With the winter holidays right around the corner, it’s time to begin preparing. Whether you’re inviting the family over or heading out of town this year, your smart home automation system can help you enjoy the season with ease. In this blog, we’ll show you how easy it is to take advantage of your integrated technology to make your guests feel welcome or ensure a safe time away from your property. Read on for more.

See Also: This Year, Give the Gift of a Custom Home Theater

How You Welcome Guests

If you’ve been following our blog, you know that your smart home system can help you make your spaces more comfortable. But it can also minimize the stress welcoming guests like friends and family from out of town. Even when you’re out of the house, your home remains hospitable to anyone you invite over.

First, you’ll need to assign your guests a temporary access code. This is a code that allows them entry via your integrated smart locks. When they arrive, you’ll receive an immediate notification. As they walk through the property, the occupancy sensors can tell the lighting to brighten their way and the thermostat can adjust the temperature to a more comfortable setting.

Select someone locally. Find a professional home theater company within a 50-mile range of your home. You are more likely to have an installer come by and tweak your system, if need be, when you are within a reasonable distance.

Ask for a link to the home theater installation company's Web site or for some images of recently completed installations. Also, ask to visit the home theater installers' showroom to provide you with living examples of their workmanship. Check our our portfolio. Here at Atlanta Audio we have a 6,000 square foot showhouse that showcases home automation, home theater options, whole house audio, lighting control, media rooms, video surveillance, and much more. Call us today to set up an appointment or visit our website at www.atlantaaudio.com.

Ask for references on finished projects that are similar to what you have in mind for your home theater and are relatively within the same cost range. Ask the homeowner about how the installation company works and how satisfied they are with the finished results. Visit our customer testimonials to get an idea of what our customers say about Atlanta Audio.

Find out how an installer works. For example if you are a neat freak and your professional installer is very proficient in plasma and audio technologies but can seem a little scatterbrained or sloppy, your working styles may not connect.

"5 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do With Crestron Home" Crestron; Accessed July 27th 2021

5 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do With Crestron Home

If you haven’t heard about the new residential platform from Crestron, then now is the time.

With Crestron Home™ software, we’ve taken a new approach to residential system design, configuration, deployment, and user experience. Even if you’ve actively followed the progression of the platform, it’s easy to miss or forget some of the many new features. Since the inception of the platform in the fall of 2019, there’ve been three major updates. We expect to release another update around the time of this blog post. Hopefully, you can take away at least one useful thing from this post and use it to provide value to your upcoming job.

Do you dream of the ease and convenience found in the Jetsons’ futuristic home? The 1962 series featured the home of 2062, with space-age appliances that made food and flying cars. We’re not quite there yet when it comes to flying cars, but even the Jetsons might be impressed at some of the smart technology we have today.

From lights that automate to your every wish to personalized home entertainment settings at the touch of a button, the Control4 smart home solutions provide tried and true smart home technology that is definitely worthy of being labeled “the future.”

Experience for yourself some Jetsons-style smart home automation, available right now, for your home in Atlanta, GA. No need to wait until 2062! Simply submit your comment or question in chat box at the bottom of your screen and a Certified Showroom Professional will respond.

See Also: Curious About Smart Home Technology? Seeing is Believing

Control4 has pioneered high-end, innovative lifestyle automation solutions, making them a leader in smart home technology today. For an example of their smart home options, just imagine this: After a busy day of work, shuttling kids to after-school activities, and a quick trip to the grocery store, you pull into the garage. A sensor in the garage knows you’re home. A preprogrammed “welcome home” scene illuminates the garage and the hallway to the kitchen, then turns on the overhead lights in the kitchen and family room. The alarm has been disarmed. You like a little soft background music to unwind after a long day, which automatically starts when you walk in the door.

After putting away the groceries in the refrigerator, you tell the kids to start their homework at their desks in the upstairs nook. You have a Control4 touchscreen controller in the kitchen and a minimalistic camera upstairs, allowing you to keep an eye on the kids to ensure they’re really doing homework and not playing video games. All you have to do is bring the video up on the touchscreen. 

Atlanta Audio & Automation offers a range of smart-home solutions—including audio, video, lighting, temperature control, security and communications—that let you control your home’s entertainment.  Our award-winning smart systems by Control4 seamlessly integrate into your home giving a new lifestyle experience by connecting everything from climate control to security and manageable by remotes or mobile device. Our entertainment systems can be custom built for projects from single rooms to entire homes and the benefits are endless when you add together comfort, savings, convenience and peace of mind.

See Also:  What is it Like to Live in a Connected Home?

We’ve combined our professional expertise with solutions from top manufacturers like Control4, Sony, LG and Sonos. As we make entertainment systems easy to use and sound fantastic, homes become more comfortable, energy efficient and families feel secure. Inspired by ideas that promise comfort, Atlanta Audio & Automation has been delivering personalized entertainment solutions for homes and businesses in the Atlanta area for over 18 years. Contact us or visit our experience center and we can give your home the smart it deserves.

“We offer entertainment and automation solutions for a smarter home.”   Come visit us at our showroom, and we can demo how home automation can simplify your life.

Home Theater Installation Plus Security

With Halloween behind us, Election Day having come and gone, we now turn our attention towards the fun holidays of the year: Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, and New Year’s. The coming two months present plenty of opportunity for merriment, family gatherings, and good times all around. The increasingly cold temperatures outside make indoor activities more fun, and encourage family and friends to gather round, enjoy a drink or two and take it easy. It’s the perfect time to bust out some festive music, sing along, and get into the holiday spirit. Doing just that has never been easier than with Atlanta Audio & Automation. Our home automation allows you to easily crank your favorite tunes or simply create some nice background music while you catch up and create memories to last a lifetime. Plus, with the recent addition of security systems to our arsenal of products you can now outfit your home with everything you need – home automation for lighting, heating, and audio, plus home security and security surveillance capabilities to ensure the safety of you, your family, and anyone you invite into your home.

The Glory of a Media Room

Everyone approaches their home entertainment a little differently. With so many great ways to watch TV and movies, people have become accustomed to carving out their own unique way to settle down and watch in the comfort of their own home. One of the best ways to enjoy your home entertainment is by establishing your very own media room. With our help, it’s a cinch – we can have your media up and running with impeccable audio in no time. Our expert installation team is well experienced and can ensure your experience is unlike any other. A well-equipped media room engenders excitement, because everyone who clambers in knows they are going there for a treat.

Make your Holidays Special with Atlanta Audio & Automation

Whether you are throwing a big holiday bash or a small family gathering, we at Atlanta Audio & Automation wish you a safe, fun-filled holiday season. Be sure to browse our complete collection of services and products, from our delightful home automation products to our reliable security systems. We are happy to help make your holiday season better, safer, and more memorable than ever before.

When Larry and Stacey Newcomb moved to Jonesboro, AR and built a new house, Larry knew he wanted flat screen TVs, and Stacey knew she wanted a pool for the kids. What neither of them knew was that they could control their entire home from their iPads and iPhones. Then Ryan Heringer, president of Jonesboro-based Sound Concepts, showed them the IP-based ELAN g! Control System.

"When we first met to discuss the technology that could be incorporated into their new home, the Newcombs simply wanted to know what I could do for their audio/video systems," said Heringer. "So I showed them the ELAN g!Mobile app and how it controls the audio/video, and then continued explaining all the other possibilities with the ELAN g! Control System. By the time I told them they could turn off every light in the house at once from an iPhone or iPad, they didn't want to live without it! And that's what is so great about the g! system — customers love the g!Mobile app and once they see it, they've got to have it."

According to Stacey Newcomb, they call their new home the "Magic House." They use iPads to dim the lights, turn on music, and adjust the heat and air conditioning, while an ELAN TS Series touch screen is set in the walls of nearly every room of the house. Stacey has the system set so all house lamps automatically turn on at 5 p.m. and turn off at 10 p.m., eliminating the need to walk through the house to make sure all the lights are off before retiring for the night.

From a peace of mind perspective, the Newcombs can be assured that their twin daughters are home on time with the ELAN g! Control System, which tells the user which TVs and lights are on, and informs them when people enter or leave the house, and through which door.

Atlanta’s home theater enthusiasts have heard the news, and now they want to take action – they want Dolby Atmos delivering the best-possible sound in their private cinema spaces. But if you’ve been following our blog, you already know that the conditions of the room you’re in will significantly affect the way the sound system works. That leaves many homeowners scratching their heads over how they can have Atmos integrated into their spaces. In this blog, we’ll answer some of your most frequently asked questions about what’s required to install the best audio gear around.

See Also: How Dolby Atmos Transforms Your Atlanta Home Theater Into an Epic Music Venue

How does Dolby Atmos recreate commercial cinema sound?

As you already know, when it was introduced to the movie industry a few years ago, Atmos revolutionized sound mixing by treating each sound like an individual object. “Sound objects” don’t have to be assigned to specific channels, allowing them to move freely between each speaker. Therefore, the number of speakers in your space doesn’t matter as much as how they are positioned and calibrated. The biggest physical difference is the addition of a minimum of two overhead speakers, usually mounted in the ceiling.

Do I have to have ceiling-mounted speakers for Dolby Atmos?

Smart home automation is about bringing the highest level of convenience into your Atlanta property. With one touch, you should be able to command the lighting, shading, AV, security systems and more. So it’s no surprise that one of the fastest-growing manufacturers of smart home technology would also be a leader in developing systems that are easy to use and fully customizable. At this year’s Custom Electronics, Design and Integration Association convention – commonly known as CEDIA – Control4 announced big things for their new operating system. Learn more after the jump.  

See Also: New Tech to Change How Consumers Watch the Rio Olympics

New Connections

At the 2016 CEDIA show held this September, Control4 announced the latest upgrade to their operating system, the OS 2.9.  The new operating system comes complete with the “Connects with Control4” program, which allows as many as 10,000 connectable devices – including Sonos. This marks a big move for the popular wireless audio company, who famously has avoided getting wrapped up with smart home automation installers in the past.

Plus, one of the biggest developments in the smart home space over the past few years was the introduction of Amazon’s voice-controlled Echo. While many homeowners took advantage of the incredible verbal technology, they were oftentimes disappointed with the limited range of components it could control. That’s why it’s incredible that they’ve collaborated with Control4 to offer the best possible control options in your home.

Remember a few months back when we told you that there were big changes coming to your smart home automation system thanks to Control4? One of the biggest was compatibility with Amazon’s Alexa voice-control platform. Now homeowners can take advantage of the well-reviewed interface to easily enjoy the features of their integrated technology. But a successful product is bound to ignite competition. That’s appeared in the form of Google Assistant compatibility with Control4 systems. Find out how this is heating up the voice-control market after the jump.

See Also: Control 4 Now Integrated with Amazon Echo: What it Means

What is Google Assistant?

Much like Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant is an interactive voice control platform primarily used for Google Home – a smart home hub similar to the Echo. This past October, Control4 announced that like Alexa and Amazon’s line of hubs, Google Assistant would also work with their latest update.

According to CE Pro:

There’s no denying that 2016 was a huge year for smart home automation, but the biggest changes to the integrated technology landscape are still ahead. With the growing popularity of voice-control features and increased desire to turn every aspect of the home “smart,” we’re seeing plenty of developments that could radically alter your home this year. In this blog, we’ll highlight some new smart home features that you should know about. Read more after the jump.

See Also: Is Gesture Control the Next Smart Home Automation Command Method?

Voice-Controllable Security              

Security systems are among the most important aspects of any smart home solution because homeowners love to stay in-the-know about what’s happening when they’re at home and away. But as ultra-safe features like biometrics and remote-monitoring become more common, there’s a desire to make systems more convenient and user-friendly. And what’s simpler than voice-control?

We’ve already seen Alexa-compatible security systems, though it hasn’t made much noise in the security market. However, the announcement of a Homekit-compatible system debuting at this year’s CES, it could be the next big step in protecting your property.

There’s no doubt about it – smart home automation can change the way you go about your everyday life.

But have you wondered what an automated system entails exactly? Or what its smart features even do or how they work?

The great news is you can see for yourself at our Control4 certified showroom here in Atlanta, GA. In this blog, we’ll go through what our showroom has to offer and how you can optimize these features in your living space.

A customized home automation system is possible for you and your family. Read on below to learn more!

SEE ALSO: HOW SMART HOME AUTOMATION IS CHANGING IN THE NEW YEAR