Demo theater for sale

We’re selling our demo theater. We’ve got some incredible equipment available for a terrific price. Here’s the system –
Runco RX-1100 Ultra with Cinewide and Autoscope – Proteus D – Anamorphic widescreen projector – 1080p, SuperOnyx DMD (DLP) device, AutoScope motorized lens assembly with top of line McKinley anamorphic lens. This is a current model. Manufacture date is 3-28-07. Brand new bulb (less than 30 hours use). Less than 1400 hours of use on projector. Ceiling mounting kit included. The projector is in perfect condition with only a small scratch on the front where the anamorphic lens slid by too close. Current retail is $34,995. A six month warranty is included.
The screen is a wall mount Da-LitePro-Imager Horizontal motorized masking screen is also included. The screen is a fixed Cinema Contour screen with Da-Mat material that measures 92” diagonal (45” x 80”) when masked and 116” diagonal (45” x 106”) when un-masked. The motorized masking is controlled by the projector and raises automatically when the anamorphic lens is engaged. The projector is capable of delivering a larger picture than this, if your room will accommodate it. This screen is normally sells for $2290.
Pioneer SC-07 – Elite series surround sound receiver – Four HDMI inputs with Faroudja scaling and TWO HDMI outputs (for primary and secondary monitors). This near top of the line receiver features High end audio section including THX Ultra2 Plus certification, Dolby TruHD, DTS HD Master Audio and much more. With 140 watts of D class amplification for each of the seven channels it has the horsepower to drive high end speakers in a large room. This is an ’08 model and retailed for $2,200.
Triad front speakers and subwoofers –The black paint finish InRoom Gold LCR’s (3 each) are one small step down from Triad’s top of the line Platinum series. Designed for high output in medium to large home theaters, these are some of the finest front channel speakers available. The LCR’s feature dual 8 ½” woofers, a single 5 ½” mid-range, and a single 1” dome tweeter in an acoustically inert enclosure. These speakers are still current models and retail for $1900 each. One InRoom Platinum PowerSub 18” subwoofer with outboard 1000 watt amplifier and two InWall Bronze/6 PowerSubs 10” subwoofers (without grills) with 250 watt amplifiers are also included. The Platinum sub and amp retails for $2850 and the Bronzes sell for $1450 each. Not included are surround sound speakers or the grills for the Bronzes if you want to wall mount them. Surround sound speakers will depend on application, but for reference the OnWall Gold Surrounds are $1500 each. More appropriate to may installations is the OnWall Silver Surround at &750 each. Grills for the Bronze subs are $50 each.
An RTI T4 7” touchscreen and RP-6 control processor are also included. The RTI is currently programmed to control this equipment, but will have to be updated when the final installation is complete. This is a high end control and processor that will provide both IR and RS-232 control of your equipment. Again this is a current model and retails for $2500 and $600 respectively. Labor to modify the programming is not included.
A Sony BDP-S300 first generation BluRay DVD player is also included. The current model sells for $300.
Finally a 44 space Middle Atlantic rack is included to house all of the equipment. The receiver has a custom rack shelf. The Triad amplifiers are also rack mounted. The rack also includes a 3 space drawer and a shelf for the DVD player. Most of not all of any additional equipment you purchase will be able to be housed in this rack. This is about a $750 inclusion.
All equipment is in excellent condition. There may be some scuffs and scratches here and there, but nothing significant. Upon receipt of payment all equipment will be boxed and delivered to your storage facility. Some items have original boxes, the other items will be boxed safely. The projector will have a six month warranty. The surround receiver will have a factory warranty. The DVD and touchpanel will have no warranty. The speakers will have a three year warranty. This system is still on display and you are welcome to inspect the performance of the system at any time mutually agreeable.
The price for over $53,000 worth of equipment is $20,000. If you are interested please contact Rick @ 719-659-4756 or Robert @ 305-877-4061.

Still Kicking

What an unreal trip the last 7 months have been. First, I am sorry for not posting for so long. They say time flies faster and faster as you get older, I know now that it is true. The months since we moved from our office have been a complete blur. The good news is that we’re still here as a living viable business entity.

 When you put what has happened to our part of the economy into real words it is frankly something of a miracle there are any companies like ours still in business. Companies in our industry created 80%-90% of their revenue from new construction, with most of us concentrating on mid to high end residential. So far all of my closest friends around the country have survived, but there have been some very good CEDIA companies that have shuttered their operations. I know that many, if not most, in the construction industry are in a similar position. It is astounding that our economy could change so dramatically so quickly.

I’ve been characterizing the time up to early March as the running backwards phase. Rick, Tom, Jonathan, Carl, Sheri and I spent those months moving, installing, servicing, and trying to make sure we were reducing everything possible to ensure our survival. I’ve re-arranged the office at least twice and Carl has done the same to our three warehouse locations.  While we haven’t perfected our new operational model, we do feel like we’ve stopped running the wrong direction and are making reasonable forward progress again.

I am thankful for all of the support that we received from clients, vendors and friends. I’m not all that active a Christian, but I do believe in God. Something I remember from Sunday school says to the effect of “He will never encumber us with more than we can bear”. I know I butchered that, but the effect is accurate. This sentence along with all your support helped me through those very difficult months. I can’t thank you all enough.

That completes the going backwards update. From here on out we are determined to go forward. I’ll be posting much more often so check back soon.

Robert

We’re Moving

Throughout my life I have always been proactive. I have the type of personality that would rather deal with an issue than hope it goes away. To that end the economy is forcing us to do some things I would rather not. No, we’re not going out of business, but we are making some pretty major changes.

 

In the spring of 2007, after three straight years of multi-million dollar revenue’s, we decided to move into a facility and staff up to support that volume of business. Unfortunately shortly after we did this the economy started to slow. We were able to support the staff and facility until recently, but the near total stagnation in the economy, and especially new home building, has forced us to act before it is too late. By acting now we will be able to preserve the company and to live up to the commitments we have made to our current and previous clients. Recently Lehman Brothers waited too long and were done, while Merril-Lynch, recognizing their predicament, acted early and were able to avoid disaster. We’re taking the Merril-Lynch approach.

 

At the end of this month we will be moving our offices to our off-site theater showroom facility. The off-site theater showroom happens to be my house.  It’s strange how things work out. Two years ago when we bought this home we were not looking for a home this large. Now it will be a big benefit as it has a large basement with a separate street side entry. We will house all business operations there as well as maintaining a high performance home theater display, our theater seating display, motorized window covering displays, and will be able to demo the new products from Lifeware (www.exceptionalinnovation.com), Sonos (www.sonos.com), Pioneer Elite, Lutron, and a very cool new movie server from Escient. We’re very excited about the new digital entertainment technologies and our new facility will allow you to experience them in an environment much like your own home.

 

We are trying to retain as many of our staff as we can. I can tell you that our core personnel are in tact and staying that way. You are going to see Rick and myself in the field more often and as long as we can do enough business to support the rest of our staff we obviously want to keep them. We have established relationships to allow us to handle the large projects that we are so well known for. One change that has already happened is that we laid Sandee off a couple of weeks ago. My wife Sheri has returned to her former position as business manager. Her email is sheri@connected-technologies.com.

 

I have spent 25 years in Colorado Springs in the electronics field and have worked very hard to establish an outstanding reputation based on honesty and integrity. I realize that the moves we have made and are about to make could cast doubt on our solvency. It is my hope that this letter will dissolve any fears that you may have. I realize that this letter may be unusual in its openness, but really we don’t have anything to hide and our future has always depended on the maintenance of our relationships.

 

On a positive note the downturn has allowed us the time to fix a few things that we have been meaning to address for some time. First, we would like to communicate with you more often. With our updated website we have started a blog. You can read it anytime by clicking the link at the bottom of our home page. Second, we would like to send you occasional emails with pertinent information about what is happing in the technology world. Unfortunately we don’t have very many email addresses in our database. You can let us know your email address in one of these ways; log onto our website (www.connected-technologies.com) and select the “Join Our Email Update List” button at the bottom of the home page. You can also call the office at 598-3933 and leave the address. You can fax the address to 719-598-0927, and finally you can email it to me at robert@connected-technologies.com. Of course we won’t share it and will be very respectful of your time.

 

Finally, we need your help to weather this slowdown. You can help by calling us with your electronic systems needs and referring Connected Technologies to your friends. There are a lot of really positive things happening in our world and you are invited to come to our new offices and experience much of it. We’ve been working hard to find the easiest to use products for our clients and have worked out many ways to integrate these products into your existing systems. By stopping by you can experience lighting design, lighting control, digital media distribution, 2.35 aspect ratio home theater, motorized window coverings and whole home automation. We can now provide you with interactive access to entertainment in ways that simply were not possible even a couple of years ago. Just like photographs, music and movies are migrating from hard media (like CD’s and DVD’s) to virtual media (which means it is stored on a hard drive or on the internet). The virtual world has opened many new features and unbelievable amounts of media.  

 

Thank you for your time and for allowing me to spend over 25 years doing something I enjoy in a town that I love. I am confident these changes will allow us to survive the downturn and that we will emerge in a stronger position when things pick up again. I’m looking forward to working with all of you to re-build Colorado Springs and its economy.

Open letter

From time to time I have given an update of the happenings here at Connected Technologies. This year has been a rather interesting one for a variety of reasons.

 

First I want to address a rumor that has been floating around town that I am selling Connected Technologies and moving away. This spring I was asked by one of our industries major manufacturers if I would be interested in directing their product development. As the offer was too intriguing to ignore we discussed this possibility for almost three months before deciding that it was not going to work. It was an interesting discussion, one that made me examine my goals and the other things that were really important to me. During those three months I had to prepare both my family and Connected Technologies for the possibility that we would relocate while maintaining the distinct possibility that I wouldn’t. In the end I decided that we have too many good things in Colorado Springs to leave. So the rumor was partially true, but rest assured that I am not going anywhere.

 

Many of you may have noticed that the economy is struggling. It has dramatically affected new home building which has traditionally been the core of our business. I have been talking with other local businessmen and it seems while new home construction has slowed there has been an up-tick in small remodeling and landscaping projects. It seems folks are spending more time at home and are spending their money accordingly. Thanks to over 20 years of satisfied clients we still have many larger projects as well as these smaller projects. It turns out we are not struggling as much as some of our colleagues. That said we could always use a few more projects. Please don’t forget us if you are considering updating your televisions to take advantage of all the wonderful HDTV programming available. Our prices are competitive with Best Buy and you receive experience and expertise that they simply cannot match. For many of our clients we have coordinated cabinet and wall reconstruction to accommodate the new rectangular TV’s. We have relationships with quality tradesmen that can match your current cabinetry or modify the structure in a way that looks like it was built that way in the first place. A new high definition TV and the new Comcast high definition cable box with digital video recorder or a new satellite receiver makes those evenings at home much more enjoyable. We enjoy these small projects because they allow us to re-connect with our clients and improve upon systems we did years ago.

 

We may also have some capabilities that you may not know about. While we’re known for entertainment systems (we’re up to seven home theater awards and I’ve lost track of the number of magazines we’ve been in), we are also the place to go for lighting design, lighting control, motorized window treatments, retro-fit wiring for all types of systems, and security.

 

Recently we updated our corporate image. Jeff Woods of Impressive Business Image crafted our updated logo that you see at the top of this letter. It incorporates our original double swoosh (indicating the connection of technologies and design) but with a more refined look. Jeff also helped with our updated web site that was launched last week at www.connected-technologies.com. The website has many new images, lots of new information, case studies that show how we created some of our projects, and a full list of the impressive accomplishments of Connected Technologies. Please visit it when you have a chance and let me know what you think.

 

Over the summer we had a few personnel changes. Sean Turner, who had been with me for over five years, took a job with a government contractor. Sean was one of our all time favorite team members and we will miss him. Steve Peterson also took another job and is now working for Synthes in Monument. Steve had been with me for almost ten years, but finally couldn’t keep wiring houses in the cold. Steve was one of the best people I have ever met and I wish him well. New to the crew is Jonathan Fugate. Jonathan is the son of one our clients and is a super individual. Dave, Tom, Rick and I will be training him to do trim and finals over the next year or so. Chris Lacey has rejoined the company after a year long absence. Chris is filling a variety of positions here, from CAD operator to project manager to technician. David McGill is still the man in the technical department and Tom Wisk is also doing a great job out in the field.

 

My favorite new team member is Diane Casper. You’ll most likely speak with her when you call the office. She answers the phone, does the billing, coordinates our security accounts, and is great person to see when you walk through the front door. Sandee is still with us and is now completely running the business side of the operation. Unfortunately my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer so Mom has moved to Mississippi to take care of her. The good news is grandma is doing well; the bad news is that we have no idea when Mom will return. Personally, I am hoping it is a long time. Finally, Rick was prepared to step into my shoes if the product director position had happened. He has been my right hand for eight years now and remains committed to the excellence that we have a well deserved reputation for.

 

I realize that this letter is a little long, but the relationships I and my company have created over the last 21 years are important to me, my family and our staff. It is important to the success of Connected Technologies that our clients and suppliers understand where we are, what we are capable of and that we are going to be here for a very long time.

 

Please don’t forget us when you need anything electronic for your home.

 

Best regards,

 

Robert R Ridenour

President