Offices have been trending towards the “open office” model for quite some time, usually with one or two dedicated conference spaces. These spaces were usually large and most likely had use restrictions on them, sending the employees back to their open office to work on read more
Audio – Twenty Years Ago. One Almo BDM’s Fond Memories and Meager Beginnings
Hello Almo Customers! As the New Year begins, I thought I’d take a moment to introduce myself, as I am one of the newer Business Development Managers here at Almo. My name is Steve Alexander, I came on board with Almo in July of 2017 to help grow the audio offerings we read more
Eight Reasons to Seriously Consider Panasonic’s AG-DVX200
In 2002 Panasonic introduced the first truly affordable digital progressive scan camera with the release of the AG-DVX100. The camera recorded in SD format, with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Later came the AG-HVX200, which provided 24p, 1080p HD or 720p video formats. These came read more
BRING YOUR DIGITAL SIGNAGE OUT OF LA LA LAND
I recently spent a “date night” with my husband watching the beautifully shot widescreen CinemaScope, LA LA LAND. The vivid colors, dancing, and music brought my thoughts to a time when movies were “silent”. Imagine how less invigorating the movie would have been with read more
AV in the National Park Service: Preserving the Sounds of Nature
I’m a huge fan of the park service and visit them quite frequently. This summer I’m headed to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. My idea of camping is with a full service hotel and restaurant but I do like it when there’s no TV and no cell phone reception, which was the case on my visit to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Check out these pictures of ancient Pueblo Indian dwellings from yours truly.
This year the National Park Service is celebrating its 100 anniversary in August and there have been lots of stories on the news providing coverage on the celebratory activities throughout the country. A few weeks ago, NPR did a segment on how sound engineers are going deep into the parks to record the natural soundscapes of streams, waterfalls, animals and all parts of nature that make our parks so spectacular. I was thinking about all those kids that grow up wanting to be a park ranger, then get into a band in high school carting around their own A/V equipment. Then through a turn of events, they end up in the A/V industry. Well guess what? Apparently you can do both!
One thing that was particularly interesting are the studies they are doing on how humans and our sound pollution affect the animals. The bio acoustical scientist in the interview, Kurt Fristrup, explained that just a few changes in decibels can have a great effect on their ability to hunt.
“Imagine you’re an owl looking for your dinner,” Fristrup said. “A three decibel increase in sound level cuts in half the area in which you could hear those sounds,” he said. “So you are half as efficient in finding food, with a relatively subtle increase in background sound level.”
Click Here to read the entire interview or download the segment.
Bose Knows: An Experience in Innovation
I’ve been waiting patiently since October to write about one of the most interesting experiences I’ve had in a long time – our visit to Bose Corporate Headquarters in Boston. For those of you who have been in the Pro AV industry a long time, you hear the words “factory tour” and you have flash backs of walking miles in hot warehouses, speeches about operational excellence and those signs that read “No Accidents in 213 days!”. This was not the case at Bose, which started at the uber impressive Wall of Patents (which was actually not a wall but a long corridor because there are SO many of them) . I asked our tour guide where he had been before Bose, thinking he would name another audio company and he said, “Finishing my Ph.D at Harvard”. Suffice it to say there are A LOT of REALLY brilliant people at Bose engineering A LOT of brilliant technology.
I had no idea there was an actual Dr. Bose before my trip. He was a professor at MIT and fostered a culture of research, excellence and courage to try new things. You immediately get this strong sense of culture when talking to anyone working there, which thanks to Dr. Bose, remains a privately held company that is dedicated to R&D. We saw it in action in, of all places, the shuttle bus! Look, it’s the Almo event at Bose!
And then, there is a specially designed seat on the shuttle with Bose seat suspension technology, the smoothest ride on the road. Here’s our Director of Business Development, Brian Rhatigan experiencing the ride:
This was the tip of the iceberg. The day was filled with all sorts of amazing experiences.
Ever imagine being in an underground bunker with a couple of hundred speakers going at full blast just to see at what point they fail? Been there, done that.
Ever imagine seeing speakers baked, sea salted, cooled, dropped, kicked, stretched and stressed to the absolute limit? Been there, done that too. You can’t believe the trials and tribulation they put their products through! All to make sure they are providing you with the highest quality products, even in the most outrageous of conditions.
Here we are at the end of the tour in a room that blocks all sorts of signals for specialized testing. Don’t ask me to explain it because after all, I’m in marketing. That’s why we have our audio BDM extraordinare, Rob Ziv.
Almo ProAV team at Bose Headquarters (from left): Brian Rhatigan, Melody Craigmyle & Sam Taylor
I can’t tell you how excited we are to partner with Bose. And I think our dealers are going to be very impressed with the level of excellence, innovation and support from the folks at Bose plus our team of highly trained account managers. Take a look at Bose’s microsite for learn more.
