The concept of smart home control and automation sounds great to you. We talk about every aspect of it on these blog pages, from AV systems to lighting to shading and everything else. But the process of starting might seem a little daunting; trying to figure out what you want and need. 

When you buy a car, do you spring for the loaded model that has absolutely everything? If you do, you won't suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out) – you’ve got it all. That’s great, but most auto manufacturers offer different trim levels or a multitude of a-la-carte options to customize your vehicle the way you want it. That way, you get what you want and don’t pay for what you don’t need. 

When it comes to smart home design and installation, that’s what an expert Control4 installer like GHT Group can offer you – a system specifically tailored for your Duluth, GA home and your needs. Read on to see how working with a Control4 dealer gets you all the smart home you need and want – and not what you don’t.  

Lighting control is one of the most popular smart home accouterments, and for very good reasons. But those reasons will vary greatly depending upon people’s needs and motivations. For some, it’s the convenience of having more than one way to control lights, like from a smartphone or through a voice assistant. For others, a schedule or sensor that turns off lights brings efficiency and energy savings.

Perhaps the best reason for going with a whole-home lighting control system – and not just one room or a few lights – is all of the above. Each reason is justification enough for lighting control for a Milton, GA home, but it becomes so easy to rationalize when putting them all together. See what we mean below!

What do you get for the person who has (seemingly) everything? Sometimes, more of the same that they love! If that person is an audio enthusiast, they can never have too much good audio.

In the spirit of the holiday season, we’ll present three fantastic gifts that your special audio-lover is sure to enjoy. And if you don’t hit the holiday deadline, fret not – these products are available all year long from GHT Group, your local McIntosh dealer for Kennesaw and Metro Atlanta. And since they are from McIntosh audio, one of the most celebrated names in sound, these gifts will keep on giving, year after year. So keep reading for three hi-fi gift ideas for that special person in your life.

A home theater is a sizable investment for most people. It may serve as a refuge and escape from the world, a family entertainment space, and even an immersive educational experience (Our Planet, anyone?) However, the home theater experience can be marred by little mistakes in the design and execution of the space.

Home theaters are often a crowning touch in a luxury home. The last thing you want is niggling issues that make your entertainment experience something less than wonderful. To make sure you avoid these issues, we’ve rounded up five mistakes that make our home theater designers cringe. Fortunately, when you work with GHT Group, you can take advantage of our three decades in home theaters (it’s the HT in our name) to make sure your theater doesn’t fall into these traps! Stay with us below.

Focal is another audio company that sometimes flies under the radar. It’s not because they don’t have a broad product line or aren’t known by high-fidelity audio enthusiasts. Perhaps they don’t advertise as much as other large audio and speaker companies. Don’t let that keep you from considering this company when shopping for high-end speakers for your Buckhead, GA listening room.

Focal is based in France, a country not as high on the list as the UK when it comes to hi-fi audio. Nevertheless, the French heritage shows in the expressive style of their speakers, and design and engineering are second to none. Focal home speakers are a bit different. If you look for products that go a bit against the grain, unafraid to be different, then these speakers might just be for you. Let’s explore four ways Focal speakers separate themselves from the rest.

It’s easy to take our lights for granted. We wake in the morning, flip a switch, and expect the lights to brighten our space. Then, we set out on our daily routine not always considering which lights should remain on to best accomplish our tasks. 

With a whole-home lighting control system that utilizes the best lighting solutions today’s market has to offer, you will no longer undervalue or disregard the power of lights. Your home’s illumination in WaterColor, FL will be transformed, from the soft or bright white lighting of your typical incandescent bulb to the full spectrum, color-tunable lighting of smart LEDs. 

We love motorized shades at GHT Group, and it shows in the many blogs we’ve written about them. But there are some shades we haven't written too much about, those from our home automation partner Crestron. As GHT Group has been in audiovisual and smart home technology for over three decades, we are a long-time Crestron dealer. Crestron is a bit like Apple in that they make high-end solutions in all the major product categories – home automation in this case – and when they do something, they do it right. 

If you’re considering a Crestron smart home system or looking to upgrade an existing one, there are several excellent reasons to consider Crestron motorized shading for your Cumming, GA residence. Let’s go into it more below!

Have you found the perfect vacation or retirement home in Miramar Beach? You're likely very excited about your new Florida Panhandle property. If it's a lot that you are going to custom build or an existing home that you will remodel or perhaps extend, you will want to plan early for lighting control and other smart home features. 

The best way to prepare your home for smart lighting and automation is to bring in a Lutron dealer early in the design phase. Then you can more easily integrate the latest solutions like tunable Ketra lighting, motorized window treatments, and more that will make your Miramar Beach home more luxurious, comfortable, and efficient. Explore the benefits of working with a Lutron dealer below.

Why do people invest in smart technology? The main reasons are simplifying home management, convenience, luxury, and security. Is your Destin home a Florida escape from colder winter climes? If so, you’ll appreciate how home automation services make it easier to manage and secure your home from afar. And if it’s your permanent home, whether you’re working or retired, smart home tech gives you back more time in the day for what’s important to you. 

While there are a plethora of smart home features you can add to your home, here are the ones most popular and valuable for your Florida Panhandle property.

Are we being serious here? Yes and no. After all, as a leading Control4 installer serving Sandy Springs and Metro Atlanta, why would we tell you not to hire us for your smart home needs? So bear with us here for a little tongue-in-cheek look at smart home automation.

Almost every day, a new smart home device hits the market. OK, maybe not every day, but it seems like there’s a new one every day. From devices from industry giants like Amazon to upstarts like Wyze, there are amazing options for remarkably sophisticated smart home functionality. Couple that with the ever-growing software ecosystem from the tech industry’s leaders like Amazon, Apple, and Google, and why would you ever need GHT Group? Well, we’re going to go ahead and tell you three reasons why you might not need us, just in case you couldn’t think of any right off the bat!

Outdoor lighting is an excellent solution to add safety, entertainment value, and curbside appeal to your home in Sandy Springs, GA. And if you’re interested in dressing up your home’s exteriors and landscape, you’ve probably seen several options for DIY lighting systems in stores. 

It’s worth pointing out that off-the-shelf systems have various flaws and limitations compared to professional-grade solutions sold by an outdoor lighting company. Professional-grade products from a brand like Coastal Source are designed and built to last longer and perform better than mass-produced systems in stores. While purchasing a professional solution and installation is more costly upfront, it’s a better investment in the long term. Keep reading to learn why.  

Sonos is well-known for its popular soundbars and powered speakers that you can find in popular stores online and offline, including GHT Group. The company is a pioneer in multiroom audio, launching its first product in 2005 with a wireless system at a time when many were still carrying around music in iPods. Since the first product, Sonos jumped on the iPhone revolution early, replacing the custom remote control of that first system with an easy-to-use app. And who doesn’t do that today? 

Sonos has gone on to make wireless, powered speakers that are easy to set up and use. With the tap of a finger on the app, you can direct music from a vast array of streaming services – virtually all the ones you’ll ever want – to play on any or all the Sonos speakers in your house. 

OK, but we said you could use any speaker with Sonos, right? Yes, you can, just mention these two words: Amp and Port. With those, you can build a Sonos multiroom system for your Duluth, GA home with almost any speaker you want. Why would you do that, and how? Stay with us below. 

Though wireless technology seems like a fairly new development, Lutron looked into it as early as 1991. In search of a reliable, low-latency solution ideal for retrofit jobs, they decided they needed to create an RF communication standard of their own. 

They spent the next 30 years perfecting their Clear Connect RF technology with one goal in mind: wireless systems that are retrofittable, easy to install, compatible with multiple load types, and aesthetically pleasing for the end user. The question isn’t whether a Lutron wireless lighting solution is the right choice; the question is which one you should opt for in your home in Canton or Atlanta, GA. 

As Lutron dealers, we have the expertise needed to gauge your needs and advise you on the system that would work best for you. Below are just some of the many Lutron options available.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again – LED technology has created a revolution in lighting. You're seeing it everywhere. In cars, LED lighting has almost totally replaced incandescent and xenon lighting for bright, long-lasting headlights and taillights. In homes, LED bulbs and fixtures offer up to 80% better efficiency and longevity compared to incandescent ones.

But that’s not all. LED technology makes tunable lighting possible to change white color temperature and render color, creating more flexible lighting than ever before. And LED technology makes it possible to design impossibly thin and flexible light sources, like linear lighting.  With new options like Ketra lighting and low voltage LED solutions, GHT group is an interior lighting design company offering new ways to add functional and beautiful illumination to your Buckhead, GA home. Keep reading below to learn how LED linear lighting can add a new level of aesthetic appeal to your home.

We at GHT Group have been offering high-end audio components for years, with such well-known and loved brands as Klipsch, McIntosh, Focal and more. A little bit newer to our thoroughbred stable of hi-fi speakers, we love Monitor Audio because it offers tremendous value and style for the price.

With the new 7G Series – the seventh generation of the middle-of-the-range Silver Series – Monitor Audio continues with its mission to “make audio human.” Monitor Audio calls the new Silver Series "speakers that speak to you." They are meant to bring the emotion back from when you first heard a favorite recording or the soundtrack from a film that has always stuck with you.

Like the new recently upgraded Bronze Series, the Silver Series 7G is a complete line of speakers that can handle anything from two-channel stereo to a full Dolby Atmos surround system. Keep reading below to see if these are the Monitor Audio speakers that speak to you for your Duluth, GA listening or media room.