WHY? Why must you hate on something fantastic like this?
And WHY must we hate on Monster for their predatory business practice?
Audioholics and it's forum members have long been here to point out when people are getting ripped off. They have always been a place where people have made sure that design was incorporated to enhance the final objective, not to just put money on the bottom line.
If cable risers DID enhance audio, then people here would encourage it.
If high dollar cables DID improve audio/video, then people here would encourage it.
The home theater/audio video/home automation industry STRIVES to this level work, and to be able to have a client who clearly has a serious love for performance and elegance, and is willing to put forth the means to have it with sparing NO COST is every installers dream.
I think you are mistaken. The home theater industry strives to have quality installs that provide an acceptable quality product. The client was a rich person who likely just asked for the best and put a no-cost-to-high limit on it which a company took advantage of.
Moreso, the company didn't truly deliver a design which was flawless, but is pretty in pictures.
Heck, I'm sure it sounds good, and looks great.
As I said in my original post, there's a lot to like there!
But, every single aspect was about spending this guys money, and not as much was put into the actual engineering to deliver a top shelf system and home theater on that side of things.
Important: Not terrible! Just pretty weak for the level of equipment in the room and budget available. It's like spending money to make up for poor design work.
Could the integrator have recommended a different projector? Of course they could have, and performance may or may not have been sacrified (this is in reference to the Titan projector that was recommended).
Or they could have gone for the JVC at half the price who actually made the projector.
One thing that people love is for things to MATCH, and while none of the equipment is actually shown and is obviously in a RACK somewhere in the structure, MATCHING the Projector Brand to the Processor brand was clearly something that this Client and Integrator wished to do.
That's silly. Any A/V company with a lick of common sense knows that that is about as silly as it gets.
Sorry, but you put in the best equipment the budget allows that actually performs best. You don't buy it because it matches for the sake of matching. Not sure why any decent A/V company would go that route unless they are selling overprice snake oil.
A mercedes Benz S63AMG is a great vehicle, but some people just want the Rolls Royce because they can. Also, the choice of MERIDIAN equipment in this application is a good one.
I've seen Meridian equipment crash and fail. I think they are a smaller niche company with product which is sometimes buggy. They do have some great sounding gear, but that's a long way from a guarantee of quality, especially with a super high price tag. Runco, by example, is one of the least reliable projection companies on the market, at twice the price of competitors. JVC is incredibly reliable and considered one of the best out there, but for some reason it was necessary to double the price and go Meridian.
At the end of the day a Rolls Royce is NOT a Mercedes. But, that Meridian IS a JVC.
And that A/V company did good work, but cost a client thousands of dollars that likely could have had far better use elsewhere. Perhaps within the same system.