If you are an existing A/V Technology Solutions client, Georgia Home Theater would like to extend you a warm welcome to our family. Recently the two companies have joined forces, giving us even more resources across the Atlanta area to better serve you for all your home technology needs. We are particularly excited to add A/V Technology’s expertise with Control4 home automation systems, giving us an even stronger programming and support team for Control4 projects. 

As an A/V Technology customer, what does this mean for you? Don't worry; it means you have a stronger, larger company to continue serving your AV and technology automation installations as well as upgrades and additions. Keep reading to see how. 

We’re in the middle of summer in Atlanta, so why are we talking about fall? Before you know it, the days will be shorter and the evenings longer. We’ve discussed the benefits of landscape lighting, especially for entertaining in the warmer months, but outdoor lighting can pay big dividends all year long. 

They say a well-lit home is a safer home. Just as a city streetlight makes pedestrians feel safer and keeps villains away, installing landscape lighting on your Atlanta property can make it safer. Not only that, it can enhance curb appeal too, highlighting features at night and creating a whole new outdoor ambiance.

Read on to learn four ways landscape lighting can make your home safer as the daylight fades this fall season. 

Georgia Home Theater is so excited to tell you about our next hi-fi event that we can barely contain ourselves. Recently we wrote about adding MartinLogan’s inimitable speaker line to our ever-expanding stable of high-end audio brands. This month we are one of the chosen few dealers - not in Atlanta, but the world - to debut seven new MartinLogan speaker models.

On Tuesday, August 20^th at 6 PM, you can be one of the first to see and hear these new MartinLogan speakers. But please RSVP, because space is filling up quickly. Aside from an unforgettable audio experience, the evening will include hors d’oeuvres, drinks, door prizes, and the chance to enter a drawing for MartinLogan speakers.

While we can’t tell you about the new speakers yet, you’ll also have a chance to listen to MartinLogan’s flagship Neolith electrostatic speakers. If you haven’t heard electrostatics before, or even if you have, you owe it to your audio enthusiast-self to listen to the Neolith.

To whet your audio-appetite keep reading below to learn more about the Neolith.

If you read any of our blogs, you know Georgia Home Theater represents a wide range of high-end home technology brands across audio, video, home automation, automated shading, lighting, and more. In smart home automation, we work with two top-tier solutions, Crestron and Control4. And on these pages, we’ve written extensively about why we think both are the most comprehensive systems available today for smart homes.

You may ask, where do Google Nest and their smart home ecosystem fit into what we do? First, many people love Nest thermostats and want them in their homes, both for their functionality and elegant design. They can be integrated well with a Control4 or Crestron system too.

But Google Nest ecosystem includes other smart home products, including smart cameras, video doorbells, and smart speakers. For some of our customers not looking for a full-blown home automation solution, these products are an excellent solution with a strong value proposition.

Here’s where Georgia Home Theater comes in. While the Google Nest product suite can be a DIY affair, not everyone likes to put all the pieces together or has the time to make it work correctly. In much the same way people have us to mount their TVs and set up AV control systems, as an expert smart home company we can also set up and integrate Google Nest products in your Roswell, GA home. We can ensure your Nest thermostat, smart cameras, and video doorbells work together to solve your home automation requirements.

Is Google Nest the right system for you? Keep reading to get to know more about these smart devices.

SEE ALSO: Why Working with a Smart Home Company is a Smart Move

Sony is a pioneer in consumer electronics, with a long list of inventions and technology firsts. While they have more competition today than ever from Korean and Chinese electronics giants, the company is still out in front, continuing to invest in research and development to make something more than me-too products. Sony's founder, Akio Morita, once said, "curiosity is the key to creativity;" the company is still driven by the curiosity to invent new things today.

As with all of their products, Sony brings their creativity, innovation, and design expertise to projectors. Sony launched the first 4K home projector in 2011 when 4K TVs were still nascent. Today the Sony 4K projector line is bigger and better than ever.

When it comes to projectors for your Dunwoody home theater or media room, Georgia Home Theater recommends Sony.  Read on to learn more about the special features of Sony projectors that make them the right choice for you.

Last month, we were excited to tell you about the latest Control4 smart home system, OS 3. Control4 did its homework in designing this new software: listening to both existing customers and integrators like Georgia Home Theater, then taking the best features from today’s mobile apps to make this an extremely easy system for daily use.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Judging by the popularity of YouTube, you could say that saying holds ever so true today. Along that line, we'd like to cover some of our favorite features in Control4 OS 3 that really shine - with a tidy how-to video compilation that will give you an excellent feel for how comfortable it is to use.

After you read and watch the tutorials below, you may just want to upgrade your current Control4 system in your Atlanta home. If you don’t have a Control4 smart home, then you’re still in the right place - Georgia Home Theater can customize one for you.

Want to build a new, fun entertainment space for your home? Don’t worry, you don’t need to build a new addition to your house or embark on a major remodel of your living area.

A great way to add another entertainment zone to your home in Buckhead is to install an outdoor speaker system. Nothing sets a mood and creates an ambiance better than music. Whether it’s for a special event like a milestone birthday, a child’s graduation party, or simply enjoying open-air dining with friends, the right music will set the perfect mood.

To set the outdoor mood, few companies do it better than Coastal Source. From superbly crafted outdoor speakers to elegant outdoor lighting, Coastal Source adds the wow factor to your outside spaces. Read on for some ideas for creating your ideal outdoor entertainment space.

We still have cable, satellite, and good old fashioned over-the-air TV, but it’s hard to ignore the incredible convenience of streaming video. There’s no major content network worth its well-deserved Emmys that doesn’t have a streaming video offering. HBO, Showtime, ESPN, CNN - they and countless others offer almost all content via on-demand streaming; some networks even offer streaming-only premium content.

You have likely heard of one or more of the most popular streaming devices. While smart TV capabilities are built into practically every new TV set, some are better than others. If you don't like the smart system that's native to your 4K TV, you can choose to use an external streaming device.

Since most TVs sold today are 4K-enabled, Georgia Home Theater believes you should only consider a 4K streaming device. They cost only a few dollars more than HD varieties and are far more future-proof. The leading devices in media streaming are those you’ve probably already heard of from Apple, Amazon, Roku, and Google.

These all offer a plethora of 4K streaming apps with a massive variety of content. What are the differences and which one is a better fit for your 4K televisions in Atlanta? Read on find out.

In the 1960s, it was fashionable to talk about the "Nuclear Age.” In that era, nuclear energy painted a vision of a future with limitless power and even flying cars. The Nuclear Age never quite materialized but what blossomed after that time period was the Information Age.

The Information Age, as they say, changed everything. It has changed the speed of business radically with multimedia communication and telecommunication capabilities that make the 1960s look like the horse-and-buggy era. This means any organization, whether in business, education, medicine, or otherwise, needs to keep abreast of the latest information technologies. Information technology knocks down barriers across states, countries, and borders, so any organization has to stay competitive in our uber-connected world.

One way of staying competitive is with enterprise automation technology. Crestron is a leader in commercial and enterprise automation for organizations of all types. Keep reading to learn more about how to keep your Atlanta business competitive and productive in today's fast-paced business world.

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

Soundbars sometimes get a bad rap. Audio enthusiasts tend to downplay these integrated speaker systems as fashion items with inferior sound quality. There are many soundbars on the market, and the bad rap, unfortunately, holds true for a great number of them. 

Soundbars, however, are incredibly popular for a variety of reasons. Some rooms don’t have a great deal of space for separate speakers. In some older homes, it may be challenging to retrofit wires for architectural speakers. Some people don't want to see more than one speaker in their room and prefer only a sleekly mounted speaker under the TV where it doesn't draw too much attention. The soundbar is a neat solution for all those scenarios. 

What about sound quality? The soundbar has benefited from over a decade of refinement in engineering. Digital signal processing, as well as better quality drivers and construction, enable today's higher-end soundbars to rival the sound quality of multi-speaker systems. Last month, we told you about Leon custom soundbars, an excellent choice for minimalist media rooms.  

This month, we have another customizable soundbar to tell you about, from none other than Klipsch. You know Klipsch as a classic American audio brand that’s been in business for over 70 years. Georgia Home Theater is proud to be Atlanta’s only Klipsch Heritage dealer, carrying audio enthusiast speakers like the Klipschorn as well as the affordable Reference Premier line. We’re excited to tell you about the new Klipsch Heritage Soundbar, which offers discreet, elegant looks with the robust sound quality you expect from Klipsch. Keep reading below for the details!

The British seem to have a way with hi-fi audio. Brands like Bowers & Wilkins, KEF, Meridian, NAD, Linn, and others are renowned for engineering and craftsmanship in the field of audio reproduction. Another brand that sometimes doesn’t get as much mention - but should - is Monitor Audio.  

For over 40 years, Monitor Audio has been building a complete range of speakers for home audio, which today encompasses 16 product ranges from custom install to high-end home theater speakers. Like most British audio makers, they have their unique slice of expertise that they apply to their speaker designs.  

Monitor Audio is one of the world's foremost experts in crafting speaker drivers from metal, which is not the easiest material to fashion into an audio transducer. For example, the RDT (Rigid Diaphragm Technology) in the Platinum speaker cones is made from ceramic-coated aluminum/magnesium in the front skin, with carbon fiber in the back. This high-tech combination of materials results in a speaker that responds to transitions quickly with ultra-low distortions, which all translates to better sound. 

Georgia Home Theater is proud to be one of Monitor Audio’s select dealers in the Atlanta area, adding to our extensive collection of high-end speakers for hi-fi and home theater. Read on to learn more about the unique aspects of Monitor Audio speakers. 

Summer is in full swing, and with the warm weather, it's sometimes hard to think about football season. However, both the college football and NFL seasons get underway in late August - only a few weeks away! 

Late August is still summer everywhere in the U.S., and even more so here in Atlanta, the capital of the South. Whether you’re a diehard Bulldogs, Yellowjackets, or Falcons fan - or all three - we have a proposition for you. Don’t retreat indoors to watch your favorite football teams; invest instead in an outdoor TV installation for your Atlanta patio, terrace, yard, porch, pool, spa, or any outside space you enjoy at home. 

So start thinking about what your outdoor space will be like with outdoor TV. The possibilities are endless for audio and video entertainment. Ready for a few ideas? Keep reading below.

If you were of age in the 1980s, you might remember some of the advertising of the era. It was the last decade before the Internet age; a time where the primary media was print and TV, and a time that Facebook, YouTube, and online banner ads that tracked your every online move didn’t exist. Who could forget the famous Orwellian TV spot in the 1984 Super Bowl that introduced the Apple Macintosh?

There was another memorable ad that captured the imagination then. It was an ad for Maxell cassette tapes. Maxell made some of the highest quality tape at the time, and it was prized by audio enthusiasts as a quality way to make the vinyl music of the day portable. The ad captured the excitement of music listening, with a period-hip fellow getting “blown away” by the high-fidelity sound of Maxell tape.

If you’ve read this far, you may be wondering why we are talking about cassette tape; something replaced long ago by everything digital. You see, the speaker pictured in that ad was the JBL L100. A hugely popular speaker in the 1970s and 1980s, to this day it remains the best-selling speaker in JBL’s long history. Its unique foam square design grill made it instantly recognizable, and it was known as a great speaker for rocking out. Maybe one of your friends had a pair, and if that was the case, it likely evokes fond musical memories of your youth.

But you don’t have to live on memories, and if you are too young to remember the original L100, you’re still in luck.

JBL has decided to bring the L100 back, aptly naming it the L100 Classic. The new model hews true to the original iconic design both in form and function, but it has been resurrected as a product of JBL Synthesis, which is the high end of JBL and part of parent company’s Harman Luxury Audio group. That means it’s not just the great party and rock and roll speaker which may have blown you away in the 1980s – it is a serious speaker worthy of the HiFi stereo system in your favorite Alpharetta or Metro Atlanta listening room.

Best of all, Georgia Home Theater’s Marietta experience center is currently the only showroom in the Atlanta area where you can see and hear the new JBL L100 Classic. Do you need any more reasons to visit us? Learn more about the JBL L100 Classic below.

Are all motorized shades the same? All cars will get you from Point A to Point B, but they will do it quite differently. It's much the same with smart home products like motorized shades; they tend to all get to the same results, but some accomplish the result with much greater aplomb. With motorized shades, there are many differences, and some are more subtle than others.

Lutron is a company that is almost synonymous with lighting control. The company invented the first dimmer in the 1950s, and today holds 2,700 patents worldwide on lighting technology. Did you know that they also make motorized shades? Lutron's mission is controlling light, both natural and artificial. They produce over 15,000 products, and motorized shading is an integral part of the product portfolio in both residential and commercial applications.

So, the first unique aspect of Lutron motorized shades is that no other company in the smart home space fields as extensive a product line in both lighting and shading control, which is why Georgia Home Theater is proud to be a Lutron integration partner in the Atlanta area.

Now that you know one important facet of Lutron, read on to find out more about their motorized shades solutions and why they’re the smart choice for your home Roswell or elsewhere in Metro Atlanta.

Since our name is Georgia Home Theater, you might surmise that we build a lot of home theaters – and we do. But not everyone’s idea of a home theater is recliner seating, a projector, and huge speakers. The reality for many people is that the media space is a part of a living, family, or game room. And while they want high-quality audio and video entertainment, they also don’t want the space to be overwhelmed by the equipment and the technology.

The good news is that you can have your cake and eat it too, at least when it comes to media room design for your Roswell or Metro Atlanta, Georgia home. Companies in the audio and video electronics industry have understood that design and décor are important, and that technology needs to fit in with the aesthetic. You can equip your room with excellent audio and video, and you can also maintain the style that you want.

Keep reading below to check out three equipment ideas for media room designs that deliver the performance but don’t upset the décor.