Residential Systems - July 2025

FEATURING

• U pping the Quality of Whole-Home Audio

•Luxury Audio Trends

• 2025 Custom Distributor Guide

EASIER ACOUSTICS

COLUMNS

A previous winner looks at the benefits of participating in the CEDIA Smart Home Awards business categories.

Subwoofers can enhance most sound systems, whether they be separate components, a simple soundbar, or even outdoor. Here are some of the more recent models to hit the market.

How

The

The Fusion Landscape’s goal is delivering immersive, balanced sound throughout an outdoor space, rather than produce high SPL levels, helping to create a great backyard vibe through light and sound.

By John Sciacca

This

14 Acoustics Made Easier

Created by pro audio professionals, REDIAcoustics takes the guesswork out of creating a great-sounding space.

By Anthony Savona

18 Upping the Audio Ante

Kansas City’s Naturally Wired goes all in on a new whole-home sound solution that was first experienced at last year’s CEDIA Expo. By Anthony Savona 20 Total Immersion

An unused basement is transformed into a world-class home theater — and more. 26 2025 Custom Distributor Guide

Keeping Things Moving: In times of uncertainty, custom distributors work to keep the products flowing and their partners informed.

By Karen Mitchell

Leadership Lessons From Lindor

BY ANTHONY SAVONA

As a lifelong fan of the New York Mets, I am as surprised as anyone to look to them for exemplary leadership advice. The Mets are the perennial underdogs, even with the second-highest payroll in MLB. And, sure, they are in first place now, but Mets fans are conditioned to wait for that other shoe — and their place in the standings — to drop.

But last year, something happened to change the script. The Mets had an abysmal April and May in 2024. The first half of June was not much better for the team, which was in fourth place in their division. However, from that midpoint in June, the team jelled and wound up crushing the rest of the season, finishing just one game shy of getting into the World Series.

They picked up in 2025 right where they left off and have been playing well so far this season (yes, I am knocking on wood while throwing salt over my shoulder as I type this).

While there are plenty of reasons the team was able to turn it around, much of the credit is being given to the team’s all-star shortstop, Francisco Lindor. At the lowest point last season, he and a few other teammates held a post-game meeting, and from then on, they were off to the races.

The New York Times sports section, The Athletic, recently ran a story written by Will Sammon about how, after every three- or four-game series the team plays, Lindor walks around the locker room and speaks to every team member. Some conversations are brief, some are longer — whatever the teammate needs. It could be a simple “nice job,” or advice on how to better handle what happened on the field that day.

The article interviewed several of Lindor’s teammates, who were all more than willing to talk about their conversations. It also covered how surprised they were when he first started doing it because no one else ever had — not on the Mets or on any of their previous teams.

“It goes a long way in making people feel welcome,” [Mets pitcher Sean] Manaea said. “I’ve never seen it before. I can’t think of anyone I’ve played with that would do something like that. It’s very unique, special.”

Mets reliever Ryan Stanek’s quote spelled out the impact of Lindor’s post-game visits. “You can’t fake that over the course of time,” Stanek said. “There are some leaders out there, or people who are considered leaders, who may do something on occasion.

“Leadership is consistency. It’s the day-to-day of it. Whether he had a good day or a bad day, it’s the same s— every day. That, to me, is genuine. Because at some point, it would get exhausting to fake that. It would feel forced. It’s like, there’s no way you’re doing this unless it wasn’t in you. There has to be realness.”

Lindor, who has been with the team since 2021 and has a long-term contract, is not the captain of the team — the Mets do not have one currently — so this isn’t part of his job description. It is something he took on himself.

Of course, this is only one portion of the Mets’ success (so far) this season, but, clearly, it has been effective. Would a post-project meeting with each team member have the same effect on your organization?

Only one way to find out…

July 2025

Volume 26, Number 7

CONTRIBUTORS

KATYE MCGREGOR BENNETT

Katye McGregor Bennett is chief strategist and CEO of KMB Communications and an avid podcaster. Podcasts include Connecting Tech + Design and AV Trade Talk.

MATT BERNATH

Matt Bernath is a CE veteran with more than two decades in retail, wholesale, CI, and business coaching. In 2021, Matt and a group of partners acquired VITAL, and Matt now serves as the company’s president/CEO.

HENRY CLIFFORD

Henry Clifford is president of Livewire, an integration firm in Richmond, VA. He also serves on the CEDIA Business Working Group and writes a bi-monthly blog for www.residentialsystems.com.

KAREN MITCHELL

Karen Mitchell is a freelance writer based in Boulder, CO. She has written about the AV industry from both sides now — residential and commercial — for several years and still finds it most intriguing and fast paced.

JOHN SCIACCA

John Sciacca is a principal with Custom Theater and Audio, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In his free time, he blogs prolifically about the CE industry. cineluxe.com

GUY HAMMETT

Guy Hammett is the head of home audio in the consumer electronics team at Futuresource Consulting. Hammett joined Futuresource in 2016 and currently heads up Futuresource’s quarterly home audio tracking reports.

SHOWROOM

SPOTLIGHT

Crestron NYC Experience Center

The company’s latest showroom brings interior designers and clients inside a smart luxury Manhattan apartment.

BY ANTHONY SAVONA

The newest Crestron experience center is on the third floor of the New York Design Center, and it is just one of the many companies in the building that collectively offer everything interior designers need to create luxury homes for their clients. After a day of looking at rugs and countertops and cabinets and furniture, clients must appreciate the chance to visit a space that takes care of them and shows how convenient a home can be.

“When you come in, it’s a welcoming space — you’re not coming into a black box. You’re coming into what you would love for your home to be able to be,” says JoAnn Arcenal, director of customer experience centers, Crestron. “It’s teeming with technology. We have our lighting control, shades, and distributed audio/video. But it’s a beautiful space that has all the technology integrated here discreetly, and it’s not overwhelming.”

Tour Guide

To create the full experience, the tour starts with a re-created NYC brownstone-style door with a third-party smart lock that opens quickly with the touch of the Crestron Home app.

From there, homeowners, architects, and interior designers walk into a realistically sized NYC apartment, one that again uses Crestron Home to create a welcome scene that silently raises the blinds, starts the music, and sets the lights. Of course, some clients may not notice that right away as immediately to the left is a living room with a large-screen TV playing football games to highlight the company’s association with the New York Giants.

“We recently hosted an NFL Draft party here and, at the touch of a button, we had the NFL Network come on and had the tunable LEDs highlight Giants Blue,” says Arcenal. “For those who had never experienced automation like this before, it is the first ‘Aha’ moment they experience.”

But certainly not the last, as to the left of the television is a turntable station that uses Crestron DM NAX Audio Edge devices to bring its music to the audio distribution system throughout the apartment.

“Some of our clients have amassed these massive collections of vinyl, and, prior to this experience, they were stuck in one room where they could enjoy it,” says Arcenal. “This can be great, but now they can also

enjoy it throughout their home. For the demo, we automate the lights to turn a warm orange as the music fills the space.”

Getting a first taste of automation and distributed audio and video can give clients ideas, and even inspire them to challenge the integrators.

“We had one gentleman come through who had never experienced integrated technologies before, and his dream was to have a home as smart as Jarvis in the Iron Man films,” Arcenal explains. “He said, ‘I want to have my audio, but I don’t want it blasting throughout the space — I want it to follow me throughout my home.’ He thought he had us in a ‘gotcha’ moment, thinking we’d never be able to do that. But with our conditional logic and our occupancy sensors, we can tell it that, if someone is in the room, then resume playing. It isn’t even difficult because conditional logic is native to Crestron Home.

“That was his pie-in-the-sky wish that he thought couldn’t happen. So, we told him, ‘Yes, of course we can do that.’”

In addition to convenience, the distributed audio system also offers NYC apartment dwellers a more practical benefit: space. “The average cost per square foot in Manhattan is around $2200,” says Arcenal. “I asked one customer about their last place without distributed AV and how big the credenza was to hide all the gear. They described a piece that was about 3 feet by 12 feet. Now multiply that by $2200 and that’s a lot of space that’s not paying rent to you! Now they are taking back that living space.”

From there, it is a short walk to the kitchen, which also features a small dining area. The entire section is covered by elegant lighting fixtures and linear lighting around the countertops.

“This section highlights the transformational power of light,” explains Arcenal. “When we are cooking, we are in task mode with task lighting — everything is on at 100%. At the end of that, the kitchen becomes the heart of the home, and with the touch of a button, the artificial lights come down, the shades rise to allow more natural light to come in through, and the music plays softly in the background. All that with one touch of a button at the end of that two hours of prep time, leading to another ‘Aha’ moment.”

The other outstanding feature in the kitchen for always active Gothamites is the smart Bosch coffee machine that is integrated into the Crestron Home system, which means that when you wake up in the morning, a button press on the bedroom touch screen is all it takes to get the coffee brewing in the kitchen. No more waiting for the machine to heat up so you can get out the door — grab and go!

Speaking of the bedroom, that is the next stop on the tour. There, the first thing that leaps out is the window coverings, both horizontal shear shades and the drapes. “Many people don’t even realize that we have

The design studio

horizontal shears, so they like to see that,” says Arcenal. “And with the drapery covering the NYC views, the natural action here is to yank them open. When they tug on the curtains here, they automatically continue opening on their own. They close the same way — a quick yank, and they automatically go the rest of the way.”

The bedroom also features the DM-NAX-BTIO-1G wall plate with Bluetooth connectivity and unbalanced analog audio input and output, which allows any wired or wireless audio source to bridge to a DM-NAX network. The BTIO is great for guest rooms or hospitality because guests can connect with Bluetooth and the system will forget them when they go out of range — no need to log out of their accounts.

Across from the bedroom is the home office, which does double-duty as Arcenal’s office and showcases circadian lighting and the Mercury mini-tabletop conferencing systems. “I can control the entire space from here,” she says, “but I can also use this as my speakerphone. It has omnidirectional mics on all four corners and a speaker on the back so I can move about the room if needed. I can also mute the mics and the unit glows red, letting me know I don’t have to worry about any hot mic issues.”

The final stop is the design studio, where interior designers and homeowners can get in the weeds about styles of hembars, shades, touch

screens, and more. “Before becoming director of customer experience centers, I was director of residential business development, and I was working with all the specifiers,” explains Arcenal. “We love talking about finishes and how this can go with that and all the different ways that we can address the aesthetics. It makes such a difference to be able to just continue the conversation here and do it all in one shot.”

Let’s Meet

That covers the residential area, but there is another section of the experience center that those doing conference rooms should definitely investigate. The commercial side offers examples of huddle rooms, small conference rooms, and large meeting areas that use Crestron tech along with microphones from companies such as Shure and Sennheiser.

This area was where I had my own “Aha” moment, as I’ve worked in Manhattan offices for decades and have never enjoyed such an intuitive conference system, which focuses on the speaker no matter where he or she is and allows people to easily connect with the room.

So, not only does the Crestron NYC Experience Center provide a great example of smart luxury apartment living, but it’s also a great place to take a meeting (just let Arcenal know you’re coming).

The living room

The bedroom

The kitchen

Conference room

Celebrating Business Excellence

A previous winner looks at the benefits of participating in the CEDIA Smart Home Awards business categories.

BY BRIAN PERREAULT, OWNER, BARRETT’S TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

Barrett’s Technology Solutions has long been a leader in the smart home industry, and their win at the CEDIA Smart Home Awards 2024 for Excellence in Business was a testament to their dedication, innovation, and transformation. With a legacy spanning nearly six decades, the company has evolved from a specialty retail store to a premier custom integration firm, a journey that was rightfully recognized by the industry.

Brian Perreault, owner of Barrett’s Technology Solutions, discusses the company’s involvement with the CEDIA Smart Home Awards.

Why We Entered a Business Category

We were involved with the CEDIA Smart Home Awards a number of years ago and were successful in winning a Level II Bronze Technical Design award for a home theater project. We have remained interested in this member benefit program ever since then, but the challenge has been not having the bandwidth to consider the submissions, get the photography, and write up the entry. It’s unfortunate, as we have always known that our work is worthy.

What made us submit an entry last year was the combination of having a new staff member on board who could dedicate time to this, and also seeing that CEDIA had introduced business categories.

As we reviewed the criteria for the Excellence in Business category, we quickly realized how well it aligned with our company’s journey and evolution. With nearly 59 years in business, our history is rich and compelling. We are not the same company today that we were when we first opened our doors in 1966, and we felt that our journey from a retail store to a smart home integration company was a story worth telling.

Beyond our business model, what truly made the business category special for us was its emphasis on the entire team. Our company is filled with experienced and dedicated professionals who take immense pride in delivering exceptional work. The recognition from CEDIA acknowledges the expertise and passion that each member of the Barrett’s Technology Solutions team brings to their work every day.

The business category speaks to the quality of people, core values, and reputation. For Barrett’s Technology Solutions, it was an opportunity to showcase not just what we do, but who we are as a company.

Beyond our business model, what truly made the business category special for us was its emphasis on the entire team.

Illinois.

Lessons Learned for Future Submissions

Having submitted an award entry last year, I now understand the importance of thorough preparation. In previous years, our submissions were often rushed at the last minute, making it difficult to compile the necessary materials effectively. With my colleague, Coley Holland, leading the charge, we took a more strategic approach by planning ahead, ensuring we had quality photography, and gathering input from team members at all levels. This experience underscored the value of starting early, being meticulous, and dedicating sufficient time to crafting a compelling entry.

With our accolade from last year, we are now more motivated than ever to continue participating in the awards. I am determined to remain a regular award entrant and not let so much time pass before our next submission. With our team-driven approach and commitment to excellence, we are well-positioned to continue being a standout force in the smart home industry. We aim to celebrate this with more CEDIA Smart Home Awards in the future.

The Value of the CEDIA Awards

Beyond the personal and team recognition, we understand the importance of the CEDIA Smart Home Awards as a whole. It gives the entire community and industry an opportunity to celebrate their work. The awards program not only highlights business and installation excellence but also serves as an inspiration for integrators across the industry. Seeing the work of others pushes companies like Barrett’s Technology Solutions to continue improving and innovating.

For more information about the CEDIA Smart Home Awards, visit cedia.org/ awards.

The conference room at Barrett’s Technology Solutions Design Center, Lombard,

Be the Guide, Not the Guru

How to empower people by providing educational content.

BY KATYE MCGREGOR BENNETT, KMB COMMUNICATIONS

This month begins the first of a four-part series offering real-world, relatable insights into how to build deeper connections in today’s hyperdistracted, AI-influenced, authenticity-hungry marketplace. Over the next four months, these Secrets of Success columns will focus on the theme of “Attraction Over Promotion: A More Successful Marketing Mindset for Integration Pros.”

Providing actionable tips and takeaways, relatable stories, and proven marketing strategies, these articles are intended to help simplify messaging, streamline your workflow, boost engagement, and empower your clients.

Why Educating Beats Selling in 2025

As you look at how your company can achieve its goals for the year, you may find value in rethinking your marketing strategy by focusing on educational content that builds trust instead of only focusing on how to close more sales.

Let’s face it, most homeowners aren’t tech experts. They’re busy, overwhelmed, and craving clarity. This is where you, the integration professional, can step in not with a hard pitch, but with a helpful nudge in the form of relatable, educational content that demystifies and delights.

In today’s marketing landscape, clarity is king. According to a 2024 HubSpot study, educational content had a 52% higher engagement rate than promotional content across all digital platforms. Why? Because nobody wants to be sold to, but everyone wants to feel smarter. Instead of marketing a “smart lighting package,” show a 45-second video of a client setting a vibrant dinner scene with a simple voice command or single keypad tap. Use real-world applications to make technology feel approachable. Think less specs, more storytelling. It sounds simple, but few actually do it.

Examples of Content Types That Work

• Explainer videos: “Why Piecemealing Different Products Together May Be the Worst Idea Ever” or “Why Do I Need a Tech Integrator” or “What Does a Network Switch Actually Do and Why Do I Need One?”

• Blog posts: “5 Things to Ask Before Installing Smart Home Products” or “5 Things to Ask Before Installing Home Automation Devices” or “5 Things to Ask Before Installing Smart Lighting Fixtures and Bulbs”

• Checklists: “Smart Home Prep List for Party Planners” or “Smart Home Security Tips” or “Pre-Holiday Travel Home Security Checklist”

• Carousel posts: “How Our Work Provides You Peace of Mind” or “How We Harness the True Power of Smart Home Technology” or “What Does Our Tech Stack Actually Do for You?”

Educational content isn’t limited to YouTube videos, social media posts, or blogs. Showroom signage can be a powerful tool to guide people as they explore.

Take It to the Showroom

Educational content isn’t limited to YouTube videos, social media posts, or blogs. Showroom signage can be a powerful tool to guide people as they explore. Use short, benefit-focused bullets near demo stations (“shelf talkers”). And don’t underestimate the power of a well-trained team member who can guide with grace without hovering.

Online, it’s better to publish one solid, helpful post a week than five scattered ones that confuse your audience. Content calendars help. Repurpose your blog posts as LinkedIn newsletters, publish catchy, onbrand LinkedIn, Facebook, and IG posts and Reels, and create YouTube shorts from videos. It’s all the same story, just told in different ways.

The best educational content also has a touch of humor. Like that time a client panicked because they couldn’t flush a smart toilet in your swanky, tech-enabled showroom bathroom. You fixed it in three words: “Use the lever!” And now it’s your most-watched video.

Why This Approach Works

As covered in the article “Crafting an Effective Content Marketing Calendar,” scheduling content around educational intent helps integration firms maintain relevance and boost visibility. Articles like “Stop Selling Products” and “Helping Clients to Visualize” further support the idea that empowering clients through information builds loyalty and trust. (Note: All articles are available on residentialsystems.com under Features > Secrets of Success.)

Marketing isn’t about selling smarter — it’s about teaching better. The more you help people understand the technology that will best support their lifestyle, the more likely they are to trust you with the next big project. So, trade the guru stance for a guide’s approach. After all, as I’ve said in previous pieces, the more we educate, the more we elevate — not just sales, but the entire experience. And that’s what truly sets the pros apart.

As always, I am here to help! Drop me a line at katye@kmbcomm.com to get the conversation started.

The Two-Way Street of Leadership, Part 2

How to use coaching to become the leader your business needs you to be.

BY MATT BERNATH

Last month, we began our talk about coaching with a look at why business owners should shift their mindset from being the person with all the answers to helping others find their own solutions, and how to get started. In this article, we will continue the conversation that started with my co-host Brent and I on The Flywheel Effect podcast and dive into when to use coaching and how leaders themselves can benefit from it.

When to Coach vs. When to Direct

Coaching isn’t always the right approach. When there’s a true emergency, when someone is completely new to a task, or when safety is involved, direct instruction makes sense. But most day-to-day challenges? Those are coaching opportunities.

The rule I follow is if someone has the foundational knowledge to figure something out with guidance, coach them through it. If they’re truly missing fundamental information or skills, teach them directly.

The Double-Edged Sword of Expertise

Being good at everything can make you bad at leading people. When you’ve done every job in your company, when you know the right answer immediately, it’s tempting to just provide that answer every time. But expertise can become a prison. Your team learns to depend on you for decisions, approval, and solutions. You become successful at creating people who can’t function without you.

The alternative is what I call “productive discomfort” — creating space for others to struggle with challenges, to come up with imperfect solutions, and to learn from mistakes. It feels inefficient in the moment, but it builds capability over time.

When you shift from solving to coaching, something magical happens. Your team members start coaching each other, they ask better questions, they take more ownership, and they stop escalating every decision up to you.

This doesn’t happen overnight. It requires consistency and patience. You’ll need to catch yourself when you slip back into “just-tell-themwhat-to-do” mode. You’ll need to tolerate some messiness as people work through challenges, but the payoff is enormous: a team that functions and grows without your constant input.

The Mirror of Leadership

Everything I’ve said about coaching your team applies to you, too. The most successful leaders I know all have coaches — not because they’re broken or struggling, but because they recognize that growth requires an outside perspective. They understand that the same blind spots that affect

their team members affect them, too.

I get it. The idea of having a coach might feel unnecessary. You’ve gotten this far without one, right? You’re successful, profitable, and growing. Why would you need someone else to tell you what to do?

Getting coached isn’t about having someone tell you what to do. It’s about having someone help you see what you can’t see yourself. It’s about being challenged in ways that push you past your comfort zone. It’s about accountability — not just to your team and customers, but to your own growth.

When you invest in coaching — both giving it and receiving it — you’re investing in capacity. You’re building systems and people that can handle complexity without your direct involvement. You’re creating space for yourself to work on the business instead of just in it.

Every hour you spend coaching someone is an hour of future time you’re creating for yourself. Every breakthrough session with your own coach is an increase in your ability to navigate challenges, lead effectively, and make better decisions.

Starting Small

You don’t need to overhaul everything overnight. Start with one person on your team. In your next interaction with him or her, instead of immediately providing a solution, ask a question. See what happens.

Find a mentor — someone who’s been where you want to go. Join a peer group where you can share challenges and learn from others facing similar issues. Consider working with a professional coach, even if it’s just for a specific challenge or period.

The goal isn’t perfection; the goal is progress. Every small shift toward coaching creates ripple effects throughout your organization.

The most successful leaders I know have figured out a fundamental truth: Your impact isn’t limited by what you can do personally — it’s multiplied by what you can inspire and develop in others.

When you become a coach-leader, you stop being the ceiling on your organization’s growth. Instead, you become the foundation that supports everyone else’s rise.

The business that can function and thrive without you isn’t one that doesn’t need you. It’s one that represents the best possible expression of your leadership, and that’s a goal worth coaching toward.

For more insights on leadership and building scalable businesses, I invite you to check out The Flywheel Effect podcast. Each episode is packed with practical strategies to help you navigate the challenges of growing your business while developing the people who make it all possible. If you want more information about how VITAL can help, check out these free resources.

Winning by Waiting

The first one in doesn’t always take the prize — there is power in being the second mover.

BY HENRY CLIFFORD

In a world where volatility has become the norm and our businesses have been thrown into a constant state of uncertainty, it’s never been more important to control the controllables. In the sales world, one of these manageable elements is called second-mover strategy. Apple famously describes this approach to business as not necessarily starting the conversation, but being there to finish it. Here are some killer secondmover tactics to transform your CI business overnight and set yourself apart from the competition:

Let the First Movers Bleed: The battlefield is littered with the corpses of those who embraced “ready, fire, aim” a little too literally. Some examples…

• Smart Lighting: Early entrants into the lighting control category were unreliable and used technologies like power-line carrier signal and radio-based switches that were highly susceptible to interference. The popularity of Lutron’s RadioRA in the early 2000s introduced rock-solid reliability into lighting control and began the march toward exploding the category through forward-thinking integrators. This move capitalized on resistance to change by incumbent electricians and enabled CI businesses to add substantial revenue streams by waiting out the less-reliable offerings.

• Remote Monitoring: CI wasn’t ready for managed services in 2009 when ihiji debuted. By waiting out technological advances and more robust offerings like Domotz, OvrC, and subscription solutions from players like OneVision and Parasol, many integrators are now successfully operationalizing RMR into their businesses for the first time.

Lower Cost of Entry: Early adopters pay a heavy price from both a financial and reliability perspective. For many of these die-hards, being first on the block to own a shiny object is worth it. For the majority of customers, waiting for the adoption curve to move further along tends to introduce competition and brings down prices substantially. For integrators, this can be a double-edged sword. Many remember the days of selling $8000 40-inch 1080p TVs in contrast to today’s highly commoditized flat panel world. Still, in subsystem categories like motorized shading, prices dropping below $1000 per window while still preserving a 40-point selling margin means more revenue for savvy players who see the marketing opportunities.

Proven Tech = Happier Clients and Employees: No matter how many expectations you set, no one likes it when the system the client “just paid all this money for” doesn’t work properly. Second movers benefit from lower service call volume and happier clients, which translates into repeat business, social proof, and higher net promoter scores.

Refined UX From the Start: The first version of anything is usually a work in progress, no matter how good the design. Take a look at the first iPhone versus what’s available today. All hardware reaches a point where, in the words of Ray Lepper, “the technology gets out of the way.” This is the

point where “it just works.” This is especially true in home control, where early versions of all the major home control platforms were clunky when compared to today’s streamlined offerings.

Leverage Customer Fatigue: It’s not uncommon to hear clients express that they used to have a fully integrated home but they were frustrated with how often they had maintenance issues and needed on-site visits from their integrator. Savvy second movers acknowledge this pain and design best-in-class subsystem-based systems that stand alone without a single point of failure. Better yet, a well-designed subsystem-based home control project can easily be pivoted to a “full control” system down the road should they change their minds.

We Learn From Their Mistakes: Sun Tzu famously states in The Art of War: “If you sit by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by.” The wise integrator chooses to respond vs. react. That often involves doing nothing, which can feel frustrating. Nothing is often the best strategy and requires no effort. Still, many of us can’t resist the urge to interrupt our competitors when they’re screwing up. Consider listening more and taking notes when tempted to rush in too early.

Ask Them About Things They Don’t Have: Instead of using negativity to sell against the competition, intentionally “salt the earth” by asking about elements you know the first movers aren’t selling. Remote support and lighting plans are common elements that most integrators don’t offer and can be easy conversation starters, which will have any prospects in competitive bid situations questioning the other proposals they’re reviewing. Consider openers like, “What kind of support do you expect when your system breaks?” or, “You know the most overlooked element in home technology today? It’s the lighting. Can we review your lighting plan together?” In both of these scenarios, you’ll put the prospect into a state of pain where you (and only you) have the medication they need.

Second mover strategy is not monolithic — there are certainly times where being first is clearly advantageous. These situations are often marked by market opportunities where timing is everything; where it might actually be more conservative and more prudent to have been a second mover. By waiting, sometimes the market opportunity completely closes or disappears. One of these key strategies is called “cookie licking,” which involves announcing something potentially before it’s even been developed or launched. This is commonly used in the technology game. Alarm.com launched a security drone program at CES 2017. It’s still on the drawing board eight years later. While they didn’t launch quickly, they did successfully manage to suck all the oxygen out of the room and relegating any future market entrants to be compared to Alarm.com. Being first sometimes is the only option, but these opportunities should be carefully considered.

As you stare down the back half of 2025, ask yourself which of these second-mover strategies sound like a fit for your business. If you could only pick one, which one would it be? What are you waiting for? Go do it!

ACOUSTICS MADE EASIER

Created by pro audio professionals, REDIAcoustics takes the guesswork out of creating a great-sounding space.

BY ANTHONY SAVONA

Most residential integration firms do not have an acoustician on staff; however, REDIAcoustics is looking to change that by offering its turnkey acoustical analytics and treatment materialization services to dealers in as seamless a way as possible.

“There’re no travel costs involved,” says PK Pandey, director and partner at REDIAcoustics. “We can predict what the room will sound like, as well as suggest efficient materialization solutions that will accommodate any design requirement, using our patent -pending predictive analysis process."

Who’s Behind REDIAcoustics

Before tackling what REDIAcoustics can do and how it operates, it is important to know who is behind the company, which, in addition to its team of engineers, includes some heavy hitters from the pro audio world as its partners.

REDI partner and director of research, Dr. Peter D’Antonio, is a legend in acoustical design and the founder of RPG Diffusor Systems. He is a pioneer in the sound diffusion industry and has created a wide range of novel number-theoretic, fractal, and optimized diffusing and absorbing surfaces, for which he holds many trademarks and patents.

As a partner and advisor to REDI, architect and acoustician John Storyk of WSDG (Walters-Storyk Design Group) has provided design and construction supervision services for the professional audio and video recording industry since the 1969 design of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Under Storyk’s guidance, WSDG, a 13-time NAMM TEC award winner, has designed some of the finest recording studios, event spaces, and home theaters around the world.

REDI senior acoustical engineer and partner Rinaldi Petrolli also hails from WSDG, working on various domains of acoustical analysis and computational simulations that put him regularly in touch with D’Antonio and Pandey.

Pandey is the integrator of the group, having managed and had oversight in hundreds of projects, focusing on quality assurance and client relationships. He was the founder of GCPro, Guitar Center’s B2B division and AVN Systems (avnsys.com). He has been honored with 12 Platinum and Gold records by all the artist projects he has been involved in. He is also a studio owner.

That is an impressive pedigree that can be added to an integration company’s assets for typically under $5000 per project.

A final listening room. TOP: The REDIAcoustics-provided acoustical design for this room.

How It Works

REDIAcoustics offers a few different services, but essentially, they all work the same way.

“The integrators give us their floor plans and elevations to the space that they have available, and we design any kind of geometry if needed, or, if it is just a cuboid space, we would work within to determine the proper dimensions for the best scenario,” explains Pandey. “We would also predict what this room will sound like, so they have to tell us the speakers they're using. We can tell you all the exact speaker positioning and where to put the subwoofers.

“We give them the ray tracing, the frequency response, and pressure map of the room. Then we design the treatments for them and tell them exactly where to place them on an XYZ 3-D model. We will also teach them how to make some of the treatments because it makes sense for them to make some of the treatments and the resonator plates — or we can arrange for approved manufacturers to make that product.”

For non-cuboid spaces, REDI offers two audio optimization services: NIRO for room geometry and positioning, and TORA for acoustic treatment. Integrators can choose one or the other, or, for best results, use both.

If you are working in a straightforward cuboid room, you can use REDIAcoustics ROCS (Room Optimization of Cuboid Spaces) module, which offers several room-type options and lets you plug numbers right into the website and get the data you need in just a few minutes.

The company is also working on an app for cuboid listening room

This page: The front and back of a 2-channel listening room, along with the REDIAcoustics analyisis of this space.

spaces where a user can enter the room dimensions and it will give results for up to three sets of speakers so you can compare the results. The app should be out by the end of the year and will cost $299 to analyze a room.

Working With REDIAcoustics

The best way to get involved with REDIAcoustics is through its website, rediacoustics.com, which has plenty of details about its processes and how they work. And if you are wondering why you haven’t heard of them before, that is by design.

“We're totally invisible,” says Pandey. “There might be 200 recording studios that we've done whose owners don't know we've done it, but the acousticians or studio designers have used our technology.

“The high-end theater designers call us in because they don't want any guesswork. They want to provide data and a report for the client, which we will do but it will have their company name on it. If they are working with us, then they have confidence in designing a million-dollar theater and knowing where to put acoustical treatment that'll work for everything — the high frequencies and low. And acoustics are more important than ever because of Dolby Atmos. When you have up to 22 speakers and many subwoofers, it's just going to become a low-frequency nightmare — it's not going to be an enjoyable listening environment.”

REDI won’t specify any of the gear for the room, but they can make refinements based on the client’s interests. “We don’t make speaker recommendations because we know they are all going to sound good in the room we're designing,” says Pandey. “The speaker will behave and perform as it was designed to. And if the client wants the space to sound a little more live, like the hi-fi listening folks like, we can do that. Or if you want a home theater that is a little drier, we can do that, too. That discussion is part of the first meetings that we have with the integrators.”

In the Field

As with all things custom integration, the earlier REDIAcoustics can

get involved in a project, the better — ideally during the pre-design phase, according to Pandey. Still, REDI can be used at any time during the process and is particularly effective on retrofits, where the company can tell integrators which existing treatments can be saved and which treatments need to be replaced.

If an integrator needs to justify the cost to the client, Pandey suggests, “The best way for a dealer to explain REDIAcoustics to the end user is to say it's a high-end acoustic analysis and that they want to make sure the room sounds great. It's that simple. And it is not that big of a line item comparably. Say a theater is $100,000 — we're talking about a $5000 line item. If you had a huge theater with 22 speakers, maybe it would be $10,000. It all depends, but this is the neighborhood, and it is not that crazy.

“There are some homeowners who really want to get into the weeds, and we want to give the integrator a report so when they're in the room with the client they can say, ‘We spent some time working on this room and these are the acoustics for it.’

“I think that knowledgeable homeowners are a trend that is going to grow and that is going to be more important in the future.”

For integrators who choose to go without an acoustician or REDIAcoustics, Pandey offers some suggestions. “Many integrators are applying acoustic treatment now with semi-rigid insulation and fabric, which is a great place to start, but if you put that in the wrong place, it makes it worse. I’d recommend diving into the science to give yourself a little education about how low-frequency waveforms behave in rooms — they all behave differently depending on the size and the dimensions of the room. For some integrators, it's just trial and error. And then they're going to keep designing the same room over and over again.

“Or they can hire REDIAcoustics and have every room they create sound the best that it can.”

For more information about the products and services REDIAcoustics offers, visit rediacoustics.com.

Two uniquely shaped recording studios with their respective REDIAcoustics anaylsis.

UPPING THE

AUDIO ANTE

Kansas City’s Naturally Wired goes all in on a new whole-home sound solution that was first experienced at last year’s CEDIA Expo.

BY ANTHONY SAVONA

With more than 30 years in business, Naturally Wired’s owner

Todd Sandler has seen plenty in terms of home consumer trends and technology changes. While he says the Kansas City-based shop tends to “fly under the radar, serving 80% of the business” — cutting out both the bottom and top 10% of the market — it keeps a steady stream of business from builders and a client base that has grown through years of word-of-mouth recommendations.

So, when he saw Nice’s new Premium Toolless Speakers at CEDIA Expo

last year — and the aggressive dealer pricing plan that came along with them — he saw an opportunity for his business and his clients.

“For whole home audio, we use Nice Premium Toolless exclusively now,” says Sandler. “We were using its ELAN- and Speakercraft-branded speakers, but we have completely moved away from all that now. We did that for a couple of reasons. One, we were using the older gear for a while now, and it was time for a change. We wanted to give the Nice speakers a shot after we heard them at CEDIA. The second, and probably the initial

A media room that uses Nice Premium Toolless in-ceiling speakers.

motivating factor, was the end-of-year promotional pricing Nice was offering. We bought into it pretty heavily — $30,000 worth of speakers.”

Some of those speakers, about 20%, were marked for jobs already commissioned, while others were housed in the warehouse for future projects. Sandler knew they would all be put to use soon.

“Our average installation is around six to eight zones, and we use two to six speakers per zone,” he says. “So, if we were to average that, we’re using roughly 20 to 30 speakers per system.”

In addition to an increase in sound quality, the Premium Toolless also offers other benefits. “They’re super simple to install,” Sandler explains. “I’ve had some of the guys comment about how easy it is to get them out if they need to do something to them. They love how easy they are to install and it’s definitely been a timesaver. We have seen our installations become more efficient because of it. And we have definitely noticed an improvement in sound quality over the previous generations of speakers.”

Getting Buy-In

While Sandler says that the majority of his clients have an understanding of whole home audio, they typically come into a project thinking they will only want speakers in a couple of rooms, but that changes throughout the education process.

“We will ask them qualifying questions like, ‘How do you envision using music?’ ‘How do you use what you currently have?’ ‘Do you want this to be just basic background sound and fill the space with noise to not have silence when you’re entertaining?’ ‘Do you crank it up so that everybody has to yell to talk to each other during a party?’ Based on those kinds of questions and responses, we gauge what it is they’re looking for. The louder they say that they’re going to use it, we steer them toward the better-quality products because, even somebody who can’t tell what is good sound, it’s possible that their friends will, and we don’t want them to be embarrassed — or for us to be embarrassed!

“[The Nice Premium Toolless speakers are] super simple to install. I’ve had some of the guys comment about how easy it is to get them out if they need to do something to them. It’s definitely been a timesaver.”

— Todd Sandler, Naturally Wired

“Except for the occasional bathroom, we rarely do a single speaker — every job has at least a pair of speakers in each room. Most of the time it’s going to be at least four, depending on the size of the space. We do push for them to spread that sound out more so that they don’t have to turn it up as loud. For the people who are less interested in audio and more interested in background sound, we push for more speakers so that there aren’t any hotspots and nobody is standing underneath a super-loud speaker at any time.”

Except, of course, when they want to be beneath a super-loud speaker. “We have a client who has used us in several homes and he likes to crank the music when he’s working out in his dedicated home gym. Really loud. It’s a 400-square-foot space, and we put in 10 ceiling speakers and two subs. He

does the same thing in every house — he’s got a dedicated gym space that he just loads up with speakers.”

Other Audio Areas

Naturally Wired also has a healthy home theater business, along with some 2-channel listening rooms, where they typically use Paradigm speakers. Outdoor audio is also common on most projects, although client education is important there, as well.

“Most clients think that the only full-yard coverage comes from rock speakers, so the variable subs and landscape speakers are new to them,” Sandler says. “We get a lot of people that do bite off on those because it’s a better look and a better sound that they didn’t even know existed.

“We’ve got a fair share of clients with pools and good-sized yards, but our big selling point is facing the sound back to the house to not disturb the neighbors. In most of our neighborhoods, the houses are on top of each other, and most of our clients are very cognizant of not disturbing their neighbors. So, getting landscape speakers out into the yard facing back toward the house rather than blasting out to all the neighbors steers that ship a lot.”

Naturally Wired outdoor audio systems are also handled mostly by Nice, along with some Paradigm.

Client Pleaser

The greatest importance to Sandler is keeping his builder and homeowner clients happy because that is what nets him more business. “We are primarily a builder business, but we also get a lot of repeat business from people who are building their second, third, or fourth home and they’ve used us in the previous ones,” he says. “We’ve been introduced to a lot of different builders over the years because a client will have changed builders in their second or third house, but they still want us to do the work. So, we get to meet a new builder because the client brings us back into the project, which opens up even more opportunities for us.”

Finally, while Sandler believes most of the well-known audio manufacturers produce a good-sounding product, for him and Naturally Wired, it comes down to which ones make the best partner.

“I think the vast majority of the quality brands within our industry all sound good,” he concludes. “Obviously I stay away from the ‘no-names,’ but all the named brands are pretty trustworthy. So, the biggest deciding factor for me is their dealer program, and Nice has an excellent dealer program.”

For more information, visit www.naturallywiredkc.com.

Nice outdoor speakers

TOTAL IMMERSION

An unused basement is transformed into a world-class home theater — and more.

Hidden beneath a suburban home in Oregon, Wisconsin, is a world-class, fully immersive home theater that was built from the ground up to deliver a cinematic experience that rivals any multiplex. For homeowner Tyler Grigg, this wasn’t just another basement remodel. This was an obsession realized — a project designed to push the limits of what’s possible in home entertainment.

“I didn’t just want a theater — I wanted total immersion,” Grigg explains. “I wanted to feel like I’m inside the movie, not just watching it.”

With Audio Contractors LLC and Dream House Dream Kitchens leading the charge, an empty lower-level walkout basement was transformed into a technological masterpiece, designed around a cinema-first experience.

All About the Theater

From the beginning, one rule defined the project: everything in the basement would revolve around the theater. Every decision — acoustics, lighting, even structural elements — was made to enhance the cinematic experience.

At the heart of it all is a Sony VPL-XW5000ES 4K laser projector, mounted overhead, beaming pristine, ultra-high-definition images onto a 115-inch Zero Edge 16:9 fixed screen from Screen Innovations. The result? Deep contrast, vibrant colors, and a picture so crisp it feels almost three-dimensional.

But what truly separates this space from other high-end home theaters is the sound. A 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos system delivers sonic realism, with audio traveling across the room, over your head, and behind you just as the director intended. Revel W553L in-wall speakers form the front soundstage, while Revel W553L in-wall surrounds expand the immersive bubble and Revel C263 in-ceiling Atmos speakers ensure that sounds like

The home theater features a Sony VPL-XW5000ES 4K laser projector, mounted overhead.

The Screen Innovations 115-inch Zero Edge 16:9 fixed screen.

rain, helicopters, and overhead movement feel completely lifelike.

Three REL subwoofers anchor the low end, delivering deep, powerful, and balanced bass across the room. Dual REL Acoustics HT/1205 MKII

(“The Cannon”) subs flank the front stage, giving explosions and music scores theater-grade depth. A REL T/5x subwoofer, dedicated to the center channel, adds weight and realism to dialog, footsteps, and subtle low-frequency effects.

Powering it all is an Anthem MRX 1140 8K AV receiver, a flagship-grade processor that ensures lossless, high-fidelity Dolby Atmos and DTS:X playback.

To optimize every seat, Audio Contractors utilized Anthem Room Correction — a precision audio calibration system that measures the room’s acoustics and fine-tunes the speaker outputs.

“We didn’t just install high-end speakers and call it a day,” says Kris Hodgkins, general manager at Audio Contractors. “We used ARC to optimize the theater for every seating position, making sure the sound was as pure and dynamic as possible — no matter where you’re sitting.”

And because immersion demands silence, the room was fully soundproofed with dense-pack cellulose insulation, Mass Loaded Vinyl

along the back wall, and extra-thick pocket doors, ensuring that not a single decibel escapes the theater.

“When we fire this system up, we’re talking reference-level theater volume,” says Grigg. “But upstairs? You won’t hear a thing.”

Beyond the Theater

But this basement wasn’t built just for movies — it’s a fully connected smart entertainment ecosystem where every room feels like an extension of the theater.

The living area features a 2024 75-inch Samsung Frame TV that seamlessly blends into the modern décor and syncs with the theater and game room for multi-zone sports viewing. Klipsch RP-500M II bookshelf speakers, chosen for their audiophile-quality sound and stylish design, complete the space.

In the game room, there is a 2024 43-inch Samsung Frame TV paired with Revel C283 in-ceiling speakers that ensures gaming and sports sound just as immersive as in the theater.

The bar area is outfitted with Revel C283 in-ceiling speakers, allowing music, movies, and games to seamlessly extend beyond the theater walls.

A living area sits just outside of the home theater.

The living area features a 2024 75-inch Samsung Frame TV.

The rear of the home theater area.

When it’s game day, the entire system syncs with a single command, transforming the basement into a multi-zone sports lounge, with all three screens playing in perfect unison.

“At any moment, we can run independent sources in each room or link them all together,” says Grigg. “It’s completely seamless.”

The magic behind this integration? Control4 Core 3 home automation, replacing the home’s legacy HC800 controller from 2009. Now, everything — from lights to audio zones to TV sync — can be controlled from Neeo remotes, iPhones, Control4 keypads, or T4 wall-mounted touchscreens.

Designed to Last

Ensuring flawless, uninterrupted performance, all AV components are housed in a Strong FS Series rack system, complete with rack-mounted cooling fans. Additional key infrastructure includes:

• Araknis Networks AN-210-SW-R-24-POE (a Websmart Gigabit Switch with Partial PoE+)

• SurgeX SA-15 (an EMI/RFI filtering power conditioner)

• 2024 Roku Ultra HD 4K HDR (for premium high-bitrate streaming)

“Having a professionally built AV rack isn’t just about organization — it’s about reliability,” says Hodgkins. “This setup ensures the system stays cool, protected, and future-proofed for years to come.”

A Passion Project Realized

For Grigg, this theater is the realization of a lifelong passion for high-end audio and video.

“I’ve been into premium AV since high school, when I used to sell it at Best Buy,” he says. “This was my chance to build something truly nextlevel — and now, we get to experience it every weekend, right in our own home.”

From Dolby Atmos-fueled movie nights to football Sundays with synchronized, multi-zone screens, this basement is proof that home entertainment can be just as thrilling as a trip to the movies.

“This project is one of the most immersive, flawlessly integrated home entertainment spaces we’ve ever built,” says Hodgkins. “It’s a benchmark for what’s possible in home theater design.”

For the Grigg family, the once-empty lower level is now a permanent escape; a place where movies aren’t just watched — they’re felt.

The Strong FS Series rack system.

SUBWOOFERS TECH SHOWCASE

It is all about that bass for the latest models to hit the market.

Subwoofers can enhance most sound systems, whether they be separate components, a simple soundbar, or even outdoor. Here are some of the more recent models to hit the market.

1 OSD Nero DueVoce X8

The OSD Nero DueVoce DualX8 subwoofer offers bass extension below 40 Hz and the built-in amplifier can power the subwoofer to high SPL levels of 107 dB with only 1% distortion. Adding this subwoofer to a soundbar will allow you to hear the full frequency range that is on the soundtrack. The OSD Nero DueVoce Dual8X is also designed for small desktop or bookshelf speakers. Placed under a desk or hidden away in a corner, small speakers can sound huge. You can install in-wall speakers and add this sub to create a “hidden” sound system. Using its 2.1 amplifier to power the in-wall speakers and provide the signal for the subwoofer, the resulting system is almost invisible and yet sounds like a bigger setup.

2 KEF KC92

The KEF KC92 Subwoofer features the company’s proprietary digital signal processing algorithm, the Music Integrity Engine (MIE) — one of the brands core innovations in technology. The KC92 also features two 9-inch drivers, derived from KEF’s flagship Blade HiFi Speaker, and has a five-preset Room Placement Equalization function that ensures consistent performance no matter where the subwoofer is placed. The two drivers in the KC92 are positioned back-to-back in a force-cancelling configuration. This design neutralizes out reactive forces, minimizing cabinet vibration and maximizing accuracy and detail. This configuration enables an immense volume capacity, facilitating sound pressure levels of 110 dB from a compact, sealed cabinet.

3 PhaseTech Power Lux DSP

The PhaseTech Power Lux DSP subwoofers leverage advanced digital signal processing to control both the amplifier and the driver. PhaseTech is shipping four models: the PL-10S and PL-12S compact sealed subs, alongside the PL-10P and PL-12P ported subwoofers. These models are engineered to produce deep bass as low as 17 Hz. Each subwoofer, available in sealed or ported designs with 10- or 12-inch long-throw mica-graphite poly cone with NBR Surround, incorporates an integrated 900-watt peak amplifier. Users can tailor their audio experience via a dedicated app compatible with iOS and Android devices, offering control over level, phase, EQ, crossovers, and more. With LFE and stereo inputs/outputs, these subwoofers are versatile for any audio setup.

4 Ascendo 28 Sub Pro Squared

After extensive research and experimentation, Ascendo has developed a 28-inch composite sandwich cone, built from multiple layers of rohacell. With the cone area equivalent to a 32-inch round subwoofer, this model is engineered to push the boundaries of what’s possible in low-frequency sound reproduction. It delivers the highest output while occupying minimal space, making it perfect for even the most space-conscious home theater setups. Its unique construction allows for woofers to be spaced very closely together, achieving perfect coupling for bass array systems with control up to 120 Hz.

5 Monitor Audio Vestra Series

Engineered and developed alongside Monitor Audio’s Anthra Series subwoofers, each of the three Vestra Subwoofers — the W10, W12, and W15 — include an acoustic package that enables Monitor Audio to deliver on its ‘Transparent Design Philosophy,’ which couples superior design elements, intuitive user-experience, and advanced acoustic engineering. Vestra subwoofers utilize Monitor Audio’s proprietary C-CAM cone technology (Ceramic-Coated Aluminium Magnesium). The properties of C-CAM ensure a more fatigue-resistant, stronger, and lighter cone. The result is a cone material that offers far greater pistonic movement under extreme stresses over standard aluminum cones.

6 Starke Sound SUB 1 and SUB 5

The Starke Sound SUB 1 ($2499) is a compact powerhouse of a midsized subwoofer, featuring a 12.5-inch driver and 1000 watts RMS of clean, controlled power to fill a space with bass that is both deep and precise. For rooms that need extra support on the bottom end, the SUB 5 ($4999) includes a 17-inch driver, Umbraxis Diaphragm Support Structure, and 120mm excursion, delivering bass that plunges as low as 8 Hz. Powered by up to 3000 watts RMS, it produces ultra-deep, dynamic, distortion-free low frequencies.

7 SVS 5000 R|Evolution Series

The SVS 5000 R|Evolution Series subwoofers include two new models that extend the subwoofer technology platform previously developed for the brand’s flagship 17-Ultra R|Evolution subwoofers. Comprised of the SB-5000 R|Evolution sealed cabinet subwoofer and PB-5000 R|Evolution ported cabinet subwoofer, both models feature multiple advancements, including a first-ever 15-inch driver, dual monoblock amplifier, and a 295 MHz Analog Devices DSP.

For the new 15-inch driver, SVS designed the first-ever dual edge-wound voice coil to ensure stable transfer of electromagnetic current from the dual

mono-amplifier to the 38-pound toroidal ferrite magnet motor, resulting in massive output with exacting control. Copper-clad aluminum voice coil wire combines the best properties of both elements, yielding ideal thermal capacity and magnetic field strength within the motor.

8 Lyngdorf DW-10 in-Wall Woofer

The Lyngdorf DW-10 is a high-performance in-wall woofer specifically made for custom installations that require the most-shallow woofer solution yet with the best possible bass performance. The new DW-10 enclosure fit into 6-inch/15 cm cavity walls. Its height provides the large inner cabinet volume required for remarkable bass extension from such a slim enclosure. The DW-10 utilizes two patented high-excursion shallow woofers, customized for Lyngdorf Audio and based on a voice-coil/cone geometry and suspension that allows the highest excursion from the most space-saving construction. A four-layer voice coil, an ultra-rigid dual aluminum cone, a neodymium magnet, and an extremely rigid cast basket provide impressive bass performance.

9 Focal Cinema SUB

The Focal Cinema SUB’s two 13-inch woofers guarantee maximum excursion and uncompromising bass control. Tuned to 19 Hz, it delivers a unique extension for a deep and striking bass, even in the most spacious cinema rooms. Its large front laminar port is designed to minimize distortion while maximizing sound pressure, descending to lower frequencies while increasing their efficiency, for an impactful sub-bass.

10 Grimani Systems Psi v3

The Grimani Systems Psi v3 subwoofer has the same performance and compact form factor as its predecessors, the Psi and Psi v2, with a new design form that features recessed drivers and smoothed edges. While maintaining its original 8-inch depth, Psi v3 can now be concealed behind stretched fabric and acoustically transparent screens without concerns of the driver excursion hitting any surfaces. Psi v3 redefines efficient lowfrequency performance, delivering high-fidelity bass with unmatched precision and dynamics. The Psi v3 Quad-Drive system (Quad-Drive mode with four units in the four corners of a room for optimized bass distribution) boasts an in-room sound pressure level of 115 dB.

11 McIntosh PS1K

At the heart of the McIntosh PS1K powered subwoofer are two 13inch drivers featuring McIntosh’s proprietary Low Distortion High Performance Magnetic Circuit Design, which reduces distortion and improves power handling. With advanced Finite Element Analysis ensuring extreme linearity, the PS1K’s woofers also incorporate multi-layer carbon fiber cones for superior rigidity and sound clarity, resisting flex even at high outputs. The PS1K’s dual 13-inch woofers are driven by two 500-watt Class D amplifiers, combining for 1000 watts of output.

12 Theory iws12-Bollard 12-inch Landscape Subwoofer

The Theory iws12-SPKR speaker assembly includes a 12-inch, 1400-watt, 4-inch voice coil long-throw woofer that can be integrated into the Theory iws12-6 in-wall subwoofer and the Theory iws12-9 architectural subwoofer. With the introduction of the iws12-Bollard, now that iws12-SPKR performance can be enjoyed outdoors. When mounted inside the new iws12-Bollard housing and installed outdoors you get astonishing high-energy low frequencies in your landscape.

13 Coastal Source CUBE Outdoor Subwoofer

The Coastal Source CUBE 350-watt outdoor subwoofer combines two customizable stone finishes (Travertine or Granite) with a 10-inch bass driver in a small 16-inch cube shape that can be mounted on hardscapes or softscapes. The CUBE subwoofer is designed to seamlessly integrate into any Coastal Source Plug&Play high-performance audio system. CUBE comes with vibration-reducing rubber feet that will ensure the subwoofer stays put and doesn’t vibrate against the hardscape even when it is driven to the highest power levels.

14 MartinLogan Dynamo Foundation Series

The MartinLogan Dynamo Foundation Subwoofers feature a 200 MHz DSP engine with 56-bit processing and are equipped with MartinLogan’s exclusive Magnitude 400 or 700 amplifiers, delivering up to 400 watts and 700 watts peak power, respectively. The custom-designed 10- or 12-inch Ultra-Rigid Polypropylene woofers are tuned to perfection, delivering robust, deep bass with minimal distortion, even at high volumes. They are designed to complement MartinLogan Motion Foundation Series systems and other brands, offering high-performance, low-distortion bass.

15 JBL Stage 220P

Blending powerful performance with stylish design, the JBL Stage 220P is the most commanding subwoofer in the Stage series. Engineered at JBL’s Acoustic Engineering Center of Excellence in Northridge, California, this 12-inch powered subwoofer delivers 500 watts of dynamic power and room-shaking bass down to 26 Hz. A high-excursion polycellulose woofer and dual rear-firing tuned ports ensure deep, accurate low-frequency response ideal for a modern home theater audio system.

16 L-Acoustics SB10i

Equipped with a single 10-inch driver, 27 Hz bandwidth limit, and 124 dB maximum SPL output, the L-Acoustics SB10i measures 21.3 L x 21.3 W x 6.7 H inches (540 x 540 x 170 mm) and weighs 33 pounds (15 kg). The sub has an elegantly discreet design, and is available in RAL colors. The integrated “tech face” contains all connectors and mounting points in one unobtrusive panel, so mounting hardware, cables, and connectors can be hidden, regardless of where or how the SB10i is installed.

2025 CUSTOM DISTRIBUTOR GUIDE

KEEPING THINGS MOVING

In times of uncertainty, custom distributors work to keep the products flowing and their partners informed.

By Karen Mitchell

When economic uncertainty looms, implementing greater flexibility in brands and forging close ties to your business’ distribution partners is key for custom integrators.

“We’ve always chosen brands based on performance, reliability, and support; not just price,” says Cody Crossland, VP of sales and customer service, Blackwire Designs. “But in today’s climate, dealers need options. So, we’ve expanded our product lineup to give them more flexibility without sacrificing quality.”

That can mean offering different price points or bringing in niche solutions to fill a gap. “Our goal is to make sure dealers have what they need to stay competitive and profitable,” he says. “We help integrators find the right tools to get the job done, and we’re constantly evaluating our catalog to reflect that. Our commitment to being a problem-solving partner rather than a box-mover has earned us a reputation for understanding our client base and delivering high-quality products.”

Flexibility has always been a core strength of the PowerHouse Alliance

model, says executive director, Dennis Holzer. “It’s baked into how we operate, not just a reaction to market volatility,” he says. “Our multivendor, multi-category approach is intentionally structured to give dealers options, even when market conditions are unpredictable. Whether it’s the imposition of tariffs, manufacturer constraints, or global supply chain issues, we’re able to pivot quickly. We offer step-up or step-down product alternatives, either within a brand or from other trusted vendors with similar features and performance benchmarks, and without compromising on quality or reliability.”

What’s evolved more recently, he notes, is a proactive mindset. “We’ve enhanced our forecasting capabilities and are stocking deeper on highdemand and mission-critical SKUs,” Holzer explains. “We’re monitoring market indicators and vendor pipelines more closely than ever, enabling us to anticipate disruptions and respond in advance. This gives our dealers more than just flexibility; it gives them continuity and confidence that they can fulfill jobs without delay or unexpected cost increases.”

The ADI | Snap One team

“Implementing flexibility in brand portfolio, regardless of external factors or economic uncertainties, has always been a priority for us,” says Cynthia Menna, VP and general manager AV, ADI | Snap One. “As consumer needs and market dynamics evolve, we continuously evaluate and adjust our product offerings to ensure we’re delivering what our customers need. In addition to our manufactured exclusive brands, we work with more than a thousand suppliers — from trusted legacy brands to emerging new brands — to give our customers access to the right products at the right time.

“Product pricing can influence purchasing decisions, projects, and timelines,” she notes, “so we ensure that we offer products at various price points and feature sets. This helps customers to easily compare options and choose the right products based on their needs and budget, while also guiding upsell and cross-selling opportunities.”

In terms of the current tariff landscape, Menna says, “The distributor has taken several steps to mitigate tariff impact for customers, helping them navigate the situation. For our exclusive brands portfolio, we’ve worked to reduce manufacturing in impacted countries and expand local sourcing when possible. For our distributed brands, we continue to collaborate with suppliers to minimize increases and have increased inventory levels to help prevent disruptions. We believe communication is key, and have proactively communicated with customers during this time. We’ve also created a dedicated page on our website to provide customers with regular updates on any changes to pricing.’

Ties That Bind

“We’ve always maintained close relationships with our supplier partners ,and today’s environment has deepened that collaboration,” Menna notes. “Our integrated business planning process includes real-time coordination with suppliers around demand planning and inventory forecasting. This close collaboration allows us to proactively secure safety stock, expedite orders when necessary, and adapt quickly to shifting supply chain dynamics.

“Additionally, we work with our logistics partners to optimize shipping

and operational efficiency, and we have contingency plans in place to help minimize disruption,” she says. “These relationships are key to maintaining product availability and ensuring we can support our customers.”

At PowerHouse, relationships with distribution partners are closer than ever. “They have to be,” Holzer says. “In a climate where pricing, availability, and policy can change overnight, communication with both our vendor partners and our nine distributor members is more frequent and more strategic than ever. We’re sharing real-time insights about inventory levels, production forecasts, shipping timelines, and shifting policies like tariffs or new trade regulations.

“This constant dialog helps us collectively make smarter decisions. If a vendor anticipates delays or cost increases, we can redistribute stock among our members, adjust purchasing schedules, or alert dealers early so they can plan accordingly. It’s a highly collaborative relationship that allows all parties — vendors, distributors, and dealers — to remain agile and informed. These strengthened partnerships are key to maintaining the level of service and product availability our customers rely on.”

“Today, communication needs to be fast and transparent, more than ever before,” Crossland says. “The moment we get word of a change in pricing, product delay, or new release, we push that out through our newsletters, socials, and website. Dealers don’t have time to chase down info, so we make sure they have it before they even ask. Combine that with our Premier Partner Program and you’re not just buying gear. You’re also getting support, tools, and services that save you time and money. This level of service is what keeps our dealers coming back.”

Working Together

“Working with dealers is at the core of what we do,” Crossland continues. “A lot of our team members came from the installer side of the AV industry and know what it’s like to be in the field, which is why we go out of our way to make life easier for installers. Our products ship updated, preconfigured, and ready to go, saving both time and costs on-site. We

support everything we sell, from pre-sale questions to post-install troubleshooting. Tools like our Network Provisioning Service and remote support aren’t just value-adds but are built into the way we do business. We’re not here just to sell products; we’re here to help our dealers win jobs, save time, and grow their businesses.”

“In today’s unpredictable climate, with support more critical than ever, PowerHouse is helping dealers stay ahead of price increases and product shortages by encouraging smarter planning,” Holzer explains. “For example, if a dealer has projects lined up in the coming months, such as pre-wires or retrofit installations, we recommend placing orders now to lock in pricing. We’ll hold the inventory until they’re ready, ensuring product availability and protecting their margins. It’s a practical solution that gives our dealers more control in uncertain times.”

That support extends beyond logistics. “We’re committed to equipping dealers with the knowledge and tools they need to grow their businesses,” Holzer adds. “One of the ways we’re doing this is through our PowerCast Series, a live, twice-monthly training program that connects dealers directly with our vendor partners and category experts. These interactive sessions cover new products, installation techniques, and growth opportunities across a variety of segments. PowerCast has become a vital tool for helping our dealers stay current with technology trends, build confidence in new categories, and ultimately strengthen their value to customers. Whether it’s through strategic inventory planning or year-round education, our goal is to make sure every dealer in our network is prepared, not just to weather economic shifts, but to come out stronger on the other side.”

“ADI | Snap One customers consider the company as an extension of their teams,” Menna says. “We take that responsibility seriously. From planning and product selection to execution and support, we are there for our customers every step of the way. Our dedicated sales and support teams provide tailored product recommendations, assist with system design and job specs, and provide technical support for projects of all sizes.

“We also invest heavily in customer education, offering in-person training at our stores, online webinars, our ADI Expo Series, and ondemand learning, all designed to help keep customers up to date on the latest products, market trends, and industry certifications.”

ADI | Snap One continues to expand its offerings in high-growth product categories, including residential AV, professional AV, and data communications. “This helps our customers find new revenue opportunities across these categories,” Menna says. “As the boundaries between residential and commercial continue to blur, we help customers diversify their offerings to sell more on each project, and to every customer.”

In addition to product, she says, the distributor is focused on providing customers with service options to help them gain new revenue streams, operate more efficiently, and deliver greater value. “For example, our OvrC cloud-based remote management and monitoring platform allows customers to configure, deploy, monitor, manage, diagnose, and troubleshoot connected devices remotely,” she concludes. “This helps customers provide enhanced services to their end customers, while also earning recurring monthly revenue streams.”

A Blackwire Designs warehouse

Fusion Landscape Lighting and Audio System SixFive

As I write this, summer is just over a month away… Also as I’m writing this, it is currently pouring in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where I live.

This is the conundrum of a good outdoor audio entertainment system; it needs to be able to provide us with quality sounds when we want to be outside and enjoy them, yet be robust enough to live outside year-round, season after season, holding up to whatever Mother Nature decides to throw at it. And here in Myrtle Beach, that means sub-freezing lows in the winter, scorching highs in the summer, frequent rains throughout the year, and occasional hurricanes.

I’ve had a variety of outdoor audio systems at my home, but the default is usually a pair of surface-mounted outdoor speakers placed under the eave of my house. Connected to my Control4 system, this pair of speakers provides decent audio out by my pool area and lives in a spot that keeps them mostly out of harm’s way.

Note, that I said “decent audio.” The fact is these speakers are spread about 35 feet apart and tasked with providing all the audio for my backyard and swimming pool area. Sitting next to one speaker, you barely hear anything from the other, and getting it loud enough to enjoy across the pool makes it too loud for anyone sitting near the house. Bass performance is spotty at best.

The great outdoors is just that: great. Without walls, ceilings, or defined/contained listening spaces, getting quality sound in a backyard is often easier said than done. This doesn’t even address the issue of far higher levels of background noise outside. And if you don’t have enough drivers and power behind your sound system, it’s going to get swallowed up, sounding thin and unimpressive.

A far better solution is a landscape audio system. Not only are these typically more

discreet, designed to nestle into landscaping, planters, or hardscaped areas, but they employ multiple small satellites and frequently a subwoofer to provide more even coverage and consistent performance across much larger listening areas. Basically, employing the commercial audio strategy of lots of speakers playing at lower volumes.

While there are certainly a variety of options out there for landscape audio systems, the LSKIT8BAMP kit from SixFive Audio, reviewed here, has a couple of interesting tricks that make it worth considering. First, the MSRP for the system — which includes eight satellites, an inground 10-inch subwoofer, and a 250-watt stereo amplifier — is about $600 less than similar systems, meaning you can spec it into more projects. Second, not only is it a full landscape audio system, but each of the speakers includes

LED downlighting to act as pathway lighting to create an immersive outdoor environment.

Who Is SixFive Audio?

Admittedly, SixFive Audio wasn’t on my radar, so a big “thank you” to my PR friend, Sue Toscano, for suggesting I might be interested in checking out the Fusion system.

Sue mentioned that SixFive was a division of Memphis Audio, which also didn’t resonate with me. (After some research, I learned that Memphis Audio was founded in 1965 — the name SixFive is a nod to their roots — and has been specializing in the 12-volt space, and for the past 60 years has been a leader in high-performance car and marine audio.)

To get a little background on the company and understand who they are and what they hope to accomplish in the home audio and CI

By John Sciacca

KUDOS

Great value proposition; unique speaker/ light combo; spacious sound

CONCERNS

Can crackle/distort at higher volumes/ bass; not suited for high SPL applications; longevity of exposed speaker drivers

PRODUCT SPECS

LSKIT8AMP includes eight LSSPKR4 satellite landscape speaker lights with ground stakes, LSSUB 200-watt direct burial subwoofer, LSAMP 250-watt 2-channel amplifier; available black or brass finish

Speakers feature dual all-weather 2.5inch omnidirectional speakers with 100 Hz–20 kHz frequency response; 50 watts RMS, 89 dB sensitivity

Includes 3-watt, 2700k LED lighting

Subwoofer has 10-inch dual voice coil Polypropylene and Santoprene driver designed for outdoor applications

Amplifier rated 125 watts RMS per channel (4 ohm) with eight selectable DSP EQ presets, analog, Toslink, and coaxial inputs and outputs, and includes rackmount ears

Warranty: 3 years on amplifier, 5 years on speakers/subwoofer

space, I reached out to Nick LoMonaco, SixFive’s president/CEO.

“We’ve always been known for being easy to work with and actually caring about our dealers, and that hasn’t changed. SixFive is just an extension of what we’ve always done — make solid products that help our dealers grow their business,” LoMonaco said.

“We’ve built strong relationships with distributors and dealers across the country over the past 60 years, particularly in the 12-volt space, and many of those same partners also operate in the home audio market. So, when we had the idea to take our proven marine speaker technology and apply it to a premium landscape solution, the response was overwhelmingly positive.”

“The landscape system is where the brand really took off,” LoMonaco continued. “These are

built with marine-grade components, so they can take a beating — rain, sun, heat, cold — and still sound great. But more than that, they’re tuned to create a really immersive outdoor soundstage.”

While the landscape speaker system was the company’s starting point in coming to residential, SixFive has since grown into a broader home audio brand. “We’ve invested in new technologies and product categories,” LoMonaco said, “including architectural speakers enhanced with our proprietary Turbo Mount system, a self-deploying mount that locks into place with just a single flip of a switch. No tools, no hassle, and saves a ton of install time.”

The company also makes a line of subwoofers that offer high output with a small footprint.

“We knew from the beginning we didn’t want to just be another ‘me-too’ speaker brand,” LoMonaco stressed. “That’s why we led with the landscape system — it was unique, sounded incredible, and gave people a reason to care about the brand. From there, we built out the rest of the line — architectural speakers, subs, and more — that check the boxes dealers need checked.”

SixFive products are available nationally from distributors like 21st Century, and they welcome dealers who are interested in going direct to send an email to info@sixfiveaudio.com.

First Impressions

SixFive offers a variety of packages to get started. You can order items a la carte, including four satellite speaker lights in either bronze or black finish, the 10-inch LSSUB in-ground 200watt sub, or the 250-watt stereo LSAMP, or you can buy an LSKIT, which includes either four or eight satellites and an LSSUB, with or without the LSAMP. Since I have a pretty large backyard area I wanted to cover with sound — and operate under the guise that more is almost always better when it comes to outdoor audio — I requested

the LSKIT8BAMP, which is the full megillah, including eight black speakers, subwoofer, and amplifier.

To make the lighting portion of the speakers work, you also need a 12-volt landscape lighting transformer. SixFive offers the LSTFMR for this purpose.

The full system arrives in four boxes, with the eight satellites and ground stakes in one, the sub in another, and then the amplifier and transformer in their own. Having only seen the images of the speakers, I was anxious to give them a look and feel, so I unboxed them first.

While the speakers aren’t heavy, the blackfinished bronze metal has a nice feel and finish. The bottom of the speaker has 1/2-inch NPC brass threaded rods for screwing in the included ground stakes or using something else. With the ground stake attached, the speakers stand 25 inches tall, reduced to about 20 inches after burying the stake, with a 9-inch diameter at the widest point at the top. If you are installing these in an area where flooding is a concern, the height of the installed speaker should keep it out of danger. Extending from the bottom of the speaker is a roughly 3-foot wiring lead that has four color-coded wires, two each for the lights and speakers.

The top of the speaker has perforations in the brass — what SixFive calls a “sound resonating brass enclosure” — and peering through the tiny holes you can see the two omnidirectional, 2.5inch, all-weather speakers underneath oriented 180 degrees to each other. I do have a bit of concern as to how these speakers — which are exposed to the elements, specifically rain — will hold up in the long run, with them positioned upward for water to drip directly down onto them. I went out and looked at them after a rain and could see water on the drivers. Fortunately, SixFive does offer a full five-year warranty on all the speakers if you have an issue.

Visually, I thought the speakers looked like

FOLLOW

twitter.com/resisys facebook/resisys

CONTENT

MD, Content, AV Anthony Savona anthony.savona@futurenet.com

Contributors: Katye McGregor Bennett, Matt Bernath, Sam Cavitt, Henry Clifford, Dave Donald, Tim Fitzpatrick, Jason Griffing, Anthony Grimani, Karen Mitchell, Lisa Montgomery, Todd Anthony Puma, John Sciacca, Lisa Slayman, Gordon van Zuiden

Production Manager Heather Tatrow

Art Editors Matt Lochrie & Rosie Webber

ADVERTISING SALES

Managing Vice President of Sales, B2B Tech Adam Goldstein, adam.goldstein@futurenet.com 212-378-0465

SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE

To subscribe, change your address, or check on your current account status, go to residentialsystems.com and click on About Us, email futureplc@computerfulfillment.com, call 888-266-5828, or write P.O. Box 1051, Lowell, MA 01853.

LICENSING/REPRINTS/PERMISSIONS

Residential Systems is available for licensing. Contact the Licensing team to discuss partnership opportunities. Head of Print Licensing: Rachel Shaw, licensing@futurenet.com

MANAGEMENT

SVP, MD, B2B Amanda Darman-Allen

VP, Global Head of Content, B2B Carmel King MD, Content, AV Anthony Savona

Global Head of Sales, Future B2B Tom Sikes

Managing VP of Sales, B2B Tech Adam Goldstein

VP, Global Head of Strategy & Ops, B2B Allison Markert VP, Product & Marketing, B2B Andrew Buchholz

Head of Production US & UK Mark Constance Head of Design, B2B Nicole Cobban FUTURE US, INC.

130 West 42nd Street7th Floor New York, NY 10036

they would definitely fit into the kinds of homes we are working in, and would certainly make a great addition to our backyard. In fact, I was on a job recently that had brass lighting fixtures that looked nearly identical to the SixFive system, just without the audio.

To get a third-party opinion, I asked my wife what she thought, and straight out of the gate, she loved the way they looked. In fact, her first words were, "Wow! We get to keep those?!" So that's a great first WAF impression. (For perspective, telling her that we were getting a Trinnov Altitude 16 barely merited a, "Hmm. That's nice.")

The subwoofer is the typical oil barrel with a periscope port and “mushroom cap” design used by many. Since it will be mostly out of sight when buried underground, it isn’t trying to win any beauty contests.

The 1U, half-width LSAMP includes analog, optical, and coaxial digital inputs and outputs, letting you easily daisychain multiple systems together for larger projects if needed. The analog outputs aren’t buffered, so depending on your source and how many loop-outs you’ll be making, you might want to go with one of the digital connections.

While the amplifier could handle two subwoofers, it would require reducing the number of satellites to maintain the 4-ohm load the amplifier is optimized for. SixFive also mentioned that they are working on a lighting-only module for landscape fill-in without audio, which will help create a more immersive backyard experience.

Setup

It seems like I’m always chasing down cuts or breaks in the wires in my yard, so I decided to trench the direct-burial-rated wiring into the ground to at least give this system a fighting chance. All that meant nearly a full day of laying out, then trenching and burying, the wiring, making wiring connections, running conduit alongside my house, installing an LB, and cutting in a wall-box for the speaker wire to meet up with the amplifier. Oh, yeah — and digging a 24-inch diameter and 14-inch-deep hole to bury the subwoofer.

After discussing locations with my wife, she decided that the speakers would look best arrayed in the grass just past the pavers around my pool deck. This also happened to be the best location for sound coverage and would provide the most straightforward — i.e., least amount of trenching — for the wiring. I started by placing the first and last speakers

where I wanted them, then split the distances between the other six evenly, creating a space of about 9 feet between each speaker, within the 8-to-10 feet spacing that SixFive recommends. I positioned the subwoofer in the middle of them in a spot where I knew the ground was soft and root-free enough to dig. SixFive recommends using 14-gauge wiring for lighting or speaker runs over 150 feet.

I went with an alternating left/right/left/ right speaker layout; you could also go all lefts on one side and all rights on the other. The amplifier has individual volume trims for channels 1-2 (left/right), so if you needed one area to be a bit quieter/louder than the other, that would be an option. However, running your source in mono is probably the best bet sonically over such a broad area.

As mentioned, the dual speakers are arranged 180 degrees from each other at the top of the enclosure, but to be honest, I forgot to pay attention to this when installing them; I just plunged the stake into the ground with the wire lead pointing in the direction I wanted. While I’m not sure it would make any real-world sonic difference, you could “aim” the sound a bit toward the area — either side-toside or front-to-back — you are trying to cover.

For my install, it was easiest to place the transformer at one end of the speaker chain and the amplifier at the other. So, I pulled a run of 14/2 from the transformer that looped to each speaker, and a run of 16/4 from the amplifier that looped to each speaker and the dual voice coil subwoofer, which requires connecting all four wires. There are color-coded leads on each speaker to identify the +/– of both the speaker and lighting portion, and the manual includes several wiring diagrams showing what to do. (They also suggest using a 6-conductor wire

White for right, with Green being the + instead of the industry standard –.

Two is that the system doesn’t include any wiring connectors. SixFive says it figured that installers would likely want to use their preferred weatherproof connection, however, I feel like a system should be complete in the box and include everything you need in order to install it. (Granted, I’m not expecting them to include the actual speaker wiring…) This delayed my install as I had to wait until I could bring some connectors home from work. Just know that you’ll need to show up to the job with the appropriate connectors, four per speaker.

One issue I had was finding a nice way to manage all these wire connections and extra wires at each speaker. I ended up zip-tying them in a bundle at the base of the speaker, or you could bury them if the terrain permitted. I did use a Bogen IE1 direct burial junction enclosure to make the connections at the sub, which I buried along with the sub.

The LSAMP has eight EQ presets, from flat, to adding bass boost, to adding a boost to various frequencies in the upper mids (from 6–9 kHz). It is also rack-mountable with included rack ears. The amp has an auto on/off audio sensing feature and has a USB-C connector for service/DSP software updates and a USB-A connection with 5v/1A output that could be used for powering a streaming/Bluetooth device. The Amp’s Phoenix connectors accept wire up to 12 gauge and it has a detachable IEC power cord.

Performance

Before I get to the audio, let me start with the lights. When we moved into our house back in 2000, there was some basic landscape lighting in our backyard, but over the years, the wires got cut, the lights broke, and the transformer failed, so we had no backyard lighting. Flipping the switch on the SixFive transformer when the sun went down and having those eight lights come

on for the first time really made our backyard come to life. It adds such a nice detail and makes for a wonderful ring of lights surrounding our swimming pool at night. I actually went and brought out all my family to come and see it.

If a house had a long pathway, these would be a fantastic addition that not only provided some nice lighting but also some wonderful ambience with the music.

The speakers include a 3W 2700k bulb, and they use a standard G4 Bi-pin LED that can be replaced if you need more output or a different color temp.

The SixFive LSTFMR that powers the lights is a nice piece of kit, in a solid and great-looking stainless steel weatherproof package, but it really isn’t anything “special,” and doesn’t include any form of automation. While you could easily add a timer, smart plug, or dusk-to-dawn sensor, SixFive isn’t in the transformer business, and you can get similarly rated transformers on Amazon that include photocells and timers for almost one-tenth the price of the LSTFMR.

The system’s sound quality is spacious and expansive, with a very even volume level all around. Unless I moved closer to one of the satellites, audio always felt like it was playing in this broad arc coming from out ahead of me and then extending out into the sides, and, even when near one of the speakers, there was still a lot of width to the presentation — exactly what you want for filling a backyard with music.

Audio quality lacks a bit of the high-end frequencies of some other outdoor speaker systems and is a bit more diffuse sounding. SixFive engineer Brad Diedrich, who created the patented speaker design, admitted that the low position of the speakers relative to the listener’s ear level makes high-frequency performance a challenge.

Also, don’t expect the sub to produce impact tremors in your pool. The bass from the subwoofer does a nice job of low-end fill and helping augment the 100 Hz low-frequency limits of the satellites, but it isn’t bass-heavy by any means. For example, the sub couldn’t deliver the full depth of the big bass drop in The Crystal Method’s “High Roller,” or produce the opening timpani and bass drum notes from Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” or the low-end on Daft Punk’s Tron: Legacy soundtrack. But even without the lowest octaves, the sub gave the music enough bottom end to be enjoyable. The sub did deliver that nice, textural bass synth from Bela Fleck’s “Flight of the Cosmic Hippo.” If positioning the subwoofer in a corner is possible, it would likely benefit from that reinforcement.

Overall, I found that the system sounded especially good with pop music, which was generally big in the midrange, without any super low-end. Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,” with the opening a capella voices of Ladysmith Black Mambazo singing, had a wonderfully full and spacious sound that just engulfed the entire pool/listening area, and Taylor Swift’s vocoder-enhanced vocals at the beginning of “Delicate” just floated in the backyard space, seemingly coming from everywhere, as did Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.” John Mayer’s Born and Raised and Battle Studies albums also sounded really good.

I preferred the sound with the Amp’s EQ to preset #1, which adds a +3 dB bass boost, but you need to be careful as this extra low end can start to produce crackling distortion from the satellites if listening at higher volumes or with bass-heavy content, revealing their lowfrequency limitations.

For better or worse, the speakers have a mostly even 360-degree dispersion, so you get loads of coverage in all directions, as opposed to traditional landscape audio systems, which focuses the audio only toward the listening position. For me, with an open backyard, this was great as I got more sound throughout, but if you are concerned about bothering your neighbors with music, this greater dispersion might not be great. Otherwise it helps to provide even more fill.

If high SPL across a large area is what you need, this system probably won’t do it. Even when dialing the bass down, you’ll likely run into distortion before you get the high volumes you want, unless you are listening to something with virtually no low end, like, say, Vivaldi. I was able to get 80+ dB SPL at all areas around my pool with very consistent levels at all seating areas the same distance away, which was plenty loud, but not loud. More like, the music provides great ambience for the party, but the music isn’t the party.

The Fusion Landscape’s goal is delivering immersive, balanced sound throughout an outdoor space, rather than produce high SPLlevels, helping to create a great backyard vibe through light and sound. One killer app for this system would be lining a long pathway leading to a space where the lights and speakers deliver the ultimate ambience along the way.

I can’t overstate the value proposition the SixFive Fusion Landscape system offers, with the whole kit having an MSRP of $3800 (plus a 12V transformer to power the lighting). For this, you get eight stylish speakers to fill an area with sound, plus a whole lighting element that just adds icing on the cake!

Luxury Audio in Motion

How modern demands are shaping the future of sound.

BY GUY HAMMETT, SENIOR MARKET ANALYST AT FUTURESOURCE CONSULTING

The last decade has brought an unassuming-yet-powerful evolution to high-end audio. While change in this sector can sometimes seem slowmoving, closer observation reveals a market that has steadily redefined itself. It is embracing new technologies, tapping into broader design methodologies, and understanding evolving consumer expectations.

At Futuresource Consulting, our market intelligence and trend analysis have tracked these shifts, highlighting how luxury audio is no longer about legacy alone. As seen in the latest wave of our research, the global luxury audio market is poised to reach $4.3 billion by 2028, powering forward with a CAGR of 8%. This robust growth underscores a shift from heritage-focused, niche experiences to more inclusive, lifestyle-oriented audio propositions.

A New Era of Luxury Audio

The transformation within high-end audio is clear. Nine years ago, when I attended my first High End Munich event, the sector seemed reluctant to acknowledge the realities of an increasingly digital world. What stands out today is a growing recognition and acceptance of change. It’s a convergence of engineering excellence with convenience and style. From portable DACs to limited-edition turntables, luxury audio is evolving from a niche pursuit into a sector that values accessibility alongside performance. This switch reflects a wider consumer narrative. Younger, affluent audiences increasingly see audio as part of their connected home ecosystem. An extension of their lifestyles, not a separate, isolated domain.

Listening to Shifting Generational Demands

The emergence of Gen Z and Gen Alpha as high-end audio consumers also shapes this landscape. They bring different expectations, wanting seamless streaming, multi-device integration, and a strong visual aesthetic that complements the broader connected home environment. Heritage brands are responding with fresh designs and easier interfaces, a clear move away from the dogmatic, component-heavy stacks of old. According to our Futuresource data, these younger consumers are also more likely to value audio experiences in non-traditional spaces. Outdoor and multi-room audio solutions, once peripheral to luxury audio, are now central. This aligns with broader trends in luxury home design, where open-plan spaces and wellness areas demand integrated, highperformance sound.

Custom Install Is Moving to the Forefront of Change

For residential systems professionals, these shifts translate into both challenges and opportunities, as the growth in luxury audio spend is increasingly tied to custom integration. Discerning clients are seeking not just product performance, but also system harmony, with installations that blend leading-edge audio, interior design, and smart home automation.

Architectural speakers and in-wall solutions have seen notable growth, with Futuresource’s speaker market analysis highlighting architectural and outdoor segments as outperforming the wider loudspeaker category. As high-net-worth consumers prioritize style and performance, the demand for tailored audio environments will continue to rise.

Meanwhile, the role of AI in audio, whether in content recommendations, smart home integrations, or adaptive listening modes, is emerging as a point of differentiation. Futuresource research highlights the growing appeal of AI-enhanced solutions, with luxury brands integrating these capabilities to simplify user experience without sacrificing performance.

Regional Dynamics and Market Outlook

While the United States and Europe remain the largest markets for luxury audio, Asia Pacific is increasingly important. Rapid urbanization, rising disposable incomes, and a growing appreciation for high-quality audio experiences are fueling demand in the region.

Yet, even in established markets, the mindset around luxury audio is evolving. It’s no longer solely about flagship 2-channel systems in dedicated listening rooms; it’s about curated, immersive experiences throughout the home. As price points climb, with our recent loudspeaker analysis showing floorstanding speaker ASPs will be up 20% by 2029, clients are willing to invest in solutions that blend design, usability, and audio excellence.

Looking Ahead and Seizing the Opportunities

This shift toward a more holistic, lifestyle-driven approach to high-end audio is reshaping product development and installation strategies. It also places new demands on residential systems professionals. They need to understand the evolving intersection of design, technology, and performance, and to guide clients toward solutions that meet aesthetic and functional goals.

As Futuresource continues to track these trends, one thing is clear: High-end audio is moving beyond its traditional boundaries, becoming a dynamic, emotionally resonant part of the connected home. For those in the business of crafting luxury experiences, from integrators to architects to designers, this represents a moment of opportunity.

For those looking to dive deeper into these converging trends, the Futuresource Audio Collaborative 2025 event in London on November 12 offers a unique forum to explore the future of high-end audio, where heritage meets innovation, and emotion drives engineering.

As luxury audio evolves beyond its traditional roots, this event brings together the thought leaders and decision-makers defining the next era of sound. In a market that once seemed content to stand still, luxury audio is finally finding its future, one that’s immersive, integrated, and deeply connected to the lifestyle aspirations of today’s discerning clients.

To learn more about the Futuresource Consulting end-user and market reports in this space, visit https://tinyurl.com/3f3ecsk5.