With high-quality equipment uniquely designed for residential use, you can create a home theater for watching your favorite movies with unbelievable picture and sound in the comfort of your slippers. Whether you’re trapped in Jurassic Park, or running from a life-threatening boulder with Indiana Jones, you can achieve amazing things in terms of sound, picture, and atmosphere.

It's easy to focus on components, the perfect television, and other gadgets when designing your dream home theater, but any professional will tell you that one of the most important steps in making sure that your home theater is everything you want it to be is proper wiring.

With the NFL season fast approaching, it’s time to get your home ready with some of the latest equipment available to improve your gameday experience. If you’re looking to be the envy of your friends and neighbors, it’s important that you invest in the latest and greatest audio visual equipment.  If you enjoy being the host of the party, you want to ensure that your guests have a great time. Technology has improved the gameday experience dramatically, especially over the last few years.  From upgrades to televisions, surround sound, home automation and furniture, there are many ways you can guarantee your home becomes the place to be for premier sporting events.  

The variety of devices that can be used through Control 4 technology is increasing exponentially.  As demand grows, appliance, technology and entertainment producers are taking note.  The statistics don’t lie.  The average Control 4 home has 40 devices connected and some larger residences have over 250.  Those that are new to home automation may not be aware of all of the devices that can be connected through Control 4.  This technology is at the cutting edge of the industry and the options that consumers have will continually increase.  Home entertainment, security and basic time savers are all becoming much easier with Control 4. Here are some of the features available in regards to entertainment and some new products you can purchase to take advantage of Control 4 home automation.

In the last few years, it has become anything but out of the ordinary for smart phones and tablets to be most people’s source of music. However, nothing can hold up to the pure sound quality of a home audio system. Since 1949, Mcintosh has been creating a legendary listening experience. Many famous musicians, recording artists and producers like the Greatful Dead, Earth, Wind and Fire and the Beach Boys have selected McIntosh audio systems for the rich quality of sound, to experience music the way it should be. The McIntosh founding fathers created a solid foundation based on sound business and scientific principles that continue to guide the company today and continue to provide stat of the art listening.

There are countless ways to utilize a home audio system in your home. Any room could benefit from a little McIntosh sound. 

Control 4 offers the ultimate in home automation navigation. With several advancements and additional products becoming available, there are countless ways you can use this technology to make your life more relaxing, organized and secure. And let’s not forget about the fun you can have with Control 4 automation. With the ability to create different “scenes” that pair together the automation of several devices at once, personalized home automation is becoming reality. Here are some of our favorite ways to indulge in one of the great luxuries of the present, and future.

This is the best ceiling speaker I've had in my possession to date. It's built very solid but more importantly it sounds like a floor standing tower speaker.

The wireless speaker market as we know it didn’t really exist until Sonos arrived with its modular system of small speakers which could be bought piecemeal and configured around the house as desired by the user. In a world of expensive, low quality speaker sets with unreliable connections, Sonos went from unknown to beloved brand overnight. Sonos has fended off competition from more recognized names including Bose, Samsung, and LG.

When purchasing a TV, you want to educate yourself on the latest TV technology trends, so you can invest in the features that will get the most use in your household, and will be compatible with your favorite content, programming subscription(s), and devices. In our last blog post, TV Technology Trends: The Death of the 3D TV, we discussed a TV trend that we believe is on its way out. Now, let's talk about two trends that we expect to gain popularity in 2014.

STREAMLINE YOUR DAY-TO-DAY WITH THIS LEADING BRAND

Imagine being able to control every electronic component—this means lights, music, appliances, and even the “smart” locks on your front and back doors!—of your home whether you are there or not.

Using Murfie (streaming Service) to Sync your record collection 

What is Murfie?

If asked to name the most popular streaming service, I am sure most people would say Pandora. I would guess most people that like to listen to music have heard of Pandora, Rhapsody and maybe even Spotify. These services are great because they allow you to listen to music on the go or at home without having to have the physical media, but what if you don’t want to start collecting music from scratch? What if you want to digitize your existing music collection?

Since we had a great response to our blog, “Digitizing Your Music Collection? Try Murfie,” we invited Tyler Stubbe from Murfie to give our readers an insider’s perspective on this unique streaming music service. Below, he explains how Murfie works, and what makes it an awesome choice for music lovers who want to digitize their collections.

Originally billed as a simple – if somewhat elegant – wireless lighting control system, the Lutron RadioRA 2 is actually a far more versatile total home control system that will amaze you with its range of capabilities. In addition to controlling the amount of in home lighting through the use of dimmers and other switches, the RadioRA 2 also affords remote control of the window shades and the thermostat settings as well as control of other appliances.

When it comes to home theater design there are several different types of televisions available for purchase. LED, LCD, and Plasma TVs are the most common types you’ll come across when working on your home theater design. Now this purchase is extremely important, as the television is often the central piece of equipment in any home theater.

A Comprehensive Look at Totem Acoustic Speakers

Despite being one of those memorable, two-syllable words that rolls right off the tongue, Totem is largely unknown to the casual audiophile, much less the average consumer. Depending on who you ask, that’s either sad or just fine, as Totem Acoustics has been happily supplying its niche with a reliably clean and detailed sound for over 25 years.

Of all the music services I have Songza is favorite.  They have in my opinion the best selection and most tailored genre playlists.  Every time I go to listen to music they have the ability to get me more closely to what I am looking for than the other lists.  For example, the other I was looking for something lively as we were headed to the Eric Church concert here in Tampa.  So I went to Songza, Genre, Country and here's a sampling of what was available:

I've heard a lot of people say or imply that Steve Jobs and Apple have ruined music. One of the more famous people being none other than Jon Bon Jovi himself, who is attributed to this quote, "Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business." - Bon Jovi.

Today we’re constantly moving and meeting goals. We live in Multi-task Nation where everything is a click or a swipe away. Our consistent need for our digital interfaces to be faster, clearer, and better practically outpaces the technology that supports us. With all that instant gratification and communication, as well as the ever-increasing demands of work and family, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget about some of the little things. Those little things that help keep you grounded, like listening to your favorite music.

Make Your Life Easier by Using the Right Components

I was reminded this weekend of the difference it makes dealing with a professional who is specifically trained in their field versus dealing with a big box retailer or an online store.  It started when the ceiling fan in our master bedroom started making a grinding noise.  For over a year now, I have been adjusting the fan in order to keep it quiet.  It now seemed we had reached the point of no return.  

Whether you’re discovering new musical artists and genres or watching a favorite-movies-of-all-time marathon over the course of a relaxing weekend, the types of audio components available for home use can transform your family room and favorite chair into a theatrical experience.

But to really appreciate how Eric Clapton can make a guitar “gently weep” and every nuance of Steve McQueen’s classic car chase in Bullitt, you want the best affordable quality that is installed to deliver the best possible sound. After all, if your home is the place you want to be, and excellent quality is important, there are several things to consider when configuring your present AV equipment or considering a new purchase.