Audio Video News

Chances are you’re familiar with the acronym BYOB (Bring Your Own Booze) but what about BYOG — Bring Your Own Gear?

Rayva, the company founded a couple years ago by home theater guru Theo Kalomirakis to provide turnkey high-end home theater solutions, is now allowing AV dealers/integrators to specify the gear used in its systems.

“Integrators now have the freedom to select the products they know and trust to integrate into a Rayva system, so long as they are within the performance requirements of the selected Rayva package,” the company said. The BYOG approach “gives dealers the flexibility they need to deliver expected performance, maintain valuable relationships with suppliers while making it simple to deliver a premium experience to their customers.”

The concept behind Rayva is simple: To deliver a streamlined path to high-end home theater through alliances with top home theater brands and crack installers. The company has an online tool that guides you through an intuitive selection process that goes like this:

1. Select a room size from one of 12 templates, ranging from x-small to large.
2. Select one of three AV system options: Bronze ($22,500), Silver ($42,500), and Gold ($124,500).
3. Select from one of 11 “limited-edition designs” with names like Shapes, Sports Illuminations, and Origami, each of which includes modular acoustic treatments and custom architectural plans.
4. Select a seating style from one of six options, all available in black, gray, or red leather.

When all selections have been made you get a 3D rendering of the room you’ve assembled with the option of switching to other design motifs so you can see how they look. If you enter your phone number, Rayva will send you a link to a virtual reality rendering of your design selection.

The company bills itself as the world's first provider of “turnkey, engineered, home theaters of exceptional quality and performance” and draws on the considerable talents of Kalomirakis and a host of experts — including Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) founder Joel Silver, acoustic engineer Steve Haas, and others — to deliver the goods.

Rayva said new room design options are under development and “coming soon.” Light Edge, one of its newest “out-of-the-box” designs, features modular acoustical panels with inlaid LED lighting that can be changed to suit the mood or décor.

Rayva has relationships with Origin Acoustics, Barco Residential, Stewart Filmscreen, Josh.ai, Kaleidescape, Control4, Fortress Seating, Audio Control, and others.

“Family movie night is big in our world,” says Toni Sabatino of New York-based interior design firm, Toni Sabatino Style. “As Rayva demonstrates, now, a home theater can be hidden in plain sight, integrated into your family room, or anywhere you want to watch a movie, concert, play games, or simply show off all your cool AV gear.”

For a closer look at how Rayva works, check out the company’s online configurator tool.

Related Now Playing: The Man Who Invented Home Theater, John Sciacca interviews Theo Kalomirakis in 2008