Welcome to Our Smart Home Technology Blog

Are you dealing with slow, awkward, glitchy A/V technology in your conference room? Tech issues can quickly become tedious, tiresome problems that eat away at valuable time and prevent work from being done. Why not eliminate these problems with commercial automation systems?

With a new and improved audio video system for your Frisco, TX, business, you can get more work done in a more efficient and productive manner. Don’t settle for dropped calls, stubborn software and mismatched connections. Read on to see how upgrades to your audio video system can help your office work smarter, not harder.

SEE ALSO: 5 Must-Have Technologies for Your Boardroom Automation System

STRONGER BETTER NETWORK

The strength of your business’ computer network impacts all the technology in your office. This includes everything from projectors and speakers to computers and anything else in your conference room. A weak network means blurry video, stuttering audio and other problems during presentations. You want the best components and a professional installation to ensure your network meets your needs.

DISTRIBUTED A/V

Can’t fit your team into one conference room? Do people in multiple locations or offices need to see your presentation? Want simpler controls while increasing your system’s capabilities? A distributed A/V system takes care of all these problems and more by creating one centralized channel for any audio or video feed to flow through. Instead of struggling with a tangle of wires and ad hoc connections, you can stream your presentation through one interface with the certainty that anyone can clearly see and hear it. Plus, you only have to deal with one device instead of juggling remotes to accomplish a simple task.

· Enhance Convenience - DeVance Electronic Lifestyle can program “scenes” to set the ideal levels of lighting throughout your home and automate your window shades for privacy and ambient lighting control. For example, pressing the “Goodnight” scene button on a keypad, smart phone, or tablet might turn off all the lights in the home except a bedside table lamp and lower all the privacy shades as well as the blackout shades in the bedrooms, creating the perfect environment for safely going to bed. Another "party" scene button may set the lights throughout the family room, kitchen, and patio areas to a mid-level while setting the shades in these areas halfway down so you can create a fun and relaxed environment perfect for entertaining. Whether you are out of town or just outside on the patio, you will be able to control all these applications with one simple touch, anytime, anywhere.· Aesthetics - Complete the stylish look of your Highland Park, TX home with beautiful architectural and designer keypad styles, a variety of options for keypad button configurations to suit your needs, with faceplates available in an assortment of colors, finishes, and materials to coordinate with any decor. DeVance works with both Lutron and Crestron products which offer an extensive collection of wireless dimmers, keypads, touchscreens, and a great selection of design options for shades and custom drapery controls as well.

Christmas is less than 10 days away! Have you finished your Christmas shopping?!?If not we have you covered with our DeVance 2018 Holiday Gift Guide...There are some amazing brands featured, such as Bang & Olufsen, Bowers & Wilkins and Sonos. Some of the item are here in the showroom, so you can even test out in person.1.) The Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 2 is a smart speaker with intelligent voice control, crafted in solid aluminum and designed for stunning 360-degree sound experiences. The BeoSound 2 has Google Assistant built in. Have a holiday party at your house and need tunes? No problem. Just say the words “Hey Google” and ask for your holiday playlist. Also, this speaker can deliver the morning news and weather updates with flexible & adaptable design that fits anywhere in your Frisco, TX home. Come check out this stunning product in our DeVance Experience Center!

At DeVance, we like to create the perfect gift guide for all the special people inyour life. Now is the best time to get started, and we have compiled a list of the latest tech-savvy productsthat you, your spouse, a parent or a child, or anyone special in your life will love!Here are some of our favorites: 1.) The Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 2 is a smart speaker with intelligent voice control, crafted in solid aluminum anddesigned for stunning 360-degree sound experiences. The BeoSound 2 has Google Assistant built in. Have aholiday party at your house and need tunes? No problem. Just say the words “Hey Google” and ask for yourholiday playlist. Also, this speaker can deliver the morning news and weather updates with flexible & adaptable design thatfits anywhere in your Highland Park, TX home. Come check out this stunning product in our DeVanceExperience Center!

“Are you ready for some football?”Are you ready to watch the Dallas Cowboys or any of your other favorite teams play? If you don’t have season tickets, now is the time to check your family room or dedicated media space to make sure it’s has the best features this football season. You may want to upgrade your TV from HD to UHD, change your soundbar to a full surround sound system, or perhaps you need a better remote control for all of the games and shows you watch. In any case, we have everything you need to enjoy this year’s roster of sports entertainment. Keep reading to find out what our best recommendations are for a new media space or home theatre system. • Update Your Media Room or Home Theater with the Newest TechMost football fans will admit that you can enjoy the action better on a TV than at the stadium. We currently are featuring The Frame TV in the showroom (Samsung 65” Frame 4K UHD TV), which displays like a beautiful piece of art when the TV is not being viewed. You can choose from a plethora of art designs or you can add in your own from your photo collections or other source. And when you’re watching the game on The Frame, not only will it feel like you're right on the field with the players, but you'll also be able to tell the smallest difference between a player being inbounds and a football crossing the goal line.The one thing going for the stadium experience is the crowd environment, but you’ll be pleasantly surprised how you can recreate some of that ambiance with a Dolby Atmos surround sound system. You'll not only be able to hear the thud of every tackle but listen to crowd noise surrounding you from all sides. You'll feel like you're in the stadium without having to deal with the heat or bad view.

Since we live in a connected society, having a reliable Internet connection is more important now than ever before. The average American household has a local Internet service provider, modem and router to connect all of their smart devices and stream content, but sometimes this simply isn’t enough. Why would you need an upgrade? Read this blog to discover the reasons why you may need a better solution and why you need a professional home network installation in your Dallas, TX home.

SEE ALSO: A Strong Network is the Foundation of Smart Home Automation

1. You have a smart home system, or many smart devices.

If you own a smart home or are thinking about hiring an integrator to install one, a professional home network is a requirement, not an option. Or, if you have a dedicated home theater or multiple smart devices like a smart thermostat, you’ll need one too. High-bandwidth devices like 4K TVs and smart speakers put a lot of pressure on home networks, and simply purchasing a faster Internet speed won’t solve the problem. You need a local professional to place routers in the right locations and provide commercial-grade hardware. Higher-quality networks use faster CPUs and memory to process multiple connections at once, and advanced thermal management to keep equipment cool. They also can handle a greater number of connected devices and the intense network traffic.

2. You live far away from network service areas or have large objects blocking a signal.

If you live in a more remote location outside of Dallas, Texas, or if your home is surrounded by buildings or trees, your connection may not be reliable. Concrete structures and other objects can block service, and certain locations can make accessing the Internet especially difficult. We can assure you that it doesn’t matter where you live, we can find a solution and install a network that meets all of your smart home’s needs. We even have cell phone boosting equipment so that you can get a better cellular signal in your unique location. Our team will work with you to provide a wireless network than works for you and your budget.

3. You stream a lot of content.

If you use streaming services like Netflix or Spotify every day then you’ll need a strong connection to support all of that content – especially if the movies are in 4K or if the music is high-res. It is a fact you can access more music, movies, and games when you have Internet access. However, these shows will often freeze, lag, or have extremely poor-quality picture because the Internet connection isn’t strong enough. You might be paying for the fastest IP speeds, HD quality movies or hi-fi music, but it won’t be delivered without a proper network inside your home. A professional network quickly and easily solves this problem. You’ll never experience slow download speeds or poor quality content again. You can come home after a long day of work and relax with your favorite program instead of getting frustrated over poor connection.

What do you want the focal point of your home to be? To draw attention to a piece of art, a beautiful rug, or an antique chair you need to eliminate the distractions. In the interior design world, technology tends to be an obstacle. Designers are always trying to hide all of the tech since it can be an eyesore. Too many switches will create “wall acne” and cords, wires, or unsightly black boxes don’t exactly match the theme for your McKinney, Texas home. In this blog, we will focus on how to make certain elements of your lights and shades disappear with smart home automation. Keep reading to learn all about it. 

SEE ALSO: 5 Household Items to Make Smarter with an RTI System

Smart Shades

For this part of your home you won’t be hiding the roller fabric, or drapes, you’ll be hiding the motor that moves the shades up and down. Some motorized shade companies install a big box on the top of the window, which can look like a giant obstruction on the wall. To solve this issue, DeVance hides the motor in an enclosure—which is like a pocket inside the wall. You won’t see the motor or wires at all, instead everything is hidden and your family can focus on the beautiful fabric over the window. Smart shading also eliminates those hanging cords used to adjust the curtains. Instead, you’ll use a small remote control or your mobile device to open or chose them.

Smart Lighting

While the rest of the country might be enjoying a few more chilly days, Texas is in full summer mode, with the sun blazing! If you’ve been meaning to get outside more often and soak up that vitamin D, the smart approach is to set up your patio or backyard as the perfect spot for entertaining. Instead of driving somewhere just to enjoy the outdoors, you can simply step out the back door!

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Before you can start entertaining friends and family in an amazing outdoor area, you need the right outdoor entertainment. Keep reading to learn about the best approach to an automation and audio/video system for your Celina or Prosper area home.

What You’ll Need

When setting up an audio/video system outdoors, there are some factors you need to consider that aren’t usually an issue with an indoor system. For example, as rare as rain is in Texas, you wouldn’t want a sudden rainstorm to completely fry your television or sound system. Another issue that’s far more common is having the electrical components overheat on those summer days. Even dust and wind can compromise the performance of the equipment.

Because of these factors, we suggest TVs that are specifically designed for outdoor use, unless they are adequately protected from the elements by a custom cover or enclosure. Here are a few of the brands we’ve found to have excellence performance and reliability:

For Televisions:

If you want 4K Ultra HD visuals on a sleek, thin display, the best brand is Séura. You might have heard of Séura in the context of hidden technology since they also provide excellent mirror televisions, but their outdoor TVs have the same level of quality. Séura’s weatherproof TVs are actually able to adapt to the amount of natural lighting in the space, so you get a great picture on both sunny and cloudy days.

If the idea of living in a “smart house” is appealing to you, then you’re in luck. In recent years, more and more smart devices have been developed that make it super simple for you to manage every aspect of your home, from the lights to the television to even the window shades! Below, we cover some of the most common ways to upgrade regular parts of your Keller, Texas house to a full smart home control system. 

Thermostat

Thermostats are one of the most popular and common types of smart home technologies. A smart thermostat allows you to manage the temperature throughout your home anywhere, anytime. Just pull out your smartphone and select the temperature you want. Many of these thermostats learn your preferences over time, so they adjust automatically to keep your home at just the right temperature for comfort.

Lighting

Go beyond basic light switches with a lighting control system that lets you create the perfect lighting environment in every room at the push of a button. Every fixture, from the ceiling fan to the accent lamps, can be managed by your smartphone, a tablet, or handheld remote. Each fixture’s brightness is adjustable, which is useful for energy efficiency—you don’t have to waste energy blasting the lights in rooms that have plenty of natural sunlight, for example.

SEE ALSO: How to Get Started with Lighting and Shading Control

Blind and shade control

With motorized shades, you never have to manually open or close the blinds or drapes again. Instead, you can have your smart home control system automatically adjust the shades throughout the day. And when you’re relaxing on the couch and the setting sun causes a glare, you don’t have to break out of the comfort zone to close the shades—instead, tap that option on your smartphone and go back to relaxing.

With so many options for audio/video systems available, there’s always the risk that you end up with a shoddy, low-quality solution instead of truly exceptional sound and visuals. For luxury homeowners throughout the Highland Park and greater Dallas, Texas area, it’s important to choose a brand known for achieving that high-end quality.

DeVance Electronic Lifestyle works with many of the finest luxury audio brands available, and of all those brands, there is one that we recommend most for high-end homes: MartinLogan. If you’re interested in learning what makes MartinLogan speakers the best, then read on.

Innovative Design for Superior Sound

There are many methods for designing speakers. The one you’re probably most familiar with is the circular cone or dome-shaped speaker. That shape is easy to manufacture and provides good quality sound, but if you’re interested in the best sound quality possible, electrostatic is a better design for you.

Electrostatic speakers work by converting an amplifier’s output to a high-voltage charge. The speakers are designed with an ultra-light, electrically conductive material that evenly disperses the audio signal throughout the room. Technical aspects aside, the important thing about an electrostatic design is that it overcomes the limitations on rigidity and uniformity that so often cause cone-shaped speakers to deliver a less-than-stellar sound performance. 

SEE ALSO: Explore What it Means to Live with Smart Home Automation

Getting started with smart home technology is incredibly exciting. You get to pick out devices and solutions that will make your home more beautiful, energy-efficient, secure, and comfortable! But before you start picking out the fabrics for your motorized shades, ask yourself this question: “Is my home ready for smart home automation?”

Many homeowners throughout the Prosper, Texas area don’t realize that standard electrical wiring may not cut it for advanced automation technology. Even new construction doesn’t typically come with wiring suitable for reliably operating smart technology.

But don’t despair! There’s a simple solution in the form of prewiring services. Below, we answer the most common questions that homeowners have about prewiring. 

What is Prewiring?

Many smart home contractors (including DeVance Electronic Lifestyle) offer prewiring services that ensure your home has everything it needs to support all of its smart devices—both now and in the future as technology gets more advanced. Typically, these services include an initial assessment to get an idea of the quality of your home’s wiring. Based on that information, we may run new wires that are capable of handling whatever your smart devices need!

Why is Prewiring Necessary?

Standard wiring in homes often doesn’t go beyond AC power lines, TV cables, and maybe some phone lines. However, the majority of smart home devices operate using low voltage cabling. If your home is wired with the right types of cables, the sky is the limit for what you can automate!

The modern boardroom is about more than just conducting meetings. It’s about collaborating with people all over the world, closing deals with key clients, and making strategic plans that could impact the company for years to come. If you’re relying on outdated or insufficient technology, you’re hindering your company’s ability to operate at peak efficiency and effectiveness.

Below, we cover the five technologies that are absolutely essential if you want a boardroom automation system that is reliable and capable of meeting all the needs of your Dallas, Texas area business.

SEE ALSO: 5 Commercial Audio Video Trends for 2017

1. High-End Sound System

Stop struggling to hear remote team members through weak, poorly placed speakers. A boardroom should utilize sound equipment that provides crisp, pure audio throughout the room. Brands such as Mark Levinson and Revel are a safe bet. These hi-fi audio systems are the product of decades of superior design and engineering. Your boardroom automation installer can strategically place the sound equipment and speakers so that you get perfect sound without any cords or devices cluttering up the room.

2. Lighting and Shading Control

Window shades or overhead lights aren’t typically what you might think about for boardroom technologies, but they should be. After all, the lighting in a room ties directly into the quality of your visual displays—too much lighting can wash out the imagery, but you still need a well-lit room to conduct meetings.

The new year is just around the corner, and savvy Dallas business owners have started to consider what improvements they want to make in 2017. While many of these planning sessions focus on increasing operational efficiency, you might want to consider an alternative approach: improving the customer experience. Whether you’re running a restaurant, a retail store, or a car dealership, creating the right atmosphere for a relaxed and happy customer is a key component of business success.

So how do you do that? There are many different ways, but some technologies are rising to the top. Below, we cover five great commercial audio video trends that we predict will hit it big in 2017. 

SEE ALSO: 3 REASONS TO UPGRADE YOUR COMMERCIAL AUDIO / VIDEO SYSTEM

1. Interactive Displays

Waiting in lobbies isn’t fun for anyone, but technology can help make the time go by faster. Interactive displays use motion or touch technology to allow guests to manipulate what’s on the screen. These customizable screens could be as simple as ambient art that reacts to hand motions or a trivia game that gives points for selecting the right answer. Restaurant patrons waiting for a table, children waiting for a dentist appointment, or key clients waiting for a business presentation—interactive displays can help all of them have a more enjoyable experience.

2. Serve Yourself Technologies

People know what they want better than any waiter or customer service representative could, so why not let them control the service experience? This “do it yourself” automation technology started out as a way for businesses to save money on staffing costs, but it turns out that customers actually prefer this approach. Common applications are ordering kiosks at restaurants or price check scanners at retail stores. You’re essentially giving your clients instant gratification. There are no delays or miscommunication—just an intuitive screen that provides simple options for your clients to choose from.

Getting that perfect gift for friends and family is a challenge. If you’re at a loss for what gifts to buy this holiday season, we’re here to help. As Southlake, Texas’ smart home automation experts, we stay on top of the latest trends in tech devices. This gift buying guide covers the best smart tech for both current smart home owners and people considering upgrading their homes.

For Current Smart Home Owners

If the person you’re trying to buy for already has a smart home, then they’ve probably already got a full set of gadgets and controls for every room. But don’t fret! Unless their smart home system was installed very recently, there’s one component they probably don’t have yet: voice control. Amazon Echo and Echo Dot are small devices that are easy to add to existing smart home systems, allowing you to control your home using just your voice!

In addition to asking Alexa’s normal capabilities, you can use the voice-controlled interface to initiate different smart home “scenes” that have saved settings for the best lighting, music, temperature, etc. for any given activity. For example, as you leave home each morning, just say “Alexa, turn on ‘Away.’” In response, your home’s lights will turn off, the shades will close, the music will stop, and your smart security system will lock the doors and turn on the alarm.

SEE ALSO: Explore What It Means to Live with Smart Home Automation

For Homeowners Just Getting Started

As wonderful as a full smart home automation system is, you don’t need all the bells and whistles right off the bat. To help friends and family dip their toes into the convenience and comfort that smart technology has to offer, consider getting an individual device that works great on its own but can also become part of a full automation system in the future. In addition to Amazon Echo, here are some other great devices:

In the coming months, you’re likely going to get a lot more use out of your televisions and music systems. From Christmas celebrations to Super Bowl parties, it’s important to ensure your whole house audio/video system is ready with top-notch sound and visual quality. If you think the system in your Dallas area home might not be up to the task, keep reading to learn about all the latest upgrades you can take advantage of.

SEE ALSO: What is Whole House Audio Video?

4K Ultra HD Displays

4K Ultra HD is quickly becoming the standard for televisions throughout the USA. The TVs have four times the pixels of regular HD TVs, and the difference in visual quality is like night and day. When 4K televisions first debuted years ago, their high cost and lack of content filmed in 4K meant that they were typically only found in the homes of technology early adopters. Now, however, 4K TVs are quite affordable, and almost every new show or movie is filmed in 4K. You can even now watch live sporting events in 4K, creating such a lifelike picture, you’d swear you were sitting in the bleachers. 

So whether your Thanksgiving tradition is to watch the Macy’s Day Parade in the morning or cheer on the Dallas Cowboys in the afternoon, upgrading to 4K is a sure-fire way to make the experience more enjoyable.

Multi-Room Music Systems

Music is an integral part of creating the perfect atmosphere for holiday parties. Instead of fumbling around with multiple remotes, struggling to get all of the different stereo systems throughout your home to play the same songs, upgrade to a multi-room music system. With a multi-room setup, you can easily choose your favorite Christmas playlist and enjoy high-fidelity music in every room of your home.

Lighting and shading control is often considered a must-have aspect of any smart home because of how much convenience it adds to your lifestyle at home. If you’re considering adding lighting and shading control to your Texas residence, it can be tough to know how to get started. Keep reading to learn the main aspects of lighting and shading control so that you can start taking advantage of its benefits in your University Park or other Dallas area home.

SEE ALSO: Top 3 Benefits of Lighting and Shading Control

Choose Your Brand

When it comes to lighting and shading control brands, two companies stand out far above the rest: Lutron and Crestron. Some control systems only control lighting or shading, not both, which can make the system more complicated. That’s not the case with Lutron and Crestron. The great thing about Lutron and Crestron is that they both provide so many different options: roller shades, wireless dimmers, skylight shades, touchscreen controls, and more.

From the same company, you can get everything you need for a complete solution. And beyond the technical aspects of the control system, Lutron and Crestron also offer window treatment design elements. You can look through their extensive collection of different fabric types, colors, and patterns to find the best options to match your home’s décor.

Pick Your Locations

The types of lighting and shades you choose will depend greatly on where you put them. It’s important to get the right lighting and shading materials for your lifestyle and the purpose of each room – blackout shades for a media room, but transparent shades that simply reduce the sunlight glare will serve the client better in rooms with a gorgeous view. After you decide which rooms you want to have lighting and shading control in, a DeVance Electronic Lifestyle expert will be there to offer advice and guidance on selecting the best materials for each space—considering everything from what the ideal fabric type would be to reduce UV damage to furniture on through to the final selection of light fixtures to accentuate your artwork.

An effective and reliable smart home automation solution has a lot of pieces and parts all working together to add convenience and comfort to your home. One often overlooked aspect of this complex system is the home network. In this blog, we discuss three aspects of home networking that are vitally important for ensuring your smart home operates smoothly, whether you’re in Highland Park or another Texas area.

SEE ALSO: Explore What it Means to Live with Smart Home Automation

Speed

The speed of your home network is directly tied to the speed of your devices. Each piece of equipment might say it can reach lightning fast speeds, but if your network is throttling your bandwidth, your smart home automation system will never operate at full performance.  DeVance can optimize your home network and remove the obstacles that are causing network throttling. By streamlining your home network, your devices will be able to reach their full speed capabilities.

Reliability

When you’re streaming television shows on Netflix or watching a movie in your dedicated home theater, you’ll be able to enjoy the entire show without any lagging or delays in audio or video. However, 4K streaming requires a lot of bandwidth, and your network simply may not be up to the task.  Often, the source of video lagging during streaming is a lack of strong Wi-Fi. DeVance can install wireless access points at strategic locations throughout your home to ensure that each smart device has a strong and reliable Internet connection.

Scalability

Your home network needs to be ready not only for today’s technology, but also for tomorrow’s. You don’t want to be one step behind the latest smart home automation technology simply because your home network isn’t capable of supporting more devices. Using the latest standards and advances in home networking technology will ensure that whenever you want to upgrade your smart home automation system, your network won’t hold you back.

Some people may describe their company’s conference room technology as “practically stuck in the stone ages.” That’s a problem. Even if your system isn’t that old, commercial audio/video technologies have come a long way in recent years, and an outdated system could negatively impact your Dallas, Texas business. Fortunately, there are many new and innovative technologies available for businesses that make using conference room AV easy and effective. Below, we’ve covered the three main ways that a commercial AV upgrade can add value to your business.

Save Time
How much time do your employees waste fumbling around with the conference AV system, trying to set up a presentation or connect to a teleconference? If it’s more than a few minutes, there’s definitely room for improvement. Modern commercial AV systems are designed to be user-friendly and simple to start, so your employees know exactly what to do with minimal training and no guesswork.

Commercial automation integrates all the audio and video components within your boardroom into one simple control system. Want to lower the screen, turn on the projector, dim the lights, and turn on the speakers? That can all happen with one press of a touchscreen. There’s really no comparison when it comes to time savings for conference room automation vs. manual operation methods.

Increase Reliability
There are few things more frustrating than getting ready to start a presentation with an important prospect only to have your AV equipment fail you at the last minute. In today’s fast-paced and demanding business environment, you need a commercial audio/video system that will always offer crisp, clear audio and video. The streamlined approach to operating your commercial automation system ensures that you’ll never accidentally exit out of a video conference or struggle with finding the right controller to adjust the audio. The result is a conference room system that functions exactly as it should, every time you need it.

Improve Image
What does your conference room technology say about your company? If you want it to say that you are cutting edge and innovative, commercial automation is the way to go. An outdated and inefficient AV system can be off-putting to potential clients, while an AV system that has your presentation instantly start at the push of a button can impress those clients and assure them that your company has a good handle on things.

You may wonder what the term whole house audio/video actually means. Is it any different than simply placing an audio system in every room? We would like to educate you on all of the features and benefits of multi-room music and whole house video in part one of this series on our blog. Not only do we have a lot of options to offer you based on personal preferences, style, and budget, but we can install our audio systems in older and new homes in University Park, Texas. Keep reading to learn more. 

SEE ALSO: Explore What it Means to Live with Smart Home Automation

Keep Equipment and Wires Hidden From View

Since 1996, the sound engineers at Revel by Harman have been creating cutting-edge audio products for homes around the world. The science of sound is at the heart of this company, and it shows in their multi-room systems. Their in-ceiling speakers are discreet so that you don’t notice them or see wires, and they sound incredible. The truth is that in-ceiling speakers do sound better than ones that are completely invisible. The reason for that is that the sound waves aren’t hindered by drywall or paint. However, if you absolutely do want your speakers to be completely hidden from view, we can install some models from high-quality manufacturers, and good sound will still be produced. One of the biggest benefits of our sound systems is that they won’t clutter up your home, and they will add value to your property. They’re in the walls and out of the way, making your home look gorgeous and sound beautiful too. CD players and amplifiers can be tucked away in an A/V closet and send their content to the various speakers throughout your home. You have immediate access to it all, including digital media stored on a cloud or server, from your touchpad, tablet or smartphone.

Connect Every Speaker

With no design limitations, you can scatter speakers throughout your home. This allows you to build distinct sound zones so each member of the family gets the most out of their favorite entertainment without disrupting others. Groups of speakers are called “zones” – meaning that you can play different songs on different groups of speakers. So for example, if you and your husband want to listen to your favorite artist at the same time while he is in the living room and you are in the kitchen, you can play the same track on the 10 speakers in those areas. We can group bedroom speakers together, outdoor ones together, or any way you like. Are you having a big house party? Play some fun tunes on all of the speakers throughout your house so that as people move around they hear evenly distributed audio in every corner – inside and out.

Expand Your Music Library

What makes a whole house audio system different, besides being able to connect all of your speakers and install them in the walls, is being able to play music from a variety of different sources. You won’t be limited at all because you can play your own music collection via mp3 players or CDs and stream music online too. Pandora, Tidal, Spotify, and XM Sirius radio are just a few channels you have access to with a strong home network. You’ll be able to open an app on your smartphone, tablet, or touch panel and pick a station or playlist, then stream the music to any location. The user interface is simple and easy to follow, and even displays beautiful album cover art as it plays. Playing music at home has never been easier, and expanding your library has never been so affordable.

You may wonder with so many cool and beneficial smart home features, why invest in adding lighting and shading control? The truth is that automating your lights and shades has a lot of benefits, namely saving energy, time, money, and increasing home security. Making this long-term investment will not only add value to your home, but it will make your everyday life easier and more enjoyable. You’ll find that using smart lighting and shading is not just a luxury, but a smart choice when it comes to updating your home in Highland Park, Texas or anywhere you live in or travel to in the world.

SEE ALSO: Explore What it Means to Live With Smart Home Automation

1. Go Green by Adding These Energy-Saving Solutions

While installing smart lighting alone will save you a lot of energy – mainly because most of the electricity you use is spent on lighting – coordinating your lights and shades together will give you the most energy savings. Firstly, shades take the pressure off your HVAC system because blocking UV rays with solar shades will naturally cool the home. When it’s cold outside, you can also leave the shades open to let the sunlight warm your rooms. As soon as your shades go down at noon when the sun is high, your lights will turn on to a mid-level. Dimmers allow you to adjust lighting levels any time of day and still save energy. Our lighting partner, Lutron, recommends dimming lights down 30 percent, which will reduce overall energy use by 20 percent. Since our systems are customizable, the DeVance team can create a climate control system that saves you the most energy.

2. Enjoy the Convenience of Wireless Controls