‘The product is fantastic’ – Home Cinema Interiors talk Zuma

In recent editions of Essential Install, we’ve spoken at length about the power and potential of Zuma for the Custom Installation industry. In this piece, we thought we’d offer an insider expert’s view on what Zuma can offer CI installers nationwide. 

INTRODUCING HOME CINEMA INTERIORS

Joshua Jones has worked in AV for over 14 years. His early career was spent specialising in the corporate sector, working with companies such as Ebay, Paypal and Jaguar Land Rover, often leading their installations. He founded Home Cinema Interiors seven years ago, originally for smaller projects like hanging televisions, but quickly advanced into media wall installation. After online footage of one media wall installation went viral with over 120k views in 48 hours, Josh’s business exploded – and it’s been growing ever since. 

Through a newly opened showroom in Basingstoke, Home Cinema Interiors were able to fully express their value to new and prospective clients. And they’ve done it with style. Seven varied Media Walls and a Hybrid Lounge come Cinema Room offer visitors a tantalising view of what’s possible in their home. “What customers want is that wow factor,” says Josh. “That can come through sound, light, and more, but the end goal is always the same”.

EMBRACING ZUMA

Before encountering Zuma, Home Cinema Interiors were mostly utilising Sonos for audio solutions outside of the home theatre space. That changed when a client requested Zuma for a home installation, and Joshua’s team had the opportunity to see the speaker-light solution first hand – combining sound and light into a single, wireless downlight installed into the ceiling cavity. 

“The product is fantastic. There’s so many good things about it,” Joshua tells us. “Products like Zuma that are simple, minimalistic, and high end…that marries up perfectly with what we do”. 

This simplicity starts as early as the point of installation. “Zuma is extremely easy to install”. Joshua reveals. “As far as products go in this world, Zuma is right up there with some of the simplest solutions in terms of its installation. It’s very straightforward.” Once installed, Zuma wirelessly bathes each room in natural lighting and immersive, spatial audio. How does Zuma’s sound quality stack up to similar home audio solutions on the market? 

“For what Zuma is, it sounds fantastic’. Joshua tells us. “‘If you compare it to the likes of Sonos or Bose, it’s just as good”. For CI installers, the key with an audio solution like Zuma is to utilise it in the right spaces in the home. Whilst plastered in-wall speakers might be perfect for an incredible home cinema, you wouldn’t be necessarily looking for that exact same audio experience in other rooms in your home. “I would put Zuma in any open plan family room…if you’re dispersing audio over a large space, Zuma is far better at that than even Sonos can be”. 

This kind of use case is where Joshua regularly specifies Zuma for his clients, including one recent installation into a new, single story extension on the back of a home. 

“It’s this huge, open plan room,” Joshua explains, “They came into the showroom, saw Zuma, and loved it…we’ve dispersed the Zuma’s throughout the space, and installed a wall-mounted Rithum Switch for control.” Zuma is fully compatible with Rithum via an easily installed Pro Plugin. To ensure the Zuma system kept within their budget, Joshua and his team used Zuma to provide ‘feature lighting’ in specific areas of the space, installing conventional lighting alongside the system for everyday use. “That way the client doesn’t need to spend thousands and thousands of pounds…it can be incorporated in a way that gives the customer everything they need.” 

“That is the kind of room Zuma needs to be in”. 

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

“Simplicity is key to the whole industry now.” Joshua tells us. Home Cinema Interiors are such passionate advocates of simplicity in smart home tech, that they’ve almost totally moved away from big, complex installations. “So often clients were ringing us up, saying something doesn’t work…you go there and oftentimes they just don’t know which button to press.”

“You end up thinking, ‘this is pointless, both us and the customer are losing here.’ Something like Zuma that’s already incredibly straightforward and sounds and looks great? You’re on to a winner”. 

Joshua and Home Cinema Interiors are keen to lead the charge on this new, simplified approach to CI. And there’s significant business benefits inherent to this approach. “There’s so many more technophobes out there than technophiles. Those people aren’t that interested in the most technologically complex product…they want something that sounds good, but they also want it to be easy to use, easy to install and look great once it’s in. That’s Zuma’. 

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