Privileged Perspective™

Downsizing Home Entertainment

By Steven B. Zaboji

Founder and President, Balaton Marketing, Inc.
Sterling, Virginia

The nest is empty. The house feels huge. It's expensive to heat, cool, insure and maintain. A condo in the city or in a golfing community looks more and more compelling. It’s decision time.

As a manufacturer’s representative in the consumer electronics industry, I've seen a number of empty nesters downsize their home and at the same time its entertainment system.

Fortunately, our digital world has addressed such shrinkage by offering compact audio-video components that are simple by design yet offer surprisingly robust performance. Our choices include micro systems such as offered by BOSE, Sony and Samsung, and Sound Bars from manufacturers like Polk, Monitor Audio and Boston Acoustics. Yamaha offers more sophisticated systems, for example Sound Projectors capable of discreet 7.1 surround sound using virtual loudspeakers.

So, if your home theater system was wrapped in the features of your “House for Sale” listing, do not despair: There are exciting and very competent home entertainment systems that will physically fit into your new condo world.

NOVIA all-in-one cabinet is just 52 inches wide.

This month, I’d like to tell you about a unique AV cabinet from a company called BDI. It’s designated the NOVIA 8426, and it features a concealed rear compartment that houses a subwoofer speaker (for big boomy bass) while allowing sound to pass through louvered side panels.

Bass speaker is hidden in compartment at bottom right.

The cabinet – available in natural stained cherry or coca stained cherry – can house any number of components and loudspeakers including the so-called Sound Bars. The top compartment can hold a micro system, components or speakers. Below it are two media storage shelves and an adjustable component compartment.

Top section houses micro system including left, center and right speakers.

Designed to accommodate a flat panel TV up to 55”, the cabinet's dimensions are 31 in. high x 52 in. wide x 22 in. deep. It features a rear “cable management system” to avoid that tangle of wires you may have had behind your old components.

I think the NOVIA 8426 is a wonderful example of compactly housing all the key components of a serious home theater system without physically dominating your limited living space.

About the writer: Steven Zaboji is a 46-year veteran of the audio-video industry, having started as a sales rep for major retailers. He founded Balaton Marketing in 1972 and currently represents some 14 product lines relating to home entertainment systems. Zaboji is also the founder and CEO of an e-publishing company called Virtual Representative. He is writing a book about his experiences in the industry and on his love of flying to be called “Business on a Wing.”

For more info on BDI products click www.bdiusa.com or contact Zaboji at www.balatonmarketing.com or at his e-publishing company, www.virtual-representative.com.