Custom Installations

The Listening Post is a dedicated and experienced retailer of premium Hi-Fi and Home Theatre component systems. We custom install these quality products, and pride ourselves on offering superb solutions for our customers. We work hard to ensure a quality / lifestyle balance is meet.

Building or Renovating?

If you are building or renovating, now is the time to look at pre-wiring for your audio and theatre needs.

What is Pre-wiring?

Pre-wiring is the general term given to running specialised audio and video cabling through the framing timber of your home. Specific cabling is run for your current (and future) stereo, theatre and television needs. The term is also used to describe the planned wiring of services such as phones and high-speed internet.

Why Pre-wire?

Incorporating even the most basic pre-wire for a home-theatre or music system is a very cost effective way of increasing the flexibility and performance of your hi-fi and theatre system. In the USA, over 80% of homes are professionally pre-wired, and this trend is growing in New Zealand. Home buyers are expecting to see more foresight put into the building process, and pre-wiring is being looked for in a new or existing home more and more often. Simply put, the benefits can be huge and costs minimal.

Who should pre-wire my home?

The pre-wiring for audio and video cabling must to be done by a specialist company that has an intimate working knowledge of the products likely to be installed.

Here at The Listening Post, we are a dedicated and experienced retailer and installer of premium hi-fi and theatre systems. Importantly, we understand how the quality of the cable can influence the end result.

 

The Pre-Wire Process and Planning

Pre-Wiring is a term given to the running of audio and video cabling through the framing, walls and ceilings of a home to allow for your possible TV, audio and Home Theatre needs.

It is similar to the way your electrician runs cabling for your lighting and power requirements, but it is certainly a specialist field in itself.

Electricians run cables at the framing stage to ensure your requirements for lighting and power are adequately catered for. At The Listening Post, we do the same for all your Hi-Fi, Home Theatre, aerial and data needs.

The focus is not about just running cables. It is more about PLANNING for you present and future audio, video, TV, Home Theatre and data needs.

This planning can take a little time. But not taking this time, or rushing things can lead to disappointing results at the end. And - I am sorry, but ripping the walls apart to correct a mistake or to get that widget you forgot about working is NOT an option.

We will help plan, communicate with you about possible options and give you a clear understanding of the costs involved.

This planning and professional pre-wiring is worth the time and money.


  • Cables at the Main gear location

  • A cable loop to a location for a Keypad


In-Ceiling Speakers

In-Ceiling speakers are a great option for people who want music in a room, but don't want to see the speakers.

No-one really looks at your ceiling, so speakers can be wired for and fitted to offer invisible sound, but superb quality.

Take a look at these up and running in people's homes.


  • Virtually invisible

  • Compliments recessed Lighting

  • Very clean looking and out of the way

In-Wall Speaker Options

In-Wall speakers are getting better and better all the time. You need to - as always - keep an eye on quality, but in-wall speakers do offer a soultion for a directional sound (i.e. Home Theatre or great music) when you don't want to see "boxes".

Below is an example of some in-wall speakers used with a Fujitsu plasma monitor. Stunning sound, stunning picture, and everything is kept tidy.


  • Low Profile designs

  • Great Sound

  • They fit nearly anywhere

Control in Each Room

When you want music in more then one room, there needs to be some thought put into how you would wish to control the source components.

If you just need a simple volume control, then we can customise these to match your wall plates and make everything look in keeping with the rest of your home (see photo below).

Just having control over volume may not always be enough. It is cheap to implement, but when you are entertaining and the CD stops, you will wish you had a little more control.

The simplest way is to add a key pad, or a sensor for an IR repeater. QED make a product called MusiQ, which incorporates a simple-to-use key pad (On/Off, Volume, Selection of CD or Tuner, Track skip, CD and radio station change) and an IR repeater, in a single, stylish little key pad. The MusiQ also has its own amplification, so adding one of these units will enable you to have complete control over two rooms and two zones.

We can even put the control in the palm of your hand.


  • MusiQ

  • Elan Ole2

  • Available to match any style

Planning and Custom Cabinets

We all want to have a the right mix between lifestyle and performance, and many of you understand that certain well-marketed brands just don't sound any good.

When performance is your aim, talk to us about some ways of customising cabinets to store all the Hi-Fi, Home Theatre and multi-room gear. This way, you can get a superb sounding system throughout your home, while keeping everything "clean, clear and tidy".


  • Completely Custom built wall

  • Tidy gear rack

  • A Seamless Look

Outdoor Speakers

With our love of the outdoors and the catch phrase "in-door out-door flow" becoming part of our everyday repertoire, outdoor speakers are becoming more and more important. There are many types and colours. But with a little planning, a great sounding set of out-door speakers can be installed on the outer walls and look great.


  • Black speakers to match the home

  • Spot the garden speaker!

  • Well Integrated

Speakers In Your Home

Home Theatre can be difficult to incorporate in a standard living room. If some planning is done and the home is pre-wired properly, the speaker cable is hidden and the speakers can "float" on the wall. Colour can be selected to match your room and furniture, and the performance can be stunning.


  • Silver aluminium joinery and matched speaker

  • 7.1 Rears, cable hidden and colours matched

Display Installation

Plasma Monitors or TV's offer a huge lifestyle advantage as the size of the image can be pretty large, while its depth only a few inches.

Their size also means we can get a lot more creative with where they can go in a living space. Here is an example of a plasma we inset into a wall.





















Structured Wiring

Structured Wiring is a general term given to the centralised wiring and distribution of aerial, Sky, telephone and data cabling. We can wire a new home to allow you to move your Sky decoder to another room, while sharing the Sky channels with other TV's. Plug-and-Play networking and high speed internet, telephones and PBX systems, you name it. A well planned structured wiring system can offer the best in future proofing for your home.


  • Structured Wiring

  • Panel after termination and reticulation

Subwoofer Placement

A subwoofer is a very important part of the speaker set-up of Home Theatre. Small speakers MUST be used in conjunction with a subwoofer or no bass will be heard at all. With larger speakers, a subwoofer can be used for its intended Home Theatre role, as the LFE (low frequency effect) speaker. But to fill a big room, a subwoofer may also have to be large, and subs also sound best if they are placed along the front third of the room. This can all add up to lifestyle problems or performance compromises.

You may already have seen some pictures above, where a subwoofer is incorporated in with other equipment in a cabinet. Below are some photos of optimally placed subwoofers that perform perfectly, but are nicely tucked away from sight.


  • Front of cabinet with centre speaker seen

  • Cabinet wih front removed to reveal the sub-woofer

The Benefits:

Internet:

With the cost of high speed internet tumbling and its speed ever-increasing, more and more services and service providers are relying on an internet connection to communicate, update and better manage everything from your Sky connection to your CD collection.

Internet radio and downloadable movies are growing in popularity with those familiar with computers. Even in your traditional stereo system there are readily available CD players that down load artist and track information from the internet automatically as you insert the disk to make music selection faster, easier and more enjoyable.

The future really is now when it comes to the internet. Networking your home professionally is cheaper then you might think and not doing so will dramatically affect you and your family's ability to adopt emerging technologies and influence the resale value of your home.

Aerials:

With Sky TV proving to be more and more popular and free-to-air Digital TV now available, just "running a few wires" simply won't cut it.  A minimum now is three cables to your main viewing room (Sky, RF and free-to-air Digital) and these should be run to a central panel (in a "service area" like the garage) before being distributed to the rest of your home.

Phones:

Running your telephone cables to the same central services panel before heading around your home is also a great idea.  Phone cabling is very cheap, so don't be scared to run the cables to locations you might not think you need a phone.

Music and Theatre Systems:

These systems can be as easy or complicated as you like. When building, it can be as simple as tidying up the cabling for your existing system (by putting it in your walls) or introducing a new system that can distribute superb music into every major area of your home.  Specialised in-ceiling, in-wall and outdoor speakers can be used, or wired for and introduced later. Drop-down screens, projectors, you name it; it is all possible if well planned and professionally wired for.