HAA and THX have joined forces to offer high-level home theater training courses designed to help custom integrators maximize the performance of their clients’ cinema systems.
Gerry Lemay, HAA founder and president, notes that this program focuses on excellence; audio calibration is no longer just an unpredictable art and science practice, it must become part of daily routine.
The HAA
HAA is widely respected for providing cutting-edge audio and acoustics training courses, with their courses rigorous in their attention to detail and certifications widely acknowledged in custom world. Recently they teamed up with Invision on an advanced audio training course covering Dolby Atmos as well as innovative acoustical treatment strategies.
Training’s primary purpose is to establish an acoustic framework for home theater system performance. This involves considering all components involved from sources to amplifiers to room components as part of overall system operation.
Gerry Lemay is the Founder and President of Quest Acoustical Interiors. As a former CEDIA business executive with 30 years of experience in consumer electronics technology, he became a professional acoustical consultant since 1999 and one of CEDIA’s foremost instructors for home theater design and calibration (THX home cinema design & calibration).
This training course covers everything from learning how to use FFT and RTA analyzers, designing an effective practical acoustical treatment strategy for client’s listening room, as well as hands-on experience through an actual project in class followed by applying all that they’ve learned directly in an outside scenario.
Students enrolled in the training will also have access to Studio Six Digital’s newly introduced digital audio calibration app at this year’s CEDIA Expo. The app enables AV Specialists to easily evaluate pre-calibrated systems, make necessary electronic adjustments, then generate reports which can automatically email to clients via this AV service provider’s service platform.
Starting late summer, this app will be made available to HAA-accredited AV Specialists and Invision has developed training specifically tailored for them so that their systems produce superior sound. Invision’s collaboration with HAA’s acoustic specialists allows top integrators to achieve greater audio fidelity from their systems; ultimately it benefits consumers as well.
To find out more about HAA Accredited AV Specialist training or to become one, reach out to your local THX dealer or the HAA headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio. Additionally, visit their website www.haatraining.com
HAA Certifications
The HAA is a home acoustics training organization dedicated to home theater acoustics that promotes proper design and calibration techniques specifically for home cinema. Their mission is to elevate home entertainment systems’ performance to an enhanced level, and their membership includes manufacturers, AV/Home Technology Professionals and consumers striving to produce systems with optimal sound quality in any given room environment.
The Home Theater Accreditation Alliance offers several certification courses, including their HAA Advisor, Integrator and Advanced Integrator credentials. Each of these provides a detailed technical explanation on how to design and calibrate a home cinema properly – such as room acoustics, audio analysis software and appropriate use of acoustical treatments – along with hands-on workshops in which participants work directly with actual equipment while listening back on the results of their efforts.
This certification is suitable for those who have completed HT1 and want to expand their understanding of home cinema design and calibration. Instructors in this level provide valuable advice about optimizing a system, and this level can also benefit dealers looking to expand their customer base.
No matter your experience or level, HAA certification can help take your career to the next level. It teaches skills and techniques that will enhance your business and increase earnings while simultaneously giving you a competitive edge against other professionals in your area.
Acquiring HAA certification may be challenging, but its rewards make it worthwhile. Doing so will set you apart from your competition while giving clients a superior experience – as well as enable you to outsell them and earn more money than other AV professionals in your region. HAA will assist in your becoming a better technician and give you all of the tools necessary for success.
For certification, you must successfully complete both HT1 and HT2 classes as well as pass the online HT3 exam. Once passed, a copy of your certificate can be downloaded from the HAA portal; additionally, HAA Pro membership grants access to private resources as well as listing in the dealer locator.
HAA Training
HAA Training provides allied health professionals with an avenue for validating their skills and competencies, expanding their profession, and supporting quality care in their community. Their nationally-recognized examinations are 100% online and contain all elements of an actual exam – knowledge exams, hands on skills evaluations and competency assessments.
HAA training provides an immersive learning experience, starting with their Integrator class and progressing on to Advanced Training classes. Each of these classes combine classroom-style education with hands-on workshops that integrate all concepts together seamlessly for an unforgettable learning experience that will revolutionize how you think about and design/calibrate home audio systems for clients with confidence.
HAA Training classes will introduce you to the science behind high performance home theater acoustics. This includes an in-depth analysis of room modal analysis, subwoofer placement, speaker and seating arrangements and creating an acoustic treatment strategy. Furthermore, these classes will teach how to use FFT/RTA analyzers as well as becoming professional listeners.
One key takeaway from this class was realizing that even with great speakers, listening environments may still not be optimal due to reflected sounds off of walls causing interference issues. Therefore it’s vitally important that one understands how to measure these reverberations levels and their meaning for end users.
Another fantastic element of the class is HAA PowerCal, which will show you exactly what your system requires in order to perform at its best. This comprehensive assessment available in Custom Industry provides detailed feedback as to whether speakers match with rooms appropriately or not – an eye-opener when realizing how drastically sound can differ in poorly designed rooms! But with properly calibrated system and room treatment you can experience truly enjoyable home cinema experiences!
HAA Tools
HAA has taken an established, methodical approach to home audio calibration. Their objective is to transform system performance from an abstract idea into a fully realized art and science, which means going beyond simply optimizing rooms or calibrating systems; they evaluate every component that makes up their system including its acoustical design, seating positions, subwoofer placement strategies, amplifier power levels and speaker sensitivity levels – an HAA professional stands apart from other AV contractors and designers by understanding that excellence lies not solely within acoustically optimizing rooms but in optimizing whole systems which define excellence – something other AV contractors and designers might neglect.
HAA has developed various tools to streamline and speed up their members’ acoustic design and calibration process. Their HAA Acoustical Tool Suite features an Apple iPad app and full suite of Dolby Atmos test tones; members can quickly connect an Apple TV to an AVR and mirror its screen for reference music or movies while conducting system evaluation and calibration; with built-in checklists making evaluation of calibration easy without missing steps; then email reports are easily sent out once completed.
HAA Certified Specialists use these tools extensively in the field, and most use the HAA Level II Workshop – an intensive hands-on course for integrators designed to quickly get them up and running with fast, efficient calibration processes. The class builds upon the basic HT Design principles taught in HAA Advisor Class with more in-depth technical explanations and examples to help AV Specialists grasp and apply acoustical concepts more readily.
HAA trainers can also be found answering dealer inquiries at trade shows and events nationwide, in addition to offering webinars for dealers and distributors on topics like Dolby Atmos, new acoustical treatment strategies and efficient calibration processes.