And he is right! However, although we both know this, often our ‘domestic’ customers are either unaware of the importance of good room acoustics, think they must have a dedicated home cinema room to benefit or think that cost will be prohibitive. Many have the opinion that if they spend more on equipment then this will deliver a superior performance. This may be so, but a lower cost system will probably sound better if the room has been acoustically treated.

For the past twenty years he has concentrated on providing an expert service in audio products and his passion for 'build' quality and repair quality has never weakened. For Audio Trends, Barry handles our speaker repairs in the form of re-cones, roll surround replacements, cross-over upgrades etc. and, of course, valve amplifier repairs, as well as our day to day out-of-warranty repairs

Gerald’s attention to detail is incredible, which is how he came to our attention in a joint house of worship project in the late 1980’s. He has completed a number of large projects on our behalf, but without doubt his finest hour was reached when he completed our Ringwood Showroom. Evidence of his quality workmanship is all over the building – inside and out. The Ticket Box is one of Gerald’s masterpieces, as are all the internals of Home Cinema One and Two. So, whether he is at our place or your place, the workmanship will be top class.

Gerald Hynes
Accoustic Panels

After many years employed at a corporate level in the commercial building industry specialising in the supply and installation of Acoustic and Insulation products, Gerald saw an opportunity to offer made to order specialised products to meet the requirements of Architects, Acoustic Consultants and A/V specialists like Audio Trends. He is without doubt the pre-eminent supplier of these products and services in Australia and has access to all the best materials and suppliers from around the world, thus keeping his factory very busy.

Fabri-Trak is one of his outstanding products and has revolutionised acoustic treatments. No more front-runner on MDF panels, this product with its almost endless choice of fabrics knows no boundaries. Any shape and even motifs are possible. Visit the Fabritrak web site for more information or come and see our samples. Our main Cinema has been acoustically treated by Gerald. Come and have a personal demonstration. You will be impressed!

In addition to all sorts of shop fitting and cabinet building, Joe is the man who does all our CAD drawings for our customers building dedicated Home Cinemas. This has made our calculations for materials and acoustic treatment a lot easier to work out accurately.

There are plenty of so-called Antenna experts, but John is one of very few who really know how to get it right the first time. Sure, installing an Antenna to just a single point can be pretty straight forward, but designing and installing a reliable  multi-room digital system that delivers perfect pictures in every room, even on pay TV is something best not left to amateurs! And yet, we regularly see systems which the very opposite is true. Often a builder, to save on costs and maximise his profits has employed his electrician or a cheap contractor to run the cables.

To illustrate, installing a multi-room antenna system is like baking a cake. You can have all the ingredients, but if you don’t know how to mix them up and how long to cook them for then the result can be disastrous. The point is this; a cake only costs a few dollars to replace, whereas a proper antenna fix can be very painful. If you want it done right the first time, then John is your man. Want more proof. Check out our showroom which has dozens of antenna points. You will see perfect pictures in every room on every channel and it wasn’t expensive!

You may be wondering where you have heard this name before! Well Matthew’s younger brother Garry has been employed with Audio Trends since the late 1990s. Matthew followed in the footsteps of his father and older brother and completed his trade as a carpenter – Garry was a bit of a rebel!

Matthew heads up our Major Projects construction section and is responsible for ensuring your home cinema plans become a reality. This can be a challenge and is a lot more work than just adding a room. Things like tiered seating, bulkheads, stage areas, sound-proof doors need special attention. Co-ordination of the various trades is essential for a smooth running project and then there is always the unexpected delay or problem that has to be dealt with effectively. Matthew, like absolutely all our trade people has the quiet and mild spirit to deal with any and every situation. He is well organised, very approachable and unlike many in the construction industry, treats our customers in a dignified manner! Like us, you will really appreciate his work skills and happy disposition.

We first met Marc at a time when ‘wiring’ a home for more than surround sound was becoming a reality. Marc has taken his experience as an A grade electrician and added a number of useful qualifications to his repertoire. Top of the list for us is his skill with the Clipsal range of systems including the highly regarded and very popular Clipsal C-Bus electrical management system of which Marc is qualified as a Design Integrator.

With Clipsal C-Bus, anything that plugs into a power point can be operated by a key-pad, remote control or from your computer – even if you’re in the office or overseas – all via the Internet! Our Ringwood showroom has been fully wired as a ‘smart-home’ although it is of course a ‘smart-showroom’. Lighting, air-conditioning, multi-room music, projector lifts and security cameras can all be operated from a number of different locations. Our installation is extremely neat and is a real credit to Marc.

Paul Spence and Allan Luttrell have been customers of Audio Trends for many years and so when it came to advice on doors, especially our ‘sound-proof’ doors in the premier cinema room we needed look no-where else. The inner doors weigh around 170kgs each and it took four of us to each one into position! The outer doors with their double glazing and etched panels look absolutely fantastic.

Both Paul and Allen have in-depth knowledge of construction techniques, STC ratings and can do almost anything in doors! Again, although they can access budget priced doors, most of our customers want their expertise on speciality doors. Every timber door in our showroom is from the hand of Paul and Allan.

When we came to design the cinema rooms in our new showroom, there was one decision that was both easy to make and unanimously agreed upon by everyone: we had to install Boral CinemaZone wall treatments in every room. After all, we have been recommending it to our clients since its excellent acoustic properties first became recognized. Acoustically, its performance is as good as it gets!

When speaking with Boral about our plaster requirements, they only had one request – and that was we use Richard Glaister and his team to install the plaster. Why? Because we had selected to use Boral Soundstop and in their opinion he was the only plaster contractor who was interested enough to be trained in how to design a room that utilises Soundstop. You may think this a bit of a laugh, but seriously unless the sheets overlap in order and are correctly sealed, then the benefits are reduced. This goes both for cable access points and air-conditioning ducts. Interested? Then either get your builder to contact Richard or call him direct on 0402-228-262.

Today’s Home Cinema systems demand innovative furniture solutions. We are now well known and experienced in the designing and building of handcrafted furniture that will provide convenient, practical storage for all your audio and video components. To meet the needs of our customers, some of our furniture designs end up being incredibly complex pieces. Enter Stephen Ford! Stephen has a medium sized operation, very well laid out and capable of handling the big and unusual things that we or our customers dream up.

You can inspect some of our unique and functional designs in the showroom that Stephen has made. You will be very impressed with the workmanship and finish. We can manufacture almost anything you need from an extensive range of solid timbers or contemporary finishes. Select from one of our designs or we can build your design.