Bill Kinnavy (left) and Doug Rowley (Right)
Calibrating your TV for best picture performance
There are several reasons why people who watch television should have their television (TV) calibrated:
- A television that is adjusted or calibrated will have a longer life span
- Depending on the television you own, with proper calibration and set up the picture will look dramatically better with more vivid colors, better black levels, and overall picture accuracy
- Energy savings over time can be significant
Televisions are usually calibrated and marketed by the manufacturer to look good on a showroom floor; that includes enticing the customer with a bright picture because TV’s are within close range of one another in the showroom and there is a high amount of ambient light. However, when you take the TV home, there is no competition from other TV’s and you can control the ambient light; at this point in time one should adjust the calibration to suit the needs of your particular room.
All audio video retailers that sell TV’s do not impress upon their customers the importance of calibration. At Barrett’s Home Theater, sales consultants recommend to their clients this very important service for optimal efficiency, value, and quality. As more and more customers are willing to pay for this new service/calibration, we expect the custom installation team at Barrett’s Home Theater which does the calibration to become very busy in the coming year.
John Wettlaufer, custom sales manger of Barrett’s Home Theater, educates his clients from all over Chicago land area and reinforces the need for proper calibration as per his clients needs and wants. He includes this at the top of the list when TV’s are installed in their respective homes or businesses.
Wettlaufer comments on the importance of this program by stating, “The procedure of calibrating the TV is done as the last step in the set up of the custom installation process.” He continues, “Attempting to calibrate before the TV is in the desired location would reduce color accuracy and ultimate image quality because of the lighting conditions.”
Regarding energy efficiency, Front Projectors and Plasmas TVs have a tendency to produce additional heat in comparison to LCD or LED due to the way the image is produced. If you want to increase the lifespan and save energy, Wettlaufer highly recommends calibration upon installation.
Watching nature shows and sporting events gave me a true perspective of how good the color spectrum can be if the calibration is set appropriately. If not, you will never know what you are missing. If you already own a TV and have never had it calibrated, now is the time while you wait the warmer days of spring. If you are thinking of purchasing a new TV from Barrett’s Home Theater, be sure to read more about ISF calibration from our website or Google the words “ISF Calibration” and the technology advancements related the movie and television industry.
By Dianne Barrett
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Doug Rowley (left) and Ken Krienitz (right)
Anyone can sell you something. Anyone can make the promise that by shopping with them you are going to get the best service available. But if you have ever bought any type of home theater technology you’ve probably realized that a lot of companies do not follow through with those promises.
So what makes Barretts Home Theater Chicago different? Maybe the best thing to do isn’t to just say that we have great service. Maybe the best way to explain it is by describing what happens after the transaction is complete.
As you read this article, our project management team is reviewing jobs in the Barretts Home Theater Chicago “Project Management Locker Room.” They’re drawing up the best game plan for getting our projects done efficiently, effectively, and with enough quality to make your system the envy of the neighborhood. In this project game plan the project management team is coordinating a range of variables. Some of these include:
- The availability and delivery of product.
- Skill-sets of our custom audio video installation team best suited for the job. Third party contractors either hired by us or our clients.
- System design documents to ensure that things not only go smoothly when the install begins, but to accurately document the phases or your project so we can service it in the future.
That last point is one of the most important things we can provide our clients. A good company can take care of you when your system is being installed. A great company takes care of you as long as that system is in your home. One way Barretts Home Theater Chicago does this is by having a great team of custom audio video installers. Everyone on our custom installation team is also a service technician, so even if you call us years after the fact you might get to reconnect with the Barretts Home Theater Chicago employee who made your home technology dreams come true in the first place. A lot of our existing clients actually ask for our custom audio video technicians by name, or nickname as Kenny K, Big J, and The Rowlinator can attest to.
And we have got experience. The youngest guy on our team has been doing custom installation for audio video for seven years. Our senior programmer has been doing this for twenty. Even the best game plan ever devised can never account for all the “adventures” that occur in the custom installation world. That’s when experience makes the difference.
But even with a great design plan and a great team we’re still constantly reviewing our processes based on feedback from our clients. Every project we install is followed up with a survey card to let us know how we did and how we can do even better. As I said before, anyone can sell you something. It’s the things we do beyond the sale that have kept Barretts Home Theater Chicago in business for forty three years.
By Adam Natali- Project Manager at Barretts Home Theater Chicago
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Sam LaGuidice (left) and David Kochanowski (right)
Do not be dismayed that Tweeter has disappeared from the Chicago land market. Why? Because Barrett’s Home Theater Chicago has hired two of the finest sales consultants Tweeter had to offer. This dynamic duo has the knowledge and resources to convert the lost souls abandoned by their favorite audio and video store into valued Barrett’s clients.
Joe Barrett, president of Barrett’s Home Theater, has a philosophy about hiring new staff: hire outside the box and everyone benefits. Even with his 30 years in the business, Joe acknowledges the fact that these new employees understand and utilize technologies in ways he never dreamed of. He values the perspectives of ex Tweeter employees, David Kochanowski and Sam LaGuidice and realizes that their insights to retail and custom installation will teach him many valuable lessons.
Sam LaGuidice believes branding and personalized customer service, especially with the follow-through, is the difference between Barrett’s Home Theater and Tweeter. Sam states, “After working at Tweeter for eight years, I realized in my six months at Barrett’s Home Theater Chicago that I have the resources at my disposal to provide the best customer service. And these resources are far superior for custom installation projects then they were at my former employer.” He goes on to talk about the support staff. “The project managers, John Cook and Adam Natali are part of the sales support team and I can honestly say that I can provide the customer a better sales experience and custom installation follow-through at Barrett’s Home Theater because of John and Adam’s practices.”
David Kochanowski could not agree more with Sam and his assessment of the differences between the two retailers. “At Tweeter, I would often have to go out to fix installation problems which were a common occurrence.” David goes on the say, “I know that having the staff in place behind the scenes allows me to work with the client while taking care of the finer details.” In addition, David is a stickler for offering a product to match the needs of each customer. He is a supporter of a few quality brands and will stick with them as long as the manufacturer follows through with their support. David concludes, “Our audio video selection at Barrett’s Home Theater Chicago is not only equal in quantity, but much better in quality. It includes furniture as an additional category of solutions that was almost obsolete at Tweeter.”
Joe Barrett hopes ex Tweeter customers and even Circuit City customers will give us a look. The relaxed atmosphere, matched pricing policy, and follow-through service, combined with 140 plus years of combined audio video experience will make you a true believer of our commitment to be the best. And it is this commitment that has kept us in business since 1966.
By Dianne Barrett
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Ross DiGiacomo
When was the last time you walked into a retail store and were greeted warmly? The one store that always comes to my mind is Nordstroms. Every salesperson there shoots me a genuine smile and positive energy while giving me the space I need to browse in the department of my choice. This energy is not limited to the department I am in, but extends throughout my whole shopping experience.
We at Barrett’s Home Theater in Chicago like to think of a customer’s shopping experience with that same positive energy. This begins from the moment a customer walks into our store and meets with a sales consultant. It’s there when we begin a project and our operations staff takes over, and continues when the sales consultant calls to ensure you are happy and satisfied with all aspects of your shopping experience.
Adam Natali, Project Manager of the custom installation department, takes the word “satisfied” very seriously. “My duty is to manage a job from the point a system proposal is accepted, all the way to the completion and beyond. I believe the words ‘satisfied’ and ‘beyond’ are critical, because customer service doesn’t end with the delivery and installation of goods.”
Natali goes on to state; “Regarding customer service, I think the most important reason we are better than our competitors is that we not only promise great customer service, but we deliver it. When I deal with the customer service department at other companies it often feels like the person I’m working with is trying to find any excuse possible as to why they can’t help me. Our customer service department is filled with people who take a personal satisfaction and pride in everything that they do. Because of that we end up building a more personal relationship with our clients.”
John Wettlaufer, Custom Sales Manager and 20 year veteran of Barrett’s Home Theater Chicago believes what makes the final experience so rewarding for customers is, each family member can easily access the components of their home theater and utilize them to their maximum potential. According to Wettlauffer, “When I walk into some homes, people have no idea how to operate what they paid for and they don’t fully understand how the different components interface with each other. Barrett’s Home Theater’s custom installation programmers have the ability to take audio/video components and maximize their efficiency and usability for all members of the family. We make the purchase cost-efficient for each customer, and will ensure the products and services are reliable for years to come. After all, why spend money on something if you can’t fully use it?”
It is that energy and personal customer service that drives the personal relationships with our customers. With second and third generation customers returning and telling their friends, we feel blessed to have such a great staff and wonderful customers, while providing the best products on the market. And for that, we are grateful!
Dianne Barrett
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Who would have ever thought Circuit City would be closing 155 stores and filed Chapter 11/Bankruptcy and withdrawing from 55 markets while Tweeter is liquidating 104 stores? That possibility resonated with me and for good reason; my experience one Saturday morning this summer of walking into a noisy, sensory overloaded audio video store with so many selections I became dizzy; opting instead to find solitude in the ladies room. Only after a few deep Yoga breathes did I return to the sales floor, only to be approached by a teenager who looked like he just rolled out of bed without having his breakfast of champions.
Even if those employees who were smart enough to have eaten their
breakfast, the same ones who stand to lose their jobs very soon, only knew that the corporations who employed them relied on a passive approach to doing business. In fact, these companies were sleeping at the wheel. They failed to tackle new challenges while evolving to meet the needs and wants of their perspective markets.
In fact, the evolution of retail electronics has changed so dramatically over the years; custom showrooms are the wave of the future. Gone are the TV only stores, survived only by companies who choose to adopt a full service approach to retail by integrating numerous technologies and custom installation and design options to meet the lifestyle of individual customers. And it is this reason, that has keep Barrett’s Home Theater, Chicago the confident choice separating us from the competitors.
According to Brian Perreault, General Manager of Barrett’s Home Theater, “The customer coming to our stores wants to be educated in the latest technologies by an experienced and trained sales consultant. At Barrett’s Home Theater we pride ourselves as working within a team structure. The sales consultant works closely with the systems designers, custom installation team and project managers, while administration is constantly surveying the customers for feedback to give the best customer service in the market.
While the Chicago markets in the audio video world have lost Fretter, Highland, Silo, Video Concepts, United Audio, Douglass TV, Polk Brothers, Video King, Playback, Pacific Stereo, how can it be that a family run company business since 1966 has sustained themselves over 42 years, representing some of the best audio/video manufactures in the world including Bowers & Wilkins ? The answer is simple: We strive to make each and every customer happy.
By Dianne Barrett
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