v we to be is where house becomes the home we need to be helps people rediscover themselves and make a space that's comforting and nourishing all through the uplifting psychological psychological impact of color and design and speaking of design there are many different kinds of design so what i want to talk to you about today in an interview and also to introduce my really special guest is we're going to talk about the uplifting power of music and video and we're going to incorporate that into what we usually talk about which is whatever comes out of my mouth at the time so having said that i mean introduce my very very good friend  glad you're here professional all the consultants first before we even stop start tell everybody the name of your company and where you're located in millburn new jersey where you did it all for me yes professional audio consultant has been in over again just like you would change people's lives i mean it might sound a little dramatic and if they what what with music and film but yes it's true it does make a huge difference but there's no question about that y it's life is about the little things that you look forward to every day and every night and it has to do with your space and your environment when you come home and how does it make you feel and part of that is is there beautiful music playing in the background is there the appropriate lighting available is it easy for you to push one button when you get there and set a scene of your favorite music maybe your favorite music maybe it's james taylor or it's judy collins or crosby what you're hearing when you walk in and your company which is so cool and what i love and i remember when i lived in melbourne sometimes i would just stop by remember and just sit in one of those big theater chairs and listen to music just to calm down and just to feel good you'd let me just come into the showroom and that's basically what you do for people in their space every day though well actually going back to the showroom that's why i still have a showroom a lot of the people that are in the a v and integration business you know don't have showrooms anymore they've given up on the expense of having one for the purpose of having one but i feel that having that showroom is important so that people can come in and enjoy an experience they may not be even interested in buying anything but i invite people in all the time just to have some fun and to enjoy their favorite music or a clip of their favorite film yelp and it's a wonderful experience and i plan on continuing to do you know i think it's really valuable and even like you said even if they don't plan on buying something they remember the experience and they may pass that along to someone else who may ultimately come in and buy or purchase but like you said even if they don't and you've shared this nice experience well that's great i mean that's that's what it's all about making people feel good and i think what i wanted to ask you and i don't know the story and that's when comics i used to hear it i had previously said to you think of a story where you really felt you change someone's life who might have been going through a difficult transition that it could be you know divorce loss of a spouse empty nest syndrome whatever what or or or something else it doesn't but someone maybe they're having a difficult time and music or film or your transform them gave them a place to maybe get lost catch up with their with themselves do you have a story like well i have i have something that i think is worth sharing because i think as it was a very special moment for me because of what visit for the holidays last year for hanukkah and christmas and he brought a woman with him that he had just started a relationship with right and we were spinning vinyl in my home right we don't we were done not together to me that we had some great moments listening to my favorite tunes we have and that's basically where it started with the story was spinning vinyl for my friends and i had been to places moody blues music that night fast forward to six months later yeah now my friend marty and his new woman in his life have a relationship going and they're a couple and they come down from connecticut i know for a weekend to visit and they wanted to stop into my showroom because she had never seen display right and then all of a sudden without warning them i pushed the button and nights in white satin come on and i just expected it would be they would just like it because it would remind them of when they started their relationship but it went way further than what happened before i know it they are in this incredible embrace and they are hugging each other and they are tears coming down her face just jenny of joy i mean just the it just did something that really release  these this emotion in that they just were overwhelmed by the music and particularly mavi who is his his girlfriend right she just couldn't believe that i remembered to play that me again of what music can do for people to enhance their life and the reason why i do what i do and why have the show room still so that i thought that was maybe some of that is very moving who went who would think something like that would happen in the show again expecting it in your private space in your home absolutely but showroom if that's where it started you know that's that's a really that's a really cool story and it's really important i think when people are going through a rough time be able to escape and i don't think there's anything wrong with escaping and i think music transports us to another planet level place another space in our heart our minds whatever it is that we're wherever it is we might need to go while we may be catch up to get a little more strength so that when the music is done or you were engrossed in this film and it's over you might have some more more strength to move forward through whatever it is you're going through so it's like a it's a healthy escape no question about yeah i mean it's emotional it's something that i think all human beings need to be able to embrace and i think that once they have realized how important it is by going without it yeah you know then they really realize what they're missing and for me for example one of the ways i am able to do my job better is i go to live music performances a minimum of a half a dozen per every year and i go to a variety of different concerts and different size venues right so that i can really be familiar with a live performance so i can reproduce it in people's homes with the equipment that i design and install for them and i don't again i don't think that most people are doing that anymore it's something that's more old school that i really believe and that's what makes you so different to i mean you like you said earlier i mean you've been in love with music and started recommending equipment to your friends and family when you were fourteen am i right actually was in high school and had i thought a little nice two channel music system with the first money i earn from a part time job and it sounded so great all the people that heard it my friends and relatives said oh my god this is i learned more about the nuts and bolts of two channel audio and hi fi and sound and decided that's it was going to be my career so i just continued to do it after college and opened up my own business with a high school buddy be a ski instructor oh i'm going to be a tennis instructor in the summer and p a c is yours ok well good for you because that's what you wanted anyway yeah and that's your baby it worked out great and i'm sure we would have been good partners if he had stayed it turned out that he didn't and i just continued to work at the business and slowly but surely build it up over the course of time and you know you started off in the music end of it and already knowing innately as a young a young lad how important music is and how it can be moving in and stimulating and supportive emotionally but when you when that transition into the home theater happened when did you realize oh my gosh it's not just music it's it's visual as well i can watch i embrace new technology after i knew that it was going to be a valid technology so we started to get equipment in the mid eighty's and late eighty's that all allow us to put together home theaters we got projection t surround sound processors you are on the cutting edge though because your company is even now or you have all the latest and greatest stuff and i think we do that when we morphed from having just the ability to put together a home theater and somebodies family room right i actually do dedicated theater rooms with rows of theater chairs eyes and acoustic treatment on the walls and what we would call a theme theater yet so we are specialists in theme theaters now and we have one in the show room so we can show it off you helped  the colors and you have to like get out of it and you know what the advice that you gave me what was i feel if i telling you every time i show the theater off to somebody that's an architect or builder or an interior designer or somebody who's in the business i always say to them look at this theater it's a generic plain vanilla gray tones no wild elements of design you know it's very simple right it's it doesn't draw attention to anything but the equipment and the performance and that was your advice because you said look if you dress it up with all kinds of architectural elements inside elements yeah people will be distracted and they may not like the style and they may be put off by it and then you lose that whole excitement level so that was your advice really smart and it was yes i'm so smart the best thing oh i'm so glad you know what it did work on this was our second show room together actually the first one was where the mural was and the second one was yeah the new show room which is larger and more purpose built all the colors where your design colors and the lighting and you know the layout in the carpets and all of that right we design carpets everything it was it was a fun project there's been a number of people that have visited and love the colors yeah that's it they had to get your name so that they could call you and find out you know what colors i like this and that just goes to show that is that shows show that what we do is like a happy marriage because they're coming in there to listen to music to maybe see a film understand what the nuts and bolts are in a home theater situation but then the colors and everything surrounding it is also supporting your products if you if you will and making people feel good about it and that's really important vice versa so the same thing happens in reverse so we have a client right to see it you know talking about now the funny thing is neither of us knew we were in that project yes that's right it's just the name that i got hired to do the decor and they wanted a family room that was going and of theater room that was going to be great that was going to be just for teenagers but also be very adult like but also be comfortable for their their their children they have two children a fire recall and i'm college age and younger and they wanted it to be all purposeful so my job was to make it like that and your job was to use this beautiful screen down there with the sound system and while i was working when she first said i swear this is true you know we're having this system put and i said i know did you already hire the person because i know who you should hire and she said oh it's a done deal we got to dinner with them where friends i said oh my gosh my friend ralph turner key because yeah first he i said yes that's who's doing it and we have such a chuckle because here we are here i am promoting you and trying to get you in because i know you're the best and and i got this job through an architect and the architect got the job through the builder who got the job through me how funny is that it was a it was a team in fact i will show while we're talking that picture will come up somehow i have that picture you sent me and i also have a beautiful photo of it all decorated with your beautiful large screen theater yes and i think it was a spare bedroom as well as their bedroom and then an area to play either some type of game when you first walk in off the pool so they had so that was for me the challenge was and for you you had the same challenge but with different equipment i figure out how do i take two thousand where feet and section and also it's flowing but each thing is its own designated area without it being choppy and you had to make sure that the sound worked in all those areas that the theater was visible from really it's everywhere if you're standing playing a game if you're in the wine area wherever you are you can see that the gas screen but you know are they really the one of the best design elements of it something i did  we've done so many years or room is where you have to figure out what to do with the projector and you know there's different ways to hide it and we motorized it out of the ceiling there are some jobs and that's great but i love what we did and you came up with barrel design much that hides the projector and there's just a little round hole for the light beam to get out to hit the screen so totally stuff yeah yeah that that project and the nicest people just the nicest couple you know that actually i was having dinner at alfie's and over and warren and i had given alfie a new flat screen t v to hang over the bar because his was was horrible disaster and i just he wouldn't get a new one so i just gave him a new one is brought it over one day so this is us we'll put it in for you yeah and he said i'm going to get you business you are there you know you're a great guy thank you so much i'm going to get business for you and sure enough the next time i went there for dinner with m really expecting anything back it really does come back to you and i never really you know if you can just do things from your heart if you can have a passion a business anything and it comes from here and it's all centric it's going to give back to you here's a great example of that yesterday i went to a business networking meeting out in the meadowlands at the sports bar there yeah and there were about one hundred people there now i wasn't all that interested in that particular networking event cause it's so years so i showed up at the event it was a luncheon and i walk in and there's vick hanging out you know talk greeting people before it started so i walked up to me said ralph turn off the what are you doing here i said vick i'm only here because you're speaking i want to support you and you know i want to be a good turnout he said that that's really terrific i thank you for thinking of me like that you're a great guy so the event started and the speakers came up that he was the third and they asked and they got up and towards the end of his presentation which was how he built his business and what were his secrets for success yeah at the end he said one of my secrets is relationship building and making great relationships with people here and he said there's a guy here  kibitzing and right and milling around five or six other people came up to me and said i bought a system from you in the mid eighty's i bought a system from you in the niger now and the saudis funny all these people came out of the woodwork and and said i didn't recognize you but yeah i bought my system from you and i still have and with excitement so what does it say says two things quality cutting edge and what we talked about earlier is how do people feel when they're in their space when they hear something when they see something and when it's combined together it's a home run it's a home run like us we do like the whole thing if i'm doing the decor and you're doing the sound and the and everything it's a home run and that's what i think is important for people to understand that your surroundings are really an emotional mostly supportive place if you allow it to be if you don't if you don't put any love into it time effort or even money because you need money to do it doesn't have to be a lot always but if you put the time effort and money into your space it will give back you just like people do if you if you build a relationship in your space as well as with people you're going to be supported all the way around because we all have stuff that we go through and we all need that that that quiet safe sanctuary three don'ts that you want to get some advice like when you're shopping for audio equipment or if you're going to do a home theater never do or do give me some give me some himself ok i have i know you have thought i have something you got some i think that rule number one yes is you need to find somebody that you trust you know that is got a good reputation and expertise good reviews maybe you know somebody to use their services in the past not like a highway store well it's only you can say those mean yeah it's unlikely that a highway store or the internet yeah or somebody who you know works out of their house in a you know with a two person business t talking these systems even though they could be inexpensive five ten fifteen thousand dollars installed which is not a lot of money even those systems are complicated and they require knowledge of why five in computer networking it's more complicated now it's nothing like it was like when you were fourteen so you need the entire infrastructure and a business that has the right people a service department an installation department an engineer the grandmammas there is an issue hey ralph you know what this i can't figure out how to blah blah blah or use this memo control it you've got a person to talk to so purchasing from two or three different sources like the t v comes from the highways and then you buy a pair of speak from this other company internet and then you that's not a good when a guy gets approaches to try to get the entire package as a design system from one supplier now and you'll be much happier if you do it that way as opposed to piecemealing it and we're trying to do it yourself  and you know you end up spending a lot more money on the reduce and i think the other part of it is the after care for equipment like this i had a client for example on sunday morning while i was in yoga class with my wife yeah  guess i get you know a text so i get back to the lockers and there's a text from one of my clients that their family room system won't power up and they're having a little family get together and i wanted to use  sunday so i was all ready to jump into action but i found that my staff had already taken care of it because we every system we do we can do resets and we can do re boots from our phone or from a computer that's what's great about your company it really isn't and you really do i know your you are very high end and cutting edge but you also do those the lower end as well which is really nice to know a lot of times people can even trade up they can buy something from you and say you know what i don't want to start from scratch grasso here ralph can i can i put this toward something else and then i know in the past you've tried to sew and then you know get something a little higher quality or something a little bit different so you really you do you really do address everybody even though you know you you are on the cutting edge and everything in your shoes you're in your showroom is just fantastic and your staff is i've known your staff for many years as well they really are on top of things and you did many years ago what i'm going to be fifty nine but for my fiftieth birthday you surprised me with a fiftieth birthday present with my beautiful totem speakers still have a right hand i still do i think they're perfect and you know that model of totem speaker the arrow is  that is still in their line and we still several years have to come with some of the other ones in their line they're not really selling any more like the what the forest or there are some other ones but i know my arrows are still selling and they were perfect for me so  that's what i saw these go to one one place don't buy from different place i'm revealing don't buy one thing from t v from here and the speakers from there never do that at least go to one place and also check out make sure they have a reputation and i think a showroom is in there and there's not a lot anymore these days a lot of them have changed their business model but i think getting involved with the process of the system design and coming to the showroom to get a demonstration is very important it is not enough people do that they just blindly make purchases based on brand name or specifications yeah but i think getting a full demo is a much better idea particularly when you're talking about home automation or integration systems because we're talking about not just really already our video we're talking about controlling lighting shades h b o everything all of we do i think people realize that your use it's like a what yours is a one stop place to to go and  even if i know i've sent people to you before where they've just simply gone in for advice they might not but that you even do that which is that i do that all the time for sex and yeah you never said oh gosh if you're not interested you're not like that i don't feel that high pressure when you walk into your showroom at all i feel like you just want to hang out there grab a cup of coffee and just sit in one of those cushy chairs you know we're doing something new also that we started working on which is for real estate agents they are helping people sell their house and people have you know four or five flat screen t v s these days and a rack of the quitman in a closet or in their basement and a lot of speakers all over the place so they don't know what to watch and they don't know what to leave so now you're giving that kind of that i had no charge  estate agent can refer me to their client right i can go to their home for an hour and look at everything and say yeah leave that ten year old plasmid yeah behind take a one year old l t d four k t v with you that rack of equipment over there do go hand in hand and if you want to get into the new space you got to get rid of the old space and vice versa you know also it's important well i think that you gave really good tips and i hopefully that everyone the listening out there understands the value of the importance of feeling good in your home and whether it's musically whether it's video whether it's watching a fantastic old movie your new movie or feeling the beautiful surroundings of your home based on the color the placement of everything that's in the space whatever it is it only has to work together and it can be a support of the experience especially when going through a bad time and even better when going through a good time i mean is there for us like your best friend second thing you can always put on the moody blues and you know nights in white satin will always come back and haunt you in a good way you know make you feel good so that's i think about what we both do we always want our our clients to feel good in the end it really isn't about what they bought or how much they spent is how do they feel at the end of the process do you know that every time i walk down the steps into my theater room oh yeah i was mosaic steps that you did you know that design element is one of my favorite things about the room so much it's just they're just e difference tell everybody one more time your exact address and how to reach you website phone number so if you want to check out pack online it's w w w dot p a c dash n j dot com our showroom is a two sixty nine over an avenue in melbourne were by appointment so it's a good idea to contact us first if you go to my website you can see a gallery of all different types of photos of different projects that we've done we're very specialized with outdoor music and sound as well as all the indoor stuff that we talked about and i think that if you want to get a little bit of knowledge about rodeoing video and integration where we're good people to talk to and it's  think i'm going to show you so you know i guess i guess there's a type issue since we have the doors on here right let's let's do this so george ok this is the kind of shoe dedicated to route turn off the second kick down the door