03.13.2009 — CEDIA and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) have formed a home theater and multiroom audio space design and installation guide.

It's called CEA/CEDIA-CEB22: Home Theater Recommended Practice: Audio Design Bulletin. Yes, two colons. The not-so-catchy name isn't intended for marketing purposes, says Dave Pedigo, CEDIA senior director of technology.

The goal behind CEB22, approved by CEDIA and CEA's R10 Residential Systems committee, is to provide a baseline for the design and installation of residential spaces to be used for high-performance home theater or multi-channel music playback.

Pedigo hopes CEB22 will help "demystify a lot of gray areas when it comes to high performance home theater audio."

Among the instructions in CEB22 are guidelines for:

• Loudspeaker layout
• Seating layout
• Low-frequency room optimization
• Sound isolation
• Reverberation Time
• Acoustical Materials Placement
• Background Noise
• Speaker/subwoofer placement and installation

The guide "has a good section on bass management," Pedigo adds. "It has really good, hard data on how to optimize subwoofers, how many there should be and where they should be placed."

The CEB22 has more to do with credibility than marketing, according to Pedigo. For instance, he says it will help installers explain product placement recommendations to clients, making the installation process more objective than subjective.

An auxiliary benefit of bulletins such as CEB22, according to Pedigo, is that learning these standards will help installers prepare for certification exams by providing "a single body of knowledge" and "less ambiguity as to what the correct answer is." That certification, he adds, is what should be marketed to clients.

More to Come from CEDIA-CEA Collaboration

The collaboration between CEDIA and CEA is critical, according to Pedigo. In effect, he says CEA represents the manufacturers and the products to be installed.

The guide will "provide value and guidance to the ESC [electronic systems contractor] industry," says Brian Markwalter, CEA vice president of technology and standards.

CEDIA, meanwhile, represents the dealers and the folks who actually install the products. Pedigo says it's a nice system of checks and balances.

The CEB22 is just one part of what will be a long line of "bulletins" from CEA/CEDIA, Pedigo says. "This is going to be an ongoing committee to write a large number of documents so that we can help implement the products that manufacturers are making."

Installers can download CEB22 on either the CEDIA or CEA Web site. It costs $62.50 for CEA Standard committee members and $82 for non-members. Installers can look into joining CEA committees here.