DSS Arizona

D E S E R T S O U N D IARIZONA

20650 N.29th Place, Suite 100 Phoenix Arizona 85050 623-322-5458

Desert Sound has provided its clients with
the very best in Home Electronics since

1988.
Desert Sound brings experience and talent to designing and installing the best home electronics available
today. The best not only means stunning high definition TV and home theater, great sound throughout your
home, dependable computer networks and phone systems but an incredibly easy means to control them all.
Desert Sound not only designs, installs and services each system in your home, it integrates them into
a single control system so whether you want to watch the latest movie, listen to great music, raise
or lower shades, turn lights on and off or adjust the air conditioning, just pick up your smart phone.
Desert Sound has developed expertise in business and academic environment as well. From corpo-
rate boardrooms, training facilities and the college campus, Desert Sound has made it easy for busi-
ness and education to communicate face to face from home to office to classrooms around the world.

Dedicated Home Theater
Bring the movies home and
enjoy the best home theater has
to offer with incredible access to
thousands of movies

Pool & Spa Control Desert Sound can provide a stand
Regulate and monitor your alone system or an integrated package
pool, spa and fountains from
where everything works together.
othnetchoemrofoardt.of your home or

Shade & Lighting Control
Automate your shades and lighting for comfort and

energy saving

Home Automation

Enjoy smart phone control of your entire home with a Home
Automation System from Desert Sound.

Home Security

Protect your family and property while home or traveling, with
a security system customized to your family’s needs

Environmental Control

Automatically control your heating and air conditioning and
monitor your energy expenses before the bills come

REX: Our Residential Environment system provides
seamless control throughout your home

Our R.E.X. menus on your iPhones, iPads, or other “smart” devices are easy to
understand and use
The R.E.X System is expandable to accommodate new technology as it develops.
Each R.E.X System is designed to stand alone but can connect with other R.E.X
Systems to completely integrate your home electronics. Simply put...The R.E.X
System helps all of the electronics in your home do just fine alone but can talk
and play well together when needed.
And best of all, no more lost or broken remote controls. You can control every-
thing in your home with your smartphone or tablet.

Comfort
St&yle

HOME THEATER: $150,000+ BRONZE

WHAT’S COOL

No sound leaks in or out of
this rockin’ theater.

Lights, Camera, AUDIO!

Behind the rustic look of this theater is a movie producer’s state-of-the-art
screening room. photography by Dino Tonn

ATOP-END HOME theater is as much about controlling $50,000, with another $18,000 devoted to damping material
the sound as it is about reproducing the soundtrack the and absorbers. The owner likes to call it his “million-dol-
way the director intended. In this premium screening lar-theater,” which is appropriate, Miller says, since it
room, Desert Sound & Security of Scottsdale, Ariz., oversaw “sounds like a million bucks.”
a project for a movie industry pro who wanted a theater with The room-within-a-room design started at
film-grade performance. This producer/homeowner wanted to construction, when the concrete basement was poured
view dailies (raw footage) and the final product in the ultimate in this country club home. The floor, ceiling and walls
playback environment—and that’s what he got. were decoupled from the concrete using polymer
sound-damping plywood and drywall that created a
Desert Sound outsourced the acoustical design of the suspended inner room with full sound isolation. The
theater to acoustic engineer Evan Reiley, who treated the room treatments also ensured articulate bass response inside
down to the pipes and screws. The engineering portion alone the theater by eliminating standing sound waves that
tallied six weeks of work—to the tune of about cause resonance. Additional sound treatments included a

64 ELECTRONIC HOUSE May/June EHInstallers.COM

HOME THEATER: $150,000+ BRONZE

Automated Overture

This theater requires a 45-second warm-up before showtime, so
Desert Sound & Security and lighting firm Creative Lighting Design
created a pre-theater scene that’s accessible from any AMX touchpan-
el in the home. While the home theater equipment warms up, lights
go to 70 percent and music plays. When the music stops, the home-
owners know the movie is ready to start. When they arrive at the
theater and hit PLAY on the touchpanel, the lights fade to black and
the show begins. After the credits roll, the clients touch THEATER
OFF and lighting levels slowly rise, while the audio/video gear shuts
down. Four minutes later, after the audience has had time to leave,
the lights power off automatically.

Systems & specially designed 500-pound door for sound isolation, Vudu, Stored TV programs on TiVo or high-def discs
Equipment Dynamat-wrapped plumbing lines and a seal around the on the Blu-Ray player.
electrical panel. To further minimize noise, the heating
Video projector: Runco and cooling system uses a slow airflow of 200 feet per Not even the slightest fan noise was allowed in
Screen: Screen Research m inute. The extensive acoustic treatments help the 17 the room, so the Runco VideoXtreme 3-chip VX-44d
Speakers: Triad Triad speakers and subwoofers sound their very best. DLP projector is positioned outside the theater. “The
Control system: AMX In the front are three speakers and two subwoofers, and difference in sound quality is amazing between hav-
Media server: Kaleidescape two more speakers and subwoofers are hidden behind ing that door open and closed,” Miller says. Even the
Lighting: LiteTouch fabric on each of the left, right and rear walls. The front speakers and beams in the the room received special
speakers are precisely placed 547/16 inches from the floor sound isolation treatment. Sound isolation clips were
Details and at an angle of 5 degrees. used to mount the speakers, and all the wires were
Desert Sound also built the theater for the clamped down every 16 inches. The seating plat-
Room Size (L x W xH): long-term, with an oversized 140-inch projection screen forms and the theater’s stage were constructed with
281/2 x 197/10 x 12 feet that’s ready for future formats. “When we get to 4K x perforated Helmholtz resonator bass traps to control
Cost: $363,000 (includes 2K (4096-by-2400-pixel video), the guy can upgrade his the sound.
installation and labor) projector, and the screen’s already in place,” Miller said.
Project Duration:2 years Video sources can handle whatever the audi- The result? During the final “rattle test” of a
Construction: New ence wants, whether it’s from Kaleidescape movie sound check, there wasn’t a buzz to be found. “Every-
library on a hard-disk server, streaming movie from thing in that room is solid,” Miller says.- R.D. EH
Highlights
SYSTEM DESIGN & INSTALLATION: Desert Sound & Security Phoenix,
* Detailed acoustical treatments Ariz., www.desertsound.com BUILDER: Salcito Custom Homes,www.salcito.com
* Oversized screen built for the ARCHITECT: Swayback Partners, www.swaybackpartners.com
future. LIGHTING: Creative Designs in Lighting, Phoenix, Ariz., www.cdltg.com
* A 500 pound cam-hinge metal
door took six men to install

66 ELECTRONIC HOUSE May/June EHInstallers.COM

WHOLE HOME, $50,000+ SILVER

Where

Work
Meets
Pleasure

It's the ultimate dream, and we're not
just talking about having the money to
afford a luxurious spread in the desert.
This homeowner runs his business from his
home, thanks to a high-definition telepres-
ence system that enables him to videocon-
ference with his executives like he's right
there in the boardroom. And there are plenty
of other high-tech goodies that enable him
to work from this inspiring desert retreat.

Systems & "He felt that he had to get away from the day- the news on a 26-inch TV in the master bath, and
Equipment tod­ ay and focus on business development," says Jim when he’s done preparing for some time in the office,
Miller, president of electronics installation company a door from the master bath senses his approach
Telepresence system:Cisco Desert Sound & Security in Phoenix, Ariz. "He wanted and automatically opens. He descends the stairway;
Video Display:Runco, LG, to stay in touch with his executive team and employ- crosses the courtyard, enters his office wing and
SunBrite TV ees, and he envisioned being able to do a podcast presses a button on an AMX touchpanel to start the
Speakers:Triad, Sonance, while sitting at his desk. Employees could come into Cisco telepresence system, then initiates the call on
SpeakerCraft work in the morning and get a message from the pres- his Panasonic phone. Within minutes he’s talking live
Lighting Control:Lite Touch ident of the company." to people in his Illinois office.
Phone System:Panasonic But why settle for a podcast, when he can sit DECONSTRUCTING TELEPRESENCE
Wireless Network:Pakedge at his conference table in suburban Phoenix and talk Although it looks simple when he conducts a video­
to his employees in Bellevue, Ill. live? conference, several different pieces have to work in
Details This homeowner's commute may only be a walk unison to transmit quality high-definition images
across a courtyard, but it starts when he wakes, across 1,500 miles and allow all the participants to
Home Size: 8,500 square feet presses a button and a TV in the bedroom turns on feel as if they’re in the same room.
Cost: $1.2 Million (includes to the morning news. He can catch up on more of
installation and labor)
Speakers: Triad, Sonance,
SpeakerCraft
Project Duration: 18 months
Construction: New

22 ELECTRONIC HOUSE May/June EHInstallers.COM

At the press of a
couple of buttons,
the homeowner
can take part in a
board meeting at his
business 1,500 miles
away. A 65-inch,
custom-fitted Cisco
500 telepresence
system provides the
HD-quality video
conferencing system
(opposite}, or he
can access a smaller
37-inch system that
rises out of his desk.

Desert Sound & Security had to deal with a Proper lighting levels and fixture locations are crucial
host of lighting and audio/video issues to pull this to having a quality telepresence experience, because
off. A 65-inch plasma screen was originally planned without proper illumination the subject can appear
for the conference room space, but a Cisco TV was washed out or with dark shadows covering por­tions
required to properly integrate with the telepres­ence of his face, or the background can look poor. For ad-
system. Only Cisco didn't have a screen that size ditional lighting, Desert Sound added some fixtures
until the company made this one. to a leg of the chandelier and pointed them down.
Miller's company had to dismantle the Lights in the ceiling also adjust to different levels,
pedest­al system the TV came on to mount the dis- depending on what is being done in the room.
play above the fireplace, where homeowner wanted To tame sound reflections in the room,
it. Small speakers that fire from the bottom bezel Miller and his crew added motorized draperies that
were swapped for better-quality custom-made speak- close when it's videoconferencing time. All of it can
ers from Triad. Desert Sound also disassembled the be controlled by a 10-inch AMX in-wall touchpanel.
side panels and rebuilt them so they shine light from The homeowner or a visitor can also show
slots, and the crew worked with a lighting designer pres­ entations on the TV from a laptop, by plugging
to get just the right amount of light on the subject. into jacks mounted underneath the conference table.

ELECTRONICHOUSE.COM

WHOLE HOME, $50,000+ SILVER

A 46-inch SunBriteTV outdoor TV
provides the video pleasures at the spa,
while two SpeakerCraft OE6 Three speakers
(attached to beam) pump out the sound.

Highlights For impromptu face time with his employees, There are plenty of techno-goodies for qual-
* High-definition the homeowner can also access the telepresence ity down time, too. More than 20 zones of audio/
videoconferencing with system on a second, smaller screen that rises out of video deliver entertainment content to Runco and
Cisco telepresence his desk in an adjacent space. LG displays from a Kaleidescape media server, Di-
system. recTV receivers with DVRs, Blu-ray and HD DVD
* Computer file sharing MORE WORK AND PLAY players. There are his and her iPod docks that play
throughout the house. Our busy homeowner isn't tied to working in his through Sonance's Invisible Series in-wall speakers
* Motorized doors, pop- office and conference room. He can work anywhere that fire from behind thin coats of plaster, and the
up screens, extensive in the home or by the pool. "He has multiple com- lady of the house can stream music to the speaker in
computer network. puters, and wanted spaces outside where he could go the Kohler shower, which features multiple jets with
and work," says Miller. "He wanted a document to preset soaking scenes. And when it's time to relax at
24 be available on different laptops in different areas." the end of the day, a motorized door opens to an out-
So seven T-1 high-speed data lines, some of which door family room equipped with a TV and speakers.
are redundant and used for backup, several Cisco
switches, and about 15 wireless access points were EH
installed. He can be on a document on one comput-
er and simply go to another and continue to work SYSTEM DESIGN & INSTALLATION: Desert Sound & Security Phoenix, Ariz.,
on the same file, says Miller. www.desertsound.com BUILDER: Salcito Custom Homes, Scottsdale Ariz.,
www.salcito.com ARCHITECT: Dale Gardon Design, Scottsdale Ariz.,
ELECTRONIC HOUSE May/June www.dalegardondesign.com INTERIOR DESIGN: Tamm-Marlow Design Group,

Scottsdale, Ariz., tm-studio.com

EHInstallers.COM

Jim Miller - President

602.290.4095

[email protected]
Established in 1988, Desert Sound & Security has
developed a respected reputation for innovative de-
sign and quality installations. We provide solutions that
simplify the technology in our clients lives and make it
just plain fun. We install tested and proven products. Our
Desert Sound staff is our greatest resource that focuses
on customer satisfaction.

Darren Bearup-V.P. Operations

602.359.2133
[email protected]

J.L. BUckaloo - DEsigner

623.328.4458
[email protected]

Ryan Fifer - Project Tech

623.328.4458
[email protected]

20650 N.29th Place, Suite 100 Phoenix Arizona 85050 623-322-5458

20650 N.29th Place, Suite 100 Phoenix Arizona 85050 623-322-5458