersey’s source for audio video and home theater equipment, are asking for Sonos. It gives you an almost infinite choice of music, has no wires to run, and virtually no installation is required. The only setup needed is to let the system know what music services you subscribe to. And if you move, your entire investment moves with you easily.

Freedom of Music Choice with Sonos

Ralph Tarnofsky — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:30:48 +0000

You’re hanging out on your patio in the summer, a cold drink in your hand, when you get the urge to listen to a favorite old song from your high school days. In the old days fulfilling this simple desire required a lot of legwork; going inside the house and digging out the CD and playing it on your home stereo – assuming you actually owned the CD. Now imagine if all you had to do is pull out your iPhone, Android Phone, iPad, or other digital device, and stream your tunes from Rhapsody music or iTunes to play instantly from the internet. Well, you don’t have to imagine any longer, because you can satisfy your musical listening whims and a whole lot more with a Sonos whole home music system.

Now picture the holiday season: You’re sitting by the fireplace drinking hot chocolate with that special someone and you both want to hear a song to complete the mood but you do not have a specific artist or song in mind. No problem with the Sonos music system. You can do genre listening across most music services: Pick up the Sonos remote or your smart phone and access Sirius XM, Rhapsody, iTunes, or you own music library. That means you could be pleasantly surprised by hearing White Christmas, Auld Lang Syne or even the Hanukkah Song on your home stereo. It’s that easy.

Say that you live up in the hills or a remote location that always has trouble with AM reception when you want to listen to the baseball or football game on the radio. Well, Sonos has you covered. Because Sonos accesses the live, perfect Internet stream feed of those pesky AM stations from all around the globe. And maybe best of all, its free. Here at PAC-NJ, northern New Jersey’s source for top quality audio video equipment and home theater systems, we’ve been showing lots of customers how Sonos can change their enjoyment of music and broadcast audio. And we’re finding the message is getting great reception from our customers.