We have written before on these pages about many smart home technology topics. We’ve also written about how it pays to work with a professional company for your smart home and AV installations, as you need a reliable, trained team that stands behind their work.

What you might not know is how to go about choosing a smart home company to install the technology in your Alpharetta home. In this blog, we’d like to share with you four areas that can indicate the seriousness of a professional home technology integration company.

Ready to learn more? Keep reading below.

Some audio enthusiasts revel in the look of their equipment. Speakers in elegant wood finishes, tube amplifiers, hefty turntables that look like industrial art can all add to the hi-fi audio experience. Even the cables are often exquisitely finished, and quite expensive.

On the other hand, not every audio aficionado wants a massive array of equipment to be visible. Call them minimalist; they want the sound without having to figure out where to place all that equipment. They may very well also have a wife, husband, or significant other that simply doesn't want to incorporate audio equipment into the décor. Or they may have small children that could wreak havoc with expensive equipment left unattended.

Those enthusiasts needn’t suffer with subpar sound. Yes, Alpharetta and Atlanta music lovers, you can have your cake (great audio) and eat it too (hide it). Georgia Home Theater has an extraordinary array of practically invisible home audio installation solutions for great sound in a listening room or throughout your whole house.

Just when you thought it was safe to replace all your TVs with 4K models, along comes the next level in resolution – 8K. The truth is, the consumer electronics industry is always moving forward. Digital technology has hastened the pace of change in electronics, with ever more bits of information elevating the quality of audio and video entertainment.

Wherever there is innovation in consumer electronics, you will find Sony. The company has pioneered too many technologies to mention, and the fact that they own major content companies in music and movies underscores their deep understanding of audio and video content, from creation to what you hear and see on your equipment.

One of Sony’s latest innovations is in 8K televisions. You might ask, what can I do with that today? 8K content may be scarce at the moment, but Sony’s technological magic with video processing makes any content look better on their 8K TVs. We just installed one in our brand-new Crestron Experience center, and it’s a revelation.

Is a Sony 8K TV right for your favorite watching room in Smyrna? Read on to see why Georgia Home Theater thinks it’s a smart investment in your visual entertainment.

We hear it all the time. Our customers want the latest and greatest in sight and sound for their media rooms - whether it’s a home theater, a master bedroom, a game room - they want it. But they don’t always want to see it when it’s not in use.

After all, bedrooms are for relaxing and sleeping. Living and family rooms are for gathering and conversation. Game rooms are for… games. We get it. Screens have invaded our work, our cars, our pockets and purses, and every part of our lives. We understand that you don’t always want screens to demand your attention, especially when they’re turned off.

If your media room pulls double duty in your Alpharetta home – as many do – you may get just as excited as we are about the latest screen design from Screen Innovations. We love technology at Georgia Home Theater, and we love hiding it as much as some of you do, as we do with architectural surround sound speakers in many installations.

Read on to learn more about the Screen Innovations Zero-G - the floating screen that you see only when you need it

Often people start thinking about multiroom audio systems when they’re remodeling a home or building a new one. Any centralized or house-wide system is easier to install when the house is in its early stages. Wiring for architectural speakers and wall-mounted controls is a snap before drywall is up or when refinishing.

With all the wireless options available for multiroom speaker systems, you might ask if you need wires at all. Well, even wireless speakers need some wires or cables – even if it’s just the one for power! Since wireless systems like Sonos are very popular, we’re going to discuss some of the top differences between wired and wireless multiroom speakers in this blog. 

Keep reading below to learn the basics of wired vs. wireless multiroom audio and how to decide what you might prefer for your Atlanta, GA home.

If you’ve been following our blogs, you may know that Georgia Home Theater is a roll when it comes to audio. We have recently added some of the best brands in audio like Martin Logan and Klipsch Heritage to our repertoire. More recently, we announced adding esteemed British speaker brand Monitor Audio to the fold.

Georgia Home Theater is excited to continue bringing the best audio brands under one roof in the Atlanta area. In the age of online commerce, it's rare for a dealer to make the investment in the physical showroom, training, service and support so customers can see, touch, and hear high-performance audio products.

In case you need an excuse to visit our Marietta showroom and experience the magic of real hi-fi sound, we've got one for you! On October 12^th at 5 p.m. you’re invited to join us for an evening of live music and Monitor Audio speaker demonstrations. With light food and beverages and the unique psychedelic folk musical stylings of Seafoam Green this is an evening you shouldn’t miss if you love music.

To whet your appetite a little – for the speakers, not the food – read on to learn more about the Monitor Audio lines you will get to hear. Did we mention this is a free event? Just hit that RSVP button now as you continue reading.

Fish or steak? Form or function? Vacuum tube or solid-state? Vinyl or CD? Why are we always faced with so many decisions?

With the MA352 hybrid integrated amplifier, McIntosh Labs has tried to solve some of those decisions. Fish or steak will remain a problematic dinner choice, but the MA352 beautifully balances form and function while giving you the best of both audio worlds—it deftly blends the smoothness of vacuum tube technology with the power of solid-state amplification, while being an audio showpiece you can proudly display at the center of your listening room.

Audio enthusiasts have long argued the merits of traditional audio technologies like vacuum tubes vs. solid-state componentry. Like the vinyl vs. analog or CD vs. digital music debates, it can create heated discussion regarding what constitutes better sound. With the original MA252 integrated amplifier and now with the new MA352, McIntosh uses its seven decades of audio know-how to use each technology for its highest and best use.

The McIntosh MA252 was an instant success at Georgia Home Theater when it came out in early 2018. The MA352 promises to be just as popular. If you are planning a two-channel upgrade or new audio system in your favorite Smyrna listening space, you will want to pre-order one now. Read on to see why this is such an exceptional high-fidelity audio product.

For a long time, Crestron has been the choice for sophisticated home automation in the largest and most complex properties. As a pioneer in both residential and commercial automation, Crestron has built a powerful and advanced software platform that allows you to automate things in the home that other systems couldn't. It accomplished that with ultimate customizability.

But technology moves forward, and other competitors caught up with many of Crestron’s innovations, creating sophisticated systems that didn't require as much programming to achieve the same goals – even if they weren't quite as customizable. In the past few years, Crestron has embarked on an effort to make their systems far easier to configure and offers users a simpler, sleeker, more intuitive automation experience, while still retaining the customizability and flexibility that are hallmarks of the system.

Georgia Home Theater is a long-time Crestron integrator, and we are excited about the new Crestron Home system powered by their latest OS 3 software. OS 3 lets us configure a sophisticated Crestron automation system in your Dunwoody home faster than ever before, and at lower cost as the configuration is much more simplified. We’re so excited about it that we are setting up a new Crestron Experience in our Marietta showroom, where you can see it in action.

Ready to learn more? Read on to see more about what Crestron Home is all about.

If you are a Control4 system owner, congratulations. We don’t need to tell you about the convenience it brings to managing your home. And if you use advanced features like Mockupancy, you appreciate the extra peace of mind you get from the added security as well. Whether you use all of what the system can do or just a subset of it, your home is a lot smarter.

Like any technology, it sometimes needs maintenance and updating. We’re already accustomed to updates with manual and automatic updates on computers, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and many other popular smart devices. A comprehensive smart home system like Control4 is no exception; it occasionally needs some help to fix glitches and keep it running the way it should.

With such a powerful home automation system, you may also want additional capabilities added to your home as well. It might be an outdoor audio zone, expanded lighting control for a wing of your house, or simplified control of a new media room AV system. Any of those might involve some hardware and software and some integration to make it seamlessly blend into your existing setup.

So, where do you go for all of that? You aren’t required to go back to the dealer that installed the system if you don’t want to. Georgia Home Theater is your local Control4 Pinnacle Dealer (yes, that is the top tier) with a Control4 Certified Showroom in Marietta, and we’ve made significant investments to represent the best of smart home technology, audio, video, and more to offer you a complete “one-stop-shop” for all your home technology needs.

Read on to see how Georgia Home Theater can keep your Control4 system in top shape.

This blog has now been updated; you can view this updated post here.

Speakers are not like automobiles or smartphones – a new model doesn’t emerge every year. With some exceptions in the realm of wireless and powered speakers, digital technology isn’t driving significant change as it does in cars and mobile devices.

When it comes to the high end of the speaker spectrum, change comes even more slowly. Most hi-fi speaker manufacturers have a house sound that is a result of unique design approaches to audio transducers. As a result, manufacturers prefer evolution rather than revolution, and it’s a reason that an investment in a quality speaker can last you for decades.

So it is with Klipsch and their Heritage line of speakers. Heritage speakers hew closely to Klipsch design traditions but are updated with evolution in speaker material, electronics, and design. The Klipschorn is an excellent example; it’s the only speaker that has been in continuous production for over 70 years.

This month, as Atlanta’s exclusive Klipsch Heritage dealer, we’re excited to tell you about a new edition of Klipsch speaker – the Cornwall IV. What’s new, or should we say, evolved? Read on below to find out. And after that, come to our Marietta showroom to hear it in person.

Do you have a favorite listening room in your house? The place where you have your turntable, CD player, or high-resolution music player pumping out high-octane music on your tower speakers? When you step out on your patio, don’t you miss that setup?

You can open the windows and blast the sound outside, but we don’t suggest that. There’s a better, easier, and gentler way to get your groove on while you’re outside in Dunwoody with an outdoor speaker system.

Outdoor speakers come in many styles and types for outdoor use. There are wall-mounted varieties, speakers that look like rocks to hide in plain sight in your gardens, buried subwoofers, bollards, and more. There has never been a better selection to get excellent sound outdoors, whether you have a small patio off of your high rise or a multi-acre spread.

One of the most popular outdoor speakers is the in-ceiling type. These are perfect for covered patio areas and can offer the kind of sound quality you have in your indoor listening room. Granted, you may not be able to achieve the same elevated audio you enjoy with your high-fidelity system, but we guarantee you can have an outdoor audio system that will provide hours of musical pleasure. Keep reading to see how.

Subwoofers are a necessity for a proper home theater. Movie soundtracks are full of deep bass rumble from crashes, explosions, and ominous musical passages in soundtracks. With surround sound, many installations don't use full-range speakers for those positions, and the subwoofer provides the low-end punch for the soundtrack. 

There’s no true problem with subwoofers besides the fact they are almost universally large, bulky boxes. Since we often recommend dual subwoofers for the best bass response in a home theater or media room, that makes for two large, bulky boxes. Some theaters and media rooms can't comfortably accommodate the large subwoofer box into the décor, however, no one wants a theater without the bass to handle today's immersive movie soundtracks.

The solution to this dilemma has been the architectural subwoofer. While built-in subwoofers have been around for years, there have seen recent technical improvements in driver design, amplification, and room correction that rival the performance of their bulkier, freestanding brethren.

That brings us to this month’s product overview: the JL Audio Fathom IWS subwoofer line. This subwoofer series is specifically designed to deliver the type of performance JL Audio is known for, while easily fitting into standard wall construction.

Read on to learn how JL Audio architectural subwoofers can provide the bass without the box in your Sandy Springs home theater installation.

According to recent data from the National Association of Home Builders, 7-12% of the budget for home remodeling projects go toward electronics. Whether you’re doing a major remodel or a new build for your client, it’s no secret that smart home control and automation are high on homebuyer lists.

One of the most frequently requested smart home features is lighting control. Perhaps there is little surprise to that; lighting control is a feature whose merits are easy to grasp. It adds convenience for managing lighting throughout the house, can save energy, and can be an effective security feature as well.

So when you are building, moving walls, replacing cabinets, plumbing, and redoing electrical wiring, that is the perfect opportunity to integrate the infrastructure for lighting control. When it comes to lighting control, Georgia Home Theater recommends Lutron lighting control for your Dunwoody projects.

Read further to learn why adding Lutron lighting control is a smart business decision.

As the leading smart home technology integrator in the Atlanta area, Georgia Home Theater works with the top brands in home automation. We’ve written extensively on these pages about Crestron and Control4, two systems we work with that are the leaders in the field. Both are excellent and offer a myriad of options for controlling and managing smart homes.

We’re very excited to bring a new dimension to our Marietta showroom, just a short hop from Sandy Springs - the Crestron Experience. We’ll be showing a variety of home systems that can fall under the expert automation of a Crestron control system, including motorized shades, hidden technology, and discreet architectural audio speakers.

Are you as excited as we are? Keep reading to learn more.

We recently added Monitor Audio to our burgeoning collection of hi-fi audio brands, already one of the most extensive in Atlanta. While their Platinum series is highly regarded and well-reviewed, their broad architectural (built-in) speaker line is one that also deserves your attention. They offer the same accurate, detailed Monitor Audio sound in a package discreetly hidden in the walls.

Many different types of speakers can work for home theater and media room duty. Floor standers, stand-mount bookshelf and mini-towers, on-wall, in-wall, and in-ceiling can all be used. The choice depends mainly on your design and style preferences and sometimes on the layout and construction of your media space.

While in-ceiling speakers are de rigueur for height effects from Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersive soundtracks, some people think architectural speakers represent a compromise in sound quality for the sake of style. Once upon a time, that may have been true - but no more. This month, we have a case in point - Monitor Audio’s Controlled Performance Series. Simply put, they produce some of the most incredible sound we’ve ever heard from architectural speakers at Georgia Home Theater. So if you are looking for a surround sound system for your media space in Alpharetta or Atlanta, you owe it to yourself to listen to these.

Read on to learn more about the Monitor Audio Controlled Performance line.