Cyber Sound, a custom electronics systems integrator based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is always looking to expand its offerings to the luxury residential and commercial markets. The company, a long-time Planar partner, recently saw its new digital art technology – the Planar® Mosaic™ architectural video wall – and believed it would generate new business opportunities and give them a competitive advantage in the market.
"To an integration business such as ours, Planar Mosaic has proven to be a game-changer," said Ben Lentz, director of business development for Cyber Sound. "When customers come into our showroom and experience it today, they imagine what it can do for their home or business and they know we are the company to make it happen. It is bringing in more new business than we ever expected."
In its newly renovated Experience Center, Cyber Sound installed a six-panel array of Planar Mosaic LCD tiles that serves as the focal point in the showroom. The architectural displays welcome customers and give them an immediate sense of the company's commitment to innovation. "The Planar Mosaic video wall fuels their creativity and inspires visions of how it would serve their unique needs and interests," said Lentz.
Makes an impressive visual impact
Cyber Sound is using two of the available Planar Mosaic tile sizes: the 46-inch rectangle tile (Planar® Pablo™) and the 21.5-inch square tile (Planar® Salvador™). They are arranged in a free-form array with a few inches between each tile. The negative space becomes part of the digital wall and adds to the effect created by the differing tile shapes and sizes. "We run both video and loops of scenic images on the video wall, and elements of each fall naturally on the various tiles, creating a really fluid picture for the viewer. With image elements flowing from one tile to another, across the negative space, the visual impact is really impressive," reports Lentz.
Planar's Mosaic Project Designer™ software was used to create the video wall design that the integrator ultimately installed. Mosaic Project Designer allowed for the custom rendering of the Planar Mosaic array, depicting how it would actually look in the integrator's space and allowing the design to be adjusted and refined to achieve the desired look and feel. "Going forward, we'll be able to use the software in order to collaborate on final Planar Mosaic video wall designs for our customers before each one is settled upon and built," said Lentz. "This ability to customize Planar Mosaic is important because it allows our customers to visualize the technology in their own space, which adds so much more to the customer experience."
Meets customers' quality expectations
Attributes of Planar Mosaic that were particularly important to Cyber Sound include its image quality. Planar Mosaic is a commercial-grade LCD with LED backlight technology. The viewer sees images with 700-nit brightness, 1920 x 1080 resolution, 4000:1 contrast ratio, and up to 16.7 million colors. "These are important to luxury customers who want the content they display to be super-bright and crystal-clear," Lentz says.
The quality of the installation experience is another important factor for Cyber Sound. Lentz gives high marks to Mosaic Mount™ which supports any desired rotation and pitch of each tile. In the Cyber Sound showroom, the mounting system allowed for an angled grouping of the six panels and the positioning of square and rectangle panels to achieve a unique design.
Each video tile attaches with easy push-in, push-out catches, and auto-alignment posts and spacer plates eliminate the need for fine-tuning adjustments. "All of these mounting features are important because luxury customers, in particular, insist on a perfect installation in which every tile is in proper position and is precisely aligned with the others. The final result has to be impeccable and the Planar Mosaic system design all but guarantees that it will be," praises Lentz.
Has been a perfect performer from day one
Finally, Lentz says the Planar Mosaic video wall has performed flawlessly and that the product has not required a single call-back or service request. "It's been the same story in our Experience Center – perfect performance from day one. No pixilation, no blue screens. It's the kind of performance we need to deliver the experience our customers demand, and Planar Mosaic ensures we will succeed."
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
