With the advent of the CDs and digital music in the 1980s, everyone predicted that vinyl records would go the way of the dinosaur. In fact, with the convenience and longevity of CDs, vinyl records almost did disappear. The next phase of digital technology, the download, begat the iPod and “30,000 songs in your pocket.” The incredible convenience of digital music stored on a portable computer or player made it easy to take all your music anywhere. With streaming music from the cloud, the cycle was virtually complete. You didn’t even have to take your music with you; 40 million tracks are instantly available from the cloud. How many vinyl records can you carry?

The only problem with digital music is that it took away from the physical and focused experience of listening to music. There’s no way to make a playlist out of several records (short of tape or digital recording), so part of the magic of vinyl is listening to an album all the way through, with no skipping, in the order that the artist wanted it. Add to that the tactile experience of reading the liner notes, and the unique photography or custom artwork on the album cover, and the listening experience harkens back to a different time when the world moved much slower.

It seems that the vinyl experience is experiencing a resurgence, and what’s more, a younger generation that grew up in the age of the iPod is buying into it too. At a time when big box stores like Best Buy are ending CD sales, vinyl record sales are up 19% over 2017.

Vinyl isn’t going anywhere. It’s a great way to rekindle your love of music, rediscover old favorites or listen to new ones with the warm, pleasing sound that vinyl uniquely delivers. Along that line, it’s not too late to upgrade the high-fidelity audio setup in your Atlanta home this holiday season with some stylish equipment that will be the envy of your friends.

Why do you love your home cinema? Is it the luxury of having a huge screen at home, or the lack of sticky floors and overpriced concessions? Most likely you would rank both of those benefits highly. There’s nothing like being able to settle in to watch a movie or a show in your very own space with incredible sight and sound, with all the comforts of home.

If you already have a custom home theater, you may be lacking one thing. You might have a 1080P HD projector, but you’d really like to upgrade to 4K to take advantage of the new 4K streaming shows on Netflix and Ultra HD Blu-ray movies, with their much higher contrast and detail. Perhaps you have also been wondering why 4K flat-panel TVs are now very affordable, but 4K projectors prices have stayed in the stratosphere. The answer to the pricing is that projectors don’t sell in nearly the same volumes as TVs, so the cost curve of new technology diminishes more slowly for projectors.

If you’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on a 4K projector to complete your theater, or you were waiting for an affordable 4K model to build a new one, we have good news for you. As a longtime Sony Diamond dealer, we partner with Sony for projectors because of their leadership in projection technology. In 2003, they were the first to introduce a full HD projector for home use. In 2011, they launched the first 4K projector for home use. And now, with the VPL-VW295ES, they are introducing a truly affordable 4K home theater projector that doesn’t skimp on features or performance.

Read on to learn more about the VPL-VW295ES to see if it’s the right fit for the custom home theater in your Vinings residence.

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

When it comes to home lighting, how much have you thought about the exterior of your house? We get it. Most people want to make sure that they have the perfect lighting indoors, but outdoor lighting plays a significant role in making your home more beautiful and more functional.

Your outdoor space transforms at night. Consider your garden. When the sun goes down, it looks different. It sounds different. It becomes a new place, and it’s one that you can take advantage of with a landscape lighting installation. You’ll get greater value out of your home while also adding safety and security to your property, and we work with Coastal Source to bring weatherproof, high-performance outdoor lighting and audio solutions to homeowners in the Buckhead area and throughout North Georgia.

Keep reading below to learn about the benefits of a landscape lighting installation for your property.

The holiday season is upon us, and that means your energy bill is about to skyrocket. And we’re not just talking about the Christmas tree, either. The temperatures here in Metro Atlanta are dropping, and your bank account could be taking a big hit when January comes around.

Smart home technology is intended to make your life easier, and it can take some of the financial weight of the holidays off. (You’ll have to hit the treadmill for anything you gain from feasting on turkey and pumpkin pie.)

Motorized shades are an especially valuable smart home technology when it comes to conserving energy.

Read on to learn how these window treatments can lower the power bill of your Metro Atlanta home during the holidays and year-round.

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

Multi-channel soundtracks for film have come a long, long way in the past 25 years.

In the 1980s, Dolby Laboratories developed the Dolby Surround sound format, and it began by taking stereo soundtracks and “matrixing” sound for dialog and effects to the center channel and surround speakers by some clever processing. It was followed by Dolby Pro Logic, which took that technology a step further, allowing the stereo left and right channels to have additional audio information that with the proper equipment could direct those specific sounds to center and rear speakers. 

Dolby Pro Logic was good for its time, and because most movies were still on VHS videotape, tape could only handle a certain amount of audio bandwidth.  Dolby Digital 5.1, also called AC-3, was the first digital surround format and birthed the modern era of digital audio in video soundtracks.  First used on Laserdiscs, a predecessor to the DVD that never quite went mainstream, Dolby Digital became the standard for DVD and also for high definition broadcast TV. 

Today, the original Dolby Digital has been thoroughly reworked and enhanced over time.  Each successive version – like Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD – has brought increases in audio quality and the precision of placing sounds in a sound field for more realistic and immersive entertainment.   The culmination of this development is Dolby Atmos. 

So at this point, you may have heard of Dolby Atmos (or not) and wonder what all the fuss is about.  You may be wondering why you’d want it for your home cinema in the Alpharetta area and what changes it might mean to your home theater layout. 

We thought the best way to do this would be to do a little FAQ (frequently asked questions).  Read on as we cover the basics of Dolby Atmos and to see if it’s right for your home theater.

The days of the old-fashioned doorbell are gone. Nowadays, you can see who is at the door and communicate with those people directly without having to walk all the way to the front of the house.

DIY video doorbells have become increasingly popular because they are relatively simple to install and access, but the performance of that technology can be unreliable, especially if there are any errors in the installation process.

Since 2003, Control4 has been leading the charge when it comes to smart home automation services, offering robust and stable control systems that, through a professional installation, can enhance how you interact with your home space.

Intercom Anywhere is Control4’s latest innovation, taking the core idea of a video doorbell and expanding it so the technology plays a more significant role in overall home communications.

Keep reading to learn how this feature can elevate your Metro Atlanta property.

At Georgia Home Theater, we have become known for recommending two or more subwoofers for our JL Audio home theater and high-fidelity audio systems. The goal is to achieve the best possible integration of the subwoofer system with the listening spaces of your Marietta home.

Bear in mind that bass is the only part of the audio spectrum that we feel as well as hear. It is vital to the storytelling aspects of a film, whether in the form of explosive special effects or more subtle tones that create drama or atmosphere. In music, bass is quite literally the foundation. Getting bass reproduction right can immensely enrich your enjoyment of movies and your favorite music.

Let’s consider a few basic misconceptions that often get in the way of achieving great bass response in home audio and home theater systems.

In the past, technology has often been seen as an obstacle that interior designers need to work around in order to create distinct, beautiful spaces. Things have changed, though.

Home technologies have evolved with design in mind, and manufacturers are building smart home devices that are tools interior designers can use to transform a room and make it more functional.

Design is about more than just aesthetics. It informs how people relate to their surroundings, and as technology changes the nature of that relationship, design needs to embrace the possibilities these smart devices provide.

Smart lighting control systems are especially valuable for designers, making spaces more versatile by allowing homeowners to change the atmosphere with the push of the button.

Keep reading to learn about the ways smart lighting systems in the Buckhead area can enhance your interior design projects.

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

Do you enjoy live music? Do you like to frequent venues like the Terminal West, Variety Playhouse, Tabernacle or the Coca-Cola Roxy? Do you like the way you can feel the music in those places, experiencing it in a way that is difficult to reproduce at home?

The volume, the dynamics, and the raw, unvarnished nature of the performance – after all it is live – make for memorable experiences. If you prize that feeling, there indeed are home audio systems that can approximate that experience for you at your home in the Atlanta area. But some can do it better than others. 

Georgia Home Theater recently partnered with Klipsch, one of the world’s largest speaker manufacturers, to bring their classic Heritage Series to the Metro Atlanta area. The Heritage line harkens back to the days when founder Paul Klipsch designed all the speakers himself, and they were built by hand.

What makes Klipsch Heritage Series speakers unique?  Read on to learn more. 

You may have heard of lighting control systems or smart lighting, but like many things now labeled “smart,” you may not have a great sense of what they can do for you. Smart lighting control systems also sound like they might require a significant investment.

The good news is that smart lighting control may require a minimal upfront investment in wiring to get started. With the advances in wireless technologies, however, you may be surprised at how painless it is to add lighting control to your existing home. Moreover, you can automate your outdoor lights, one room, several rooms, or the whole house – you have choices, and you can expand in the future.

Why install a smart lighting control system in your Metro Atlanta home? Because there are real benefits in convenience, safety, and efficiency – not to mention adding a little luxury to your lifestyle. Read on to find out how.

You’re putting stress on your network every time you add a new smart device to your home. Smart TVs, lights, thermostats, security components, computers and video game consoles are all using your network in different ways, and now there are even smart appliances, such as refrigerators, that add another strand to this ever-growing web.

With more and more new technologies requiring an Internet connection to operate, you need to have a network that can handle all of these devices without sacrificing performance or security. Ensure your home in the Marietta area has a reliable connection with network installation services from the experts at Georgia Home Theater. Keep reading to learn about the benefits of a professional network installation for your Metro Atlanta home below.

The importance of seating in your home theater layout cannot be understated, and your seats play a considerable part in your enjoyment of the viewing experience. The ideal theater seating is the right size for your space, accommodates the specific needs of your family, and won’t interfere with the acoustics of the space.

It’s easy enough to upgrade your audio and video components as technology evolves, but getting theater seats in and out of your home can be a very labor-intensive process. You want furniture that is going to last for years; ones that are built for the long haul, blending durability with comfort and style. Read on to learn more how seating is essential to achieving the optimal home theater layout at your house in the Vinings area.

Our 20,000-square-foot Marietta showroom is renowned throughout the Southeast for its extensive selection of smart home automation and home theater technology, but for clients that want a smaller, more personalized experience, our showroom in the heart of Atlanta’s lively Buckhead neighborhood is the place to go.

As a Control4 certified experience center, our Buckhead showroom gives visitors the opportunity to try out a smart home control system and see how automation impacts different functions in the house. We also have multiple entertainment stations set up with different audio video solutions, including a custom home theater that shows you how to take your viewings to a new level of excellence.

Read on to learn more about how our Buckhead showroom can stimulate your imagination and kickstart your smart home automation plans.

Do you have a home security system? Chances are you do.  Standard home security systems have alarms, sensors on doors and windows for intrusion detection, and smoke detectors that trigger a call to a security monitoring service. These systems provide some peace of mind so you can rest easy in your Atlanta home.

But homes are evolving, and security solutions are too. A smart home security installation from the experts at Georgia Home Theater can dramatically expand your security features. Smart home security can do much more than set off an alarm when something is amiss.  With today’s smart devices, you can make your home much more secure and keep an eye on your home at any time, no matter where you are.

Let’s explore a few benefits of integrating home security with a home automation system, like that of our partner Control4.

Vacuum tube vs. solid state amplification is one of the biggest debates for music enthusiasts, and people usually fall into one of the two camps. But pitting these amplification technologies against each other is unnecessarily restrictive, and McIntosh has realized the potential of a system that merges the two with the McIntosh MA252, the company’s first hybrid integrated amplifier.

This high-demand piece of technology has been back ordered for a long time, but we at Georgia Home Theater have the item in stock at both of our Atlanta-area showrooms. In our opinion, it's shaping up to be an iconic piece of gear within the McIntosh suite of luxury high-end audio products.

Read on to learn more about why a McIntosh MA252 is the perfect addition to the home audio system in your Alpharetta-area house.