Haas Entertainment: 40+ Years of Passion For Delivering High-End Home Theater & Technology

One of the great things about working with local businesses in Greater Los Angeles, is having the opportunity to learn about the compelling stories of their origin. In the case of the American Small Business, a vital institution that is cherished by so many, it isn’t uncommon for such a story to be every bit as much of a personal tale of the founder, how he or she arrived here, and even what they had to go through in order to become the success they are today. For Jeff Haas, Founder & President of Haas Entertainment, the story is about passion; one that began with a love for hi-fidelity audio as a teenager: Jeff set-up shop in his mother’s garage in Ladera Heights, California, installing high-end car stereo systems. The year was 1978, and years of success would follow. Yet even the multiplying business activities and responsibilities associated with the growth of an already thriving company, were no distraction from the changes Jeff was observing in the global electronics marketplace. Like the wise entrepreneurs of his time, and before, Jeff looked at his core competencies as a company, and identified keen alignments with a Home Theater marketplace poised for booming growth.

“I started-out because of my love of cars and audio,” he says with a nostalgic warmth. “Over the years, expanding into new areas of business has been a simple matter of staying connected and educated on industry trends,” he continues. “So, Car Stereos grew into Audio/Visual Systems for friends that owned restaurants, and then to integrated, high-end Theater Systems to upscale homes.” Indeed, Haas Entertainment counts among their loyal customers an elite, Hollywood clientele, The types of folks who require signed non-disclosure agreements prior to an installation. “With such an audience, you can imagine how we responsively expanded into Light & Shading Technologies, and even Automation within the Smart Home space,” Mr. Haas continues. “Heck, Automation is becoming even bigger than Home Theater these days,” he concludes.

​Sales Executive Chris Quilisch-Rock provides additional insight into how Haas Entertainment’s close relationships with their clientele lead to the addition of new technology-offerings: “Some of my favorite clients are the celebrities,” he states. “I mean, we go into their homes, and they’ll have an armed security force and what have-you, and we’ll set-up surveillance cameras that tie-into Artificial Intelligence to provide data analytics, and even facial recognition software of who visits.” That isn’t to say that Jeff, Chris and the team ever lose sight of the original passion, that put them on the map: Audio. Chris continues: “We have a hip-hop artist client who’s extremely successful and popular. We’re doing his home audio system, and he loves what we’re doing, and how the system performs, and the way it sounds…and this is a guy whose business is professional entertainment!”

Garnering rave reviews and attaining the highest levels of trust from customers who might spend, say $100,000 on a Home Theater System isn’t easy, however. So how do they do it?
The answer to that question, is possibly the most compelling and impressive thing about Haas Entertainment: Through a genuinely progressive company culture that promotes high levels of collaboration, transparency, and visibility among all members of the team; so that all are intimately familiar with customer and project requirements. “Every talented person here needs to be able to understand what everyone else is doing, and why, at the very least,” Mr. Quilisch-Rock says, in closing. “That’s why you don’t see a formal title on my business card. None of us really have them, because we all have to be able to guarantee the highest levels of service and responsiveness to our clients, at all times. And we do this through a shared passion for expertise, and a shared commitment to our culture.” 

Expertise. Collaboration. Commitment. Passion. Refreshing business values in our day and age. With any luck, it will one-day this writer who’s inviting them to my home. No NDA will be necessary, Jeff & Chris!

By Patrick Pitre