Meet a Parasol Dealer: Mark Niven of Legato
Legato Home Music and Theater Systems is located in Santa Monica, CA and as of June will be in their 20th year of business! They provide everything from simple music system installations to dedicated home theaters and whole-home automation and control systems services. Their success has come from listening to their client’s wishes and providing the appropriate environment for their needs and lifestyle, through an intuitive user interface.
What challenges are you facing?
As far as challenges go, probably not a surprise, but being able to find qualified techs with the right chemistry and culture to fit our company is challenging. Also, because I started this business nearly 30 years ago, when we installed equipment, “it just worked.” So, for me personally, a challenge is the reliability of equipment/systems and the amount of variables that we face even on small projects. I don’t think other trades face the amount of changing landscape that we face. On that note though, this is why Parasol was born!
Tell us about a recent project you did
This project has 180-degree views of the city, all of Los Angeles in front of the view and to the left, while you still have sweeping ocean views of Palos Verdes to the Pacific Palisades, it is truly an amazing view. The home is in an area that is renowned for its mid-century modern architecture so the lines of the homes are very simple and clean, and due to an early ordinance in the neighborhood, they all have flat roofs. The Master Bedroom is basically encased on three sides with glass and the client wanted a TV, however, it needed to disappear when not in use. The solution was to use a motorized flip down TV mount that not only flips down and also extends lower to accommodate the high ceilings and get the TV down to a comfortable viewing height. The end result was terrific and the TV is basically invisible when not in use.