SpaceCoast AV Communications SpaceCoast AV, Audio Visual Installers, Contractors, AV Integrators, Home Remodeling Melbourne Florida

We have done work for Gary Heyes in the past in which he gave us a glowing review.

Gary purchased replacement equipment on line that consisted of a new AVR and remote control. He never told me what products he purchased, just the brand names.

I arrived at 2:15 on a Monday afternoon, thinking this would be an easy 1/2 day install. That was not the case.

It took about three hours to analyze the system, as its connectivity had been altered since we were last there in 2014. Throughout the process of analysis, I asked questions based on my discoveries, by 5:30, Lorie Heyes and son told me that the house had been struck by lighting and a few things stopped working.  Findings; router had burnt ports, Yamaha AVR network port burnt out, Samsung Bluray player was changed to Sony, Sony Multi Disk DVD HDMI out not working. The remote control was crushed in the couch and the customer wanted the new remote programmed to operate the same way the old one did. Without the use of the screen and the changing out of the equipment it is impossible to simply load old code on an MRX450, the programming manual tells you to start a new program.

They wanted me to reconnect the Yamaha RXA2020 receiver that was struck by lightning to power 2 of the 3 secondary zones in the house. I informed Lori that we could do what she asked but that because the network port was burned out that she could not control the Yamaha via the app and would have to manually control the device with the MRX remote control. During the next hour, I removed many cables that were not connected to the equipment in the cabinet. I toned out all the home zones and then labeled the cables both audio and video I needed to connect the new AVR. Please note, I have done many, many installs since we were last at the Heyes home in 2014, I do not think it reasonable to assume or expect, as the customer did, that I would be able to instantly recall how the system was connected. It takes time and the fact that they hid the lightning strike from me compounded the amount of time to perform the av system retrofit.

I removed the old Denon AVR that was driving 2 of the 3 secondary home zones and replaced it with the Yamaha RXA2020 reconnecting the 2 zones, I proceeded to connect the new Marantz AVR, SR7011, I ran through the on screen system set up and calibration GUI, calibrating each of the 8 positions. Problems ensued at this point. The Heyes like loud bass, the bass settings were way outside the level of the on screen GUI. I had to pull each of the subs from their respective housings and manually adjust the levels to achieve the green indication the Marantz GUI recommended. During the sound calibration process Gary comes home, I motion to him to stay silent, but he does not understand so he voids the 30 minutes sound calibration I just went through, I say nothing as I will redo this tomorrow. It's now after 7 O'clock in the evening and they want to know how the system works. But the set up not done. So I continue with the next phase, network setup, since I do not know their network password I have to engage the customer. The Marantz gives the option to set up via an iPad  so we do. At this point we test the various sources everything works fine except the cable box video, for some reason the Marantz internally oversized the video. After trying to fix this issue for a few minutes, Gary turns to me and says, "I guess it would have been nice if I told you Dave what model I had bought before hand". (thinking to myself,  Yes it would have.) You see, I knew what was causing and why the video was not formatted correctly but because I was not familiar with the product, a fact that Gary was well aware of, I did not know where to readily make the corrections in the Marantz menu. So together we tried settings  to no avail. I said that I would research the manual to find out where we need to make the change. Next I was informed that the Smart TV sound had never worked correctly with the Yamaha AVR, that the ARC never worked. We then took to the Sharp TV's menu to check on the ARC sound settings.  We wasted about an hour trying to get the ARC to work, during that time, going in and out of menus on the TV and the Marantz, I found and fixed the problem with the video over sizing itself from the cable box. The system sound did not sound very good, it was late and we agreed that I would return in the morning and continue the work.

I research both the Marantz and the customer file early that Tuesday morning. I did confirm that equipment had been changed out since the initial install, that we had not connected the Main HDMI out of the AVR to the HDMI ARC input on the TV, we were connected to HDMI 1, ARC is HDMI 3. I also confirmed from my notes that we did have problems with the Sony Multi Disk DVD HDMI output and that we had run 2 additional HDMI cables between TV and the equipment cabinet.

Upon arriving the next morning at 9, I informed Lori of my findings, that we were not connected to the ARC channel but where using the 3.5mm audio out from the TV because on the Yamaha, the ARC only works with HDMI control on. The Yamaha HDMI control, when switched on, would override the MRX450 smart remote, something we saw 2 years prior during the initial install.

The plan moving forward was to see if we could use the ARC on the TV to get better sound from the Smart TV's Netflix App. You see, unlike the Yamaha, the Marantz gives you the options to select what capabilities are shared over the HDMI cable between the TV and AVR. So we are able to turn the ARC on and subsequently shut off control signals so the AVR/HDTV would not compromise the remote control system. I physically made the changes to the TV connections (moving from HDMI1 to 3) and made the appropriate changes to the internal menu settings on the Marantz. I then told Lori that I had to perform the sound calibration once again, she agreed telling me that it did not sound right last night after I left.

At 9:45 I started the sound calibration again, since the bass was non-existent, it was agreed that we would not follow the on screen GUI instructions from the Marantz, setting the bass levels on each sub louder than recommend by the Marantz system message. Once again I pulled the subs from inside their cabinets to make the appropriate adjustments to the bass and replacing each back inside the cabinets when complete. I began the 8 position room calibration, at position 5 Lori returned, it took until 10:30 to finish the calibration. I then sat with her until 11:45 or so, during that time I went through the AVR receiver menus backwards and forwards, listening to each of the different sound modes from each of our video sources, together we made custom adjustment to the system bass and overall sound. I showed her where and how to manipulate all the system settings on the Marantz and explained what some of the new features were, I did not sell them this product, however, I did research Marantz, teach Lori not only how to use it but to understand the AVR, something over and above the normal work protocols at most av companies. During this time we had some difficulties with the HDTV's internal sound settings, so we spent time ensuring the ARC was in fact on and had to return to the internal sound settings to the Marantz and make more changes to finally sync the ARC from the HDTV

At this time the customer had to get ready to go to work but her son was going to be there for the rest of the day so I could continue my work.

Next, I had to go through each of the system activities, 9 in all, to ensure each worked prior to programming the new MRX remote. During this time I discovered that the Marantz, SR7011, an 11.2 channel AVR, only had 9 internal amplifiers making it impossible to drive one of the 3 secondary home zones, I had pull equipment to rewire the 3 secondary listening zones to the Yamaha to get the system to work as it did before, next I had to connect the Yamaha video output to the TV to reconfigure the internal amplifiers settings to drive the 3 secondary home audio zones. All these checks take time, so I walked through the house to verify that each was working. At this point it is around 1:15 PM, all 9 system activities are connected and working manually.

It's now time to proceed with the remote programming. As always it is common practice to ensure the product has the latest firmware and data base loaded. I found that the remote was vintage 2011, yes 2011, it had firmware and database code from 2011. I had problems interfacing with the remote initially but was able to overcome the problem with a call to technical support and update the remote to the latest code and firmware. It's now about 2 PM.

I begin the initial program of the remote, I am finished inputting all the equipment and ir codes fairly quickly testing the various commands to the equipment as I go. Even though there are 7 pieces of equipment, there are many more one touch activities that need to be programmed. This takes about an hour. During the test, I run into a problem with the power off sequence. Not being able to correct the problem because of the of the remote's limited capabilities, I default the remote and start again. It's now about 3:45. I finally take an hour break. I return and start programming the remote, in hindsight this was a mistake on my part, I was very tired and should have left for the day, I wanted very much to complete the work and make the customer happy, so I stayed. By 5:45 I was ready to test the remote again, at this point everything is working, I begin fine tuning the activities and their Macros, it's now 6:15, Gary comes home and issues an ultimatum to be done at 6:30. I am actually done with just some minor changes. Everything appears to be working well. All I need is the customer to run through the device overnight provide me with the changes the next morning. We never reach this part.

During the next few minutes Gary insults and disrespects me, I let it roll off, he then made the mistake of demanding to pay me right then and there. I never take payment until I am finished a job. Since he insisted, I start to figure the time I've spent, 17 hours all total, now I was all set to give him a break and only charge him 200 for Monday and 400 today, I then remembered something a customer, who is now a dear friend said, "if you do not charge correctly for your services, people will not respect you". Having just been disrespected and verbally abused by Gary Heyes 10 seconds before, I decide to charge him my full hourly rate. I said 1,000.00,  500 for remote programming and 500 for the AVR install I said, so he wrote me a check for the amount. We agreed that they would test the system and I would return at no further charge to fix any bugs. They never called me. Instead, they wrote the review you just read which I am refuting.

I do not refute the amount of time I spent, but do I refute his estimation of 4 hrs as the system was jacked, I do not refute calling his new AVR  MARRY ANTS, because I have always thought that the brand name sounded funny. I can't help that he was offended by my purposely mispronouncing the name. I do refute the statement, Didn't even finish the job, Gary made a choice not to call me back. 

Lesson learned, Gary, don't insult and disrespect a person and then ask them for the bill for their services.

You know, 17 hours work at 75 an hour comes to 1,275.00, I gave Gary a 275 dollar discount and he still disrespected me by lying about the job and work I did.

For the record, I reached out to the Lori Heyes the next day via text because she would not take my calls, telling them that I would return half the payment because they were unhappy. They never contacted me to get the 500.00 dollars. I consider this matter closed as I did all I could to rectify the situation.