01.24.2008 — In the relatively young custom electronics trade, it’s not exactly easy to find an integrator over 50 years old.

Finding one who began his custom installation career in the ‘50s, however, well, that’s virtually unheard of.

The term “custom installation” didn’t exist when Henry von Tiesenhausen installed his first home system “in 1958 or maybe 1959,” he recalls. The founder and president of Vancouver, B.C.-based Commercial Electronics Ltd. says the system, which he installed in a mansion, “involved a dining room, kitchen, entrance hall and living room.”

That multiroom system provided an impetus for his company’ growing into one of Canada’s largest integrators.

With over 70 employees and eight divisions, including a Bang & Olufsen store-in-a-store, the company offers ambitious residential and commercial audio, video and control solutions.

Personally, von Tiesenhausen began his audio/video career in 1957 and the 76-year-old celebrated his 50th anniversary in the industry last year.

This story, however, isn’t intended to pay tribute to a “venerable industry veteran.” That would be over-simplifying an impressive and innovative, albeit ongoing, career.

This is an integrator who “holds several patents on control systems and video editing technology,” explains Hal Clark, director of design and engineering for the RSI Group, one of Commercial Electronics’ divisions.

“He’s very hands-on, putting in six days a week. He’s involved in every one of his divisions. There isn’t a moment that goes by without his face being seen because he’s very social, gets involved in projects, gets involved in meetings and discusses the pros and cons. Some of the projects that are done in this company are very large projects for stadiums, planetariums and emergency control systems for city hall.”

Historic Perspective

Staying closely involved is one way that von Tiesenhausen says he’s been able to keep up with the perpetual evolution of technology since he started in 1957.

“The bulk of what I know is self-taught,” he explains.

Von Tiesenhausen, who was born in Estonia, graduated high school in Germany before moving to Canada when he was 20. He has had some CEDIA training, but he emphasizes that most of his education has come in the field.

Clark, however, observes that von Tiesenhausen is aggressive when it comes to keeping himself current on technology.

“There are people who have been in the business for 30, 40 years, but his passion for education helps him to keep up to date,” he says.

Clark adds that von Tiesenhausen has many close relationships with manufacturers and gleans as much information about their products as possible.

Presumably, manufacturers would also want to absorb some of von Tiesenhausen’s perspective, which comes from 50 years of working with electronics. One criticism von Tiesenhausen cites is that, as much as technology has advanced during his career, it hasn’t become very intuitive.

“One thing I find negative is [the industry] still hasn’t learned how to have the average person talk to the equipment,” he says.

“You need a remote that takes a long time to figure out. It’s a big problem, having to explain control to customers.”

The complexity of today’s products and systems also affects installers. Most haven’t been around long enough, however, to know what they’re missing, von Tiesenhausen muses.

“Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, when I’d go to different shows, I could honestly say I was an expert in everything,” he says.

“I could talk to everybody about [every product and category]. Nowadays, it is so complex, nobody is an expert in everything.”