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

Spring is finally here, and our thoughts are turning to warmer weather and outside activities. The cold temperatures of winter are over. And soon, it will be warm – and humid – again.

Since we are blessed with a relatively mild climate in the Metro Atlanta area, we get to use our outdoor patios, yards, and pools much more than our neighbors to the north. And because of that, we can plan more activities outdoors. But sometimes, our indoor entertainment beckons to us to stay inside – a great movie, the latest Netflix show, or screaming at the TV in an attempt to will the Hawks into the NBA playoffs. It doesn't have to be that way.

We have no solution for the Hawks at the moment, but we do have an answer for taking your entertainment outside. Why not outfit your Buckhead-area patio with an outdoor TV installation? You can watch the NBA playoffs this spring on your patio this spring, with or without the Hawks. You can cheer on the Braves toward another National League East title on balmy summer evenings. And of course, you can do fun summer movie nights with family and friends.

We’re not talking about just any outdoor TV installation here. We’re talking about the next level in complete outdoor audio-visual entertainment – the Stealth Acoustics Patio Theater.

What is the Stealth Acoustics Patio Theater? Just keep reading to learn more.

Wall-mounted control options are popular among homeowners since they are readily-available, customizable and easy to use – all in convenient locations throughout their homes. Our clients love that their Control4 system lets them manage lights, climate, music, and more without having to use a remote or a smartphone app. Everything is accessible on keypads or touchpads just a few feet away.

Interior design-conscious homeowners are understandably not as eager to fill their walls with gadgets. After all, it’s reasonable to think that a Control4 system can result in a lot of unseemly wall clutter throughout your Sandy Springs-area home. Not only do wall-mounted devices protrude from the wall, but frequently they're also a different color.

So, how can you enjoy the intuitive controls that a Control4 system offers without ruining your interior décor?

Enjoy the best of both worlds with flush-mount installations that help your in-wall controls camouflage seamlessly with their surroundings. Learn more about these solutions and the partners we at Georgia Home Theater work with to help homeowners achieve a more stylish smart home.

In 2016, Rega went back to its roots and brought back the Planar name that made it a household name in the 1970s. The move coincided with vinyl's resurgence around that time. As the music industry moved to digital in the form of MP3s and streaming services, a lot of music fans turned back to vinyl records.

The tactile feel of holding a record offered such a better experience than pressing a button to play music from a playlist. That's not even considering the immense jump in quality when going from digital to analog recordings. But for some newcomers to HiFi audio, it can be daunting jumping to a vinyl world filled with dedicated music enthusiasts.

That’s the great thing about Rega’s Planar turntables. They’re easy to install in your Roswell-area home without needing prior expertise and come in a variety of price points to appeal to newcomers and music enthusiasts alike. If you’re looking to add some vinyl to your Georgia home audio installation, test out their main models in our Marietta showroom: The Planar 1, Planar 3, Planar 6, and Planar 8.

Unused rooms in your home offer a world of potential. Recent retirees may have an office they no longer need, or empty nesters may want new ways to transform their kids’ rooms. Fitness rooms, library rooms, and libraries are some of the more popular choices. Recently, we’ve also seen a lot of clients reach out to see if these spare rooms in their Vinings-area homes are big enough for a successful media room design.

Entertainment spaces used to require a lot of equipment that could easily overwhelm a small room. Over the past few years, however, technology advances have made it so you can create the ideal viewing and listening environment almost anywhere. From motorized shades that reduce glare to speakers that stay hidden from view, we outline some of our favorite features below.

You may recall the early days of video conferencing. It wasn’t that long ago. Video conferencing has been around in some form since the 1980s, but it was an expensive, slow, and often tedious experience. The equipment was bulky and complicated to operate, the video was grainy, and your meeting could include video or audio, just not both at the same time. It was often easier to default to a phone call.

Fast forward to modern times, where almost every smartphone has the camera and audio capability to make an excellent videoconference device. Today it's easy and often free-to-use collaboration solutions from laptops and mobile devices, with excellent video resolution and audio capabilities thanks to today’s powerful and sophisticated hardware and software. A host of collaboration applications like Zoom, Slack, Microsoft’s Skype, Google’s Hangouts, GoToMeeting, and many others offer the ability to see and hear the other party, as well as share just about any digital information from a computer and collaborate on it in real-time.

That’s great for the individual in an office – or on a beach – but what about getting a group together in the conference room? The dynamic is different, as your group may be collaborating with another group in another part of your company, or it can be a client or partner on the other side of the world. We want the same ease of use from our laptops and mobile devices when we are meeting and collaborating in a group setting.

If you’ve heard of the term BYOD (bring your own device), it means that workers want to use the tools they use every day – laptops, tablets, and smartphones – for business collaboration, without having to learn complicated new software or processes. If you’re stuck with yesterday’s technology in your conference rooms, you’re not set up for today’s fast-paced collaboration. If all you have in your conference room is a speakerphone, then you have an excellent opportunity to upgrade.

Crestron, a long-time leader in both home and commercial automation, has the solution to modernize your Alpharetta or Midtown meeting spaces instantly. Crestron Mercury is an integrated hardware and software solution that can bring your conference room into the 21^st century.

Ready to see how Crestron automation can elevate your conference room right now? Just keep reading.

Sometimes we have champagne tastes, but our budgets tend to favor the price of beer. Music enthusiasts with big budgets are known to spend significant dollars trying to extract that last ounce of performance from their system. Whether it's the speakers, the amplifier, the preamp, the music player, or the cables, the HiFi enthusiast’s quest is for the perfect sound. Sometimes the search is never-ending, but indeed, that's part of the fun and the hobby.

But what if you are a music lover with other responsibilities and can't devote a large piece of your disposable income to the search for your perfect sound? The good news is that we are in a bit of a "golden age" for audio, with a plethora of great sounding gear available at affordable prices.

One of those pieces of gear comes from Paradigm. Paradigm is a Canadian company with a rich history of speakers. The company's founders believed in custom-designing their speakers based on science, not the prevailing conventional wisdom. They used audio research from the National Research Council of Canada to guide their original designs. The other major tenet the founders wanted to uphold was accessibility – they wanted to make audiophile speakers regular folks could afford.

While Paradigm now makes some high-end speakers like the Persona Series, the company is still known for delivering serious audio performance for the dollar. If you are an HiFi enthusiast on a budget in the Vinings area, Paradigm speakers should be on your short list to evaluate.

Let’s take a closer look at the Paradigm Monitor SE Series, where high-performance audio and affordability happily intersect.

Spring is almost here, and we're ready to be outside. Warmer temperatures and sunny skies will lure us outside. But March Madness is just around the corner too, and the NBA playoffs and our beloved Braves will soon follow, as well. We do want to spend time outdoors, but there are some important things we want to watch too.

Fear not, we have a solution. An outdoor TV installation can help you enjoy all the sports and shows you don’t want to miss, and you can do it all in the fresh outside air – even in the sun on your Roswell patio if you like. You might ask if a standard indoor TV can be placed outdoors. The answer is yes, but they're not designed to do so. First, the screens may not be designed for outdoor lighting levels. Second, swings in temperature and humidity might affect their performance, or cause them not to work at all. Finally, those pesky bugs have a way of finding their way into regular TVs and creating problems.

We at Georgia Home Theater believe indoor TVs should stay indoors. There are outdoor TVs – just like outdoor speakers – that are designed to provide years of service outside. We work with two of the best outdoor TV manufacturers - SunBriteTV and Séura – and each has the weatherproofing and screen designs to perform brilliantly outdoors.

Ready to learn more? Read on to see what outdoor TV fits your style.

When you think about home theater, your thoughts may turn to the big things that make it a home cinema experience. The screen, the projector, and the surround sound system provide the picture and sound that recreates the immersive experience.

The décor is important too. Whether your taste runs to recreating the classic décor of the Fox theater or to a modern and clean aesthetic, where the room transports you is an important part of the experience.

Then there are the little details that, when done well, just delight. Small details can also annoy if not done well. Do you have a car with poorly placed cupholders? Does a cup placed in one of them block your radio or HVAC control? That's an example of a detail that can irritate.

The same consideration can be given to home theater seating. Some of the big concerns are: Are the seats comfortable for a long movie? Does every position have a great view of the screen?

Then there are the small considerations. Where do I put my drink or snack? What if I need a little light in the dark? It is these small - but essential - aspects that we will cover in this short blog, and how home theater seating from Octane Seating makes the most of those considerations. Ready to review the little seating accessories that help make your Atlanta home theater the perfect entertainment space? Just keep reading.

Some pieces of HiFi gear are simply classics that stand the test of time. And when it comes to speakers, one of the great things about them is that while speaker technology has advanced, it also hasn’t. What do we mean by that?

While digital technology has revolutionized audio electronics, including components that were once purely analog like amplifiers, its effect on traditional speakers is less so. DSP (digital signal processing) has made small speakers sound like big ones, but when it comes to traditional hi-fi speakers, the technology behind the woofers, tweeters, crossovers, and cabinet design hasn't changed as much. Of course, there have been advances, but a great speaker from 20 or even 30 years ago is still a great speaker – it is not obsolete, unlike other audio components.

When it comes to classic speaker designs, Klipsch is a company true to its heritage. Their horn designs have been around since Paul Klipsch designed all the speakers himself. Georgia Home Theater recently partnered with Klipsch, which is also one of the world’s largest speaker manufacturers, to bring their classic Heritage Series to the Atlanta area.

In this blog, we’d like to introduce you to the most classic of Klipsch speakers – the Klipschorn. This is the only speaker in continuous production for over 70 years, which says volumes about the durability of its design.

What makes the Klipschorn a fantastic centerpiece for your classic Atlanta HiFi stereo system? Read on to learn more.

You put as much effort into the outside of your home as the inside. You have your beautiful slate patio and the finest outdoor furniture. You have an outdoor fireplace. You have the spa – custom, of course. You have the picturesque garden with the coleus, hibiscus, elephant ears, and other colorful and lush plants. You even have the custom fountain with its calming, constant flow of water.

What’s missing from this perfect scenario? Music!

If you don’t have an outdoor speaker system, you're missing the ideal complement to the beautiful, relaxing outside spaces of your Metro Atlanta home. Fortunately, that's what Georgia Home Theater does, and we can get you fixed up for spring with the essential outdoor sound system for your patio and gardens.

There’s one important thing you should know right away. Through May 31, we are featuring 20% off on the full line of Paradigm outdoor speakers. You have almost no excuse not to have great audio outdoors.

A word about Paradigm. Since 1982, this Canadian company has been making high-quality speakers at affordable price points. They are known for the neutral, accurate, and uncolored sound of their speakers. The company makes speakers from affordable to high-end, but every product they make delivers a strong value proposition. More recently they have turned their efforts to expanding their outdoor line, so now you can have your entire house – theater room, listening room, bedrooms, outdoors, and anywhere else – bathed with the musical sound of Paradigm speakers.

Want to hear more? Read on to learn more about Paradigm’s speakers, and see which ones are the perfect fit for your outdoor spaces.

If you’re just getting started with smart home technology at your Georgia residence, one of the first systems you might consider is lighting control. Perhaps you’re aware of the benefits but have been hesitant to make a significant investment in a whole-house lighting control solution.

Did you know, though, that Lutron – the industry leader in enterprise-grade residential and commercial smart lighting solutions – also offers the perfect system for homeowners just beginning to enter the smart home market?

Caséta is the Lutron lighting control system for beginners, providing an easy way to experiment with smart lighting control and its connected features. As the Smyrna area and Metro Atlanta’s leading Lutron installers, Georgia Home Theater can help set up a Caséta system in any area of your home.

Keep reading to see some of our favorite Caséta features and how you could enhance your home and lifestyle with Lutron’s offerings!

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

Whether you’re building your new home theater here in the Metro Atlanta area or you’re ready to update your existing one, one of your top priorities always is going to be achieving the best picture quality possible.

With more and more 4K Ultra HD content becoming available, from movies to video games and more, you need a home theater projector that can deliver that high-resolution image quality that brings the action to life. That’s why we at Georgia Home Theater recommend Sony projectors for home theaters in Alpharetta and beyond.

In this blog, we are going to highlight one of our favorite Sony projectors; one we have on display in our Marietta showroom: the VPL-VW695ES 4K SXRD projector.

What do you need to know about the VPL-VW695ES, and why do we recommend it for local custom home theater installations? Find out below.

You’ll have a lot of choices to make when adding motorized shades to your home in the Dunwoody or Metro Atlanta area. There are various control, model, and fabric options available. Then there’s the decision of how you want to power your shades. A lot of clients don’t realize they can pick between hard-wired shades and battery-powered ones.

The right choice, as with most technology, will come down to your family’s priorities and your home’s limitations. Are you most interested in having a lot of control options or a quick installation? Are you in new construction or looking for an upgrade to an existing home? This blog focuses primarily on the benefits of battery-powered shades and offers some recommendations from our Lutron partners.

Crestron is the oldest name in home automation. For over three decades, the company has been building sophisticated automation systems for home and commercial applications. Starting with control of audio-video systems in the early days, Crestron now offers a broad range of smart home control systems and entertainment – everything from complete whole home audio solutions to home theater, lighting control, motorized shades, home security, climate control, and more.

Crestron is known as one of the most customizable and scalable home automation systems on the market. No matter if your abode is a luxury townhome in Alpharetta or a 10,000-square-foot mansion in Buckhead, there is a Crestron control system that can automate it to your specifications.

It’s rare to have the perfect acoustic environment during a home theater installation. Every installation will have a few acoustic issues to address, whether it has to do with the shape of the room or the wall material. Two primary things will affect the sonic performance in your home: speaker placement and acoustic treatments. 

Here, we’ll focus primarily on the latter and how acoustic treatments help to create a more immersive viewing experience in your Metro Atlanta home theater, whether you live in Dunwoody or beyond. Eliminating acoustic issues shouldn’t come at the expense of your theater aesthetics, though. Which is why we partner with Acoustic Innovations. Their WallScapes come in various shapes, sizes, and colors to fit your unique interior design preferences.