2018 Hex vom Dasenstein. Baden.

Just lovely. Light color, plenty of glycerin, and medium-bodied. This wine has a nose of strawberry and soy with more strawberry plus cherry, black tea, and forest floor in the mouth. It’s finish is long, slightly sweet, and peppery. This wine went very well with our ratatouille and Moroccan lamb stew. The bottle is embossed and hand-painted, and at USD $21, this is a bargain!

Thanks again to friend Luiz Alberto for suggesting many years ago that I drink Spätburgunder more often. I am consistently delighted!

As your Boston leader in home automation and smart home solutions, AVD is redefining what it means to work smart right here at our Westwood headquarters! In the past year, we’ve taken bold steps to change the way we work. By focusing on better, not bigger, we’ve saved space, reduced waste, empowered our employees to work more efficiently, and enriched our customer experience here in Westwood. Curious how we’ve done it? Read on!

A Digital Leader Ditches Paper

An industry-leading home electronics company going digital? It makes sense to us! Over the past year, AVD has become a paperless workplace. By converting all of our documents and records to digital, we’ve realized twofold benefits. First, we’ve eliminated the need for dozens of file cabinets and bankers’ boxes, reclaiming that square footage for a more valuable purpose. Second, by going digital, we’ve greatly reduced our company’s paper waste. Whenever we’re in a position to help the environment, that’s something everyone here can get behind.

Thinking (and Working) Outside the Box

AVD employees increasingly take advantage of flex work and telecommuting options on the job. In addition to facilitating a healthy work-life balance for our team members, this sort of flexibility in scheduling has allowed us to combine and reduce employee workspaces here at headquarters. Gone are the accounting bunkers and cavernous warehouses of old. Through remote work and Just-in-Time ordering, we’ve reduced our accounting and warehousing footprint by half. So, who’s benefitting from all this streamlining? We’re glad you asked!

Winning Big by Thinking Small.

By going paperless and streamlining our accounting and warehousing operations, AVD is now operating more efficiently than ever. With all the resources and space we’re now saving, we’ve been able to give back. Not only are we producing less waste, which is better for our planet, but we’ve been able to donate 30 filing cabinets to a local police station and contribute office desks and chairs to a customer’s start-up. Perhaps the biggest winner, though, is the AVD customer. Thanks to our reduced footprint, we’ve expanded and enhanced our Westwood Experience Center. Here, customers and those who advise them—architects, designers, and builders—can immerse themselves in the technologies and systems we offer. At the Experience Center, customers can see, hear, and touch our full range of products. Hidden TV’s, automated lighting and shading, incomparable speakers, home theater fixtures, and more: everything is on display. In reducing and reimagining our workspaces, we’ve EXPANDED our customer experience. As far as we’re concerned, there’s NOTHING smarter than that!

2019: The Year of the Television?

TV’s reigned supreme at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Today’s AV consumers have witnessed a remarkable television evolution in their lifetimes. When furniture-cased models and their massive projection descendants gave way to flat screen technology, we marveled at displays that seemed like science fiction made real. TV manufacturers are still pushing the boundaries of what’s possible— with truly remarkable results. Curious? Read on to discover some of the jaw-dropping new TV technology unveiled in Las Vegas.

LG Is On a Roll

Want a TV that’s only there when you need it? LG’s Signature OLED R rises to the challenge— literally. Capitalizing on OLED’s inherent flexibility, OLED R rises from its sleek aluminum case with the touch of a button, spooling back into hiding when not in use. When its stunning display is retracted, OLED R capably serves as a Bluetooth sound system. With 4.2-channel Dolby Atmos audio, audiophiles won’t be disappointed! If you prefer state-of-the-art audio video with a minimalist aesthetic, start saving for OLED R’s arrival (late 2019).

8K TV’s: Is It Upgrade Time?

8K TV’s made waves at CES 2019, but are they worth the investment? 8K refers to a television’s resolution— specifically, how many pixels its display contains. More pixels result in a clearer, more lifelike picture. For TV’s over 40-inches, 4K, with nearly 4,000 horizontal pixels, is now the industry standard. With 8,000 horizontal pixels, 8K is a whopping improvement on the industry standard. Up close, the pixels of an 8K display are virtually impossible to distinguish, resulting in a video that’s incomparably clear and bright. Read about Sony’s 8K technology.

LG, Samsung, Sony and others will bring 8K to US audio video consumers in 2019, but is it worth the investment? While 8K is a remarkable technical achievement, it’s important to remember that none of the programming we love (films, live sports, streaming content, etc.) is available in 8K yet, and this isn’t likely to change soon. Also, you’ll need a really big TV (think 80+ inches) to notice any real difference between 4K and 8K. So, unless you have one heck of a living room, it’s probably sensible to admire this technology from afar, at least for now.

We are proud to announce that Audio Video Design received the 2018 Prism Award Gold Winner for Smart Home Technology.

“The PRISM Awards recognize the finest projects and outstanding achievements of builders, developers, project owners, architects, land planners, marketing/advertising firms, interior designers, remodelers, and other professionals in the home building industry. Winning a PRISM Award is a sign of excellence and recognition of superior achievement.”

– The Builders and Remodelers Association of Greater Boston (BRAGB)

Enjoying the last lazy, hazy days of summer? Before you know it, Autumn will be here with football, school and falling leaves. We want you to be ready for what’s ahead with these suggestions for home technology in lighting, window treatments, WiFi and speakers, and finally home networks for computers.

As the weather turns cooler and the days begin to shorten, you can use your automated window treatments to keep the heat in – opposite of summer months when you use shading to keep the heat out and prevent furniture from fading. If you have one of our automated lighting systems with the atomic clock feature, your lights will automatically turn on earlier and adjust when Day Light Saving Time ends on Sunday, November 4th.

Did you know that switching to LED lighting will lower your electric bills? They last much longer and run cooler than other types of bulbs.  LEDs offer great illumination for tasks like cooking and homework. Most programmable lighting platforms have many options for dimming and a variety of colors, too.  So LEDs are cool in more ways than one! Visit the AVD Experience Center and play with our array of lighting solutions.

Turn up the volume: Speakers and WiFi

If there could be a perfect little winery, it would be Domaine Tour Campanet. In Provence. A beautiful site. Run by a lovely young woman. Organic because she doesn’t want to work with chemicals. Making simple and superb wines. No commercialism. What could be better? Well, I suppose if your brain works like mine but you’re a woman, you would want a Provence winery with great wines made by a young guy. C’est la vie! There are plenty of those out there. You find them!

Emmanuelle Baude, owner and winemaker, is passionate about her vineyard. She knows every inch of the land, it’s soil, its smell, its shadows. I love her descriptions of the place. Her white has a dreamy name based in the reality of her relationship with the terroir: Bois des Fées.  Wood of the Fairies. And when I asked her how she came to name it thus, she recited a short story for me on the spot about the way the light and shadow play on the property. The vineyard is in the middle of a wood and to get there you must travel through closed and open areas, dense forest and open pasture. There is the play of light in its many forms, the variation of temperatures, the dust that you can see and the vacuum of space you cannot see.

The Bois des Fées Blanc starts out exotic-fruity and light and then intensifies, finishing in a way that demands attention. I love the rosés of Provence, including Emmanuelle’s, but this white wine is everything you want on a picnic! Half Vermentino, half Ugni Blanc.

Speaking of rosé, the Bois des Fées (yes, it should have a different name, such as Bois des Sirens) is fascinating because it looks and smells like a typical rosé of Provence but the addition of Cabernet Sauvignon to the Syrah and Grenache and the absence of Cinsault make it more accessible to the international palate. What does that mean? It mostly means it’s not as acidic and has more familiar flavors. The wine is the perfect match for cured meats.

Dom. Tour Campanets winery is making a Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence rouge called Mon Coeur Violettes, and a violet heart it is! There are only 2000 bottles (not cases!) and it is as succulent as the website proclaims. Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carignan. I immediately thought of duck in a wine reduction sauce. Again, simple, but intensifying.

Audio Video Design won a 2018 Gold EM NARI CotY Award for Residential Specialty Interior for their Penthouse Perspective project. The Evening of Excellence for the 2018 Contractor of the Year (CotY) Awards was held at the Clarke Showroom in Milford on March 28, 2018.

A two-career couple with a young family benefits from automation to make their home run smoothly. With a control system tying all of the electronics together, the net result is a smart home that needs minimal intervention to operate multiple TVs and distributed music, security, HVAC, lighting and shade control. Audio Video Design provided the latest technology to make living in a luxury building comfortable, safe and fun.

Photography by Greg Premru; Interior Design by Spring Hill Designs; Builder: Sea-Dar Construction (original work done by Woodmeister Master Builders).

Back in 1977 when Debby Boone sang “You Light Up My Life” few realized that automated lighting would revolutionize the home technology industry. The benefits of automated lighting include convenience, security and aesthetics that enhance the way we live in our homes today. And don’t forget the bonus of energy savings!

The Convenience of Automated Lighting

Press a button and house lights dim or set a welcome home scene where the lights come on as you open the door. Today’s lights offer control from anywhere, and the ability to program them to turn on or off at specific times, depending on the time of day, time of year or occupancy. You can program fixtures in one room or the entire house with platforms from Lutron or Vantage. AVD works with both companies to complement your decor and lifestyle. Control your lighting at home with an app on your smart phone or tablet, or from a keypad on the wall.

We know that lighting has a profound impact on the feel of a space and our overall health and well-being. The right illumination can be custom tailored to your needs – lighting for tasks, relaxation or to spotlight artwork and collections. Owners of multiple residences love the convenience of lighting control systems.

With modern lighting innovations it can be challenging to know how to get what you want. The Audio Video Design team members are experts in lighting design. For homeowners, we can collaborate with your architect, builder and interior designer. For design professionals, we will collaborate with you and your client to ensure you have the products you need to attain the goals of the project.

The bottom line is that today’s automated lighting is easy to use once professionals design and install the system that works best for your home or your client’s home.

Damn, why don’t Americans drink more German wine?!

I just attended the Martignetti German Wine Tasting at Box109 at the Hotel Indigo in Newton and was BLOWN AWAY by the offerings. Almost everything I tasted was above average and the prices were stupidly low. That’s because German wine isn’t popular in the US these days.

The big names in German wine, the VDP-classified wines, are pricey but there’s So Much inexpensive quality wine it boggles the mind.

The main wine of Germany is Riesling, of course. And actually, you could stop there. Not because the others aren’t good but because Riesling is So Good, wines that are beautifully balanced and pair so well with food and wine that are downright sublime. But Germany also makes excellent Pinot Noirs. In fact, I attended a blind tasting of Pinot Noir with Adam Japko, publisher of New England Home magazine, where the favorite Pinot turned out to be a German Spatburgunder (with the dots over the a) brought by #winelover founder Luiz Alberto!  In addition to Pinot Noir, there are some other very interesting whites and reds, including the fairly well known Gewurztraminer and the lesser known

Muller-Thurgau, Silvaner and Scheurebe (whites) and Lemberger (red).

Join Audio Video Design at Roomscapes Cabinetry and Design Center on March 8th for a Homeowners’ Workshop and Panel Discussion: Build with Confidence.

From permitting to landscaping, Roomscapes hosts a comprehensive one-night free workshop and panel with the pros to help homeowners navigate the building or renovation process with success from beginning to end. Attendees will learn how to avoid costly mistakes and gain tips and inspiration from an expert panel, moderated by Melanie Perillo, publisher of Boston Design Guide. Questions from homeowners are encouraged.

Topics include:

• zoning and permitting
• the importance of the right architect, construction and interior design team
• creating outdoor living spaces that maximize your property,
• how to get a magazine-style look in your own home
• smart home and AV technologies that bring your home to life
• dream kitchens and master baths

Featured panelists:

• Caleb Anderson, RW Anderson & Sons
• Roger Hoit, Roger Hoit Architect
• Michael Kim, Michael Kim Associates
• Blair Harmaty, Setting the Space
• Brian Frazier, Brian Frazier Design
• Kyle Trip,, Audio Video Design
• July Whalen, Roomscapes

Event Details:

When: Thursday, March 8, 2018, 5:30-7:30 PM

Let’s face it – New England winters were made for TV binge-watching, from Netflix to the televised events we gather around: The Golden Globes, The Oscars, the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics and March Madness. 

Our viewers guide is below, but first let’s talk TV. What do you view your favorite programs on? Then we’ll talk about where you watch and finally, all of the extras that enhance the television experience.

TVs

We are big fans of Samsung’s The Frame TV in either 43” or 55” because when you’re not watching it as a television, it appears as a framed piece of art on your wall. It looks phenomenal. But don’t take our word for it – come see it for yourself in our newly renovated interactive Home Technology Design Center.

We also love the Sony OLED line and recommend the 65” or 75” or 85” 4K models. They are utterly reliable and offer a beautiful picture resolution.

Finally we highly recommend the Seura mirror TV in several sizes and styles – in your bathroom mirror perhaps? Watch the morning news while shaving? Watch Big Little Lies while bathing? And for outdoor locations, we can’t say enough good words about the Seura Storm line. Simply made for viewing by the pool or hottub!

Welcome to Brad’s Wine Corner! I’m the owner and president of AVD and I’ve been a wine guy most of my adult life. It’s crazy now to mingle my two passions, electronics and wine, because they are integral to my love of life!

I’ve been drinking, buying, collecting, selling and yammering about fine wine for a really long time. I’ve written about it in social media venues and a few local magazines. It’s time to have a quiet little corner on the AVD website for those of you who are also wine geeks because it’s who we are, passionate about wine, loving the sub-culture of being cork dorks and sharing our reviews and bottles!

I will post here periodically, enough to keep it interesting and fun but not too much to drive anyone crazy or to begin to think I’m drunk all the time. AND, at AVD, we will have regular wine events. Just because. I think there’s a large percentage of our customer base, both “end-users” and “ABIDs” (architects, builders, interior designers) who are into wine that we will have really fun regular tastings. I have a very large collection that I’m opening up for this purpose. No, I’m not opening crazy expensive Petrus, DRC and Screaming Eagle on a weekly basis. But I’ll be opening lots of really good wine.

My posts will be things you’re interested in I hope. They will be about mostly new stuff that you can still get but also old stuff that’s hard to find but great to hear about. I have a few irons in the fire. The main one of course is Audio Video Design, where I spend 50+ hours, but I’m also a wine advisor and writer and have access to all the trade tastings in which to try great wines, from dirt cheap to crazy money, and I’ll write about those and tell you where to find them if you’re interested. I’ll arrange buying deals for groups when there’s a lot of momentum so my customers have fun buying together at a big discount.

This is purely for fun! I don’t think I’m Gary Vaynerchuk. I’m doing this from a very humble perspective. I’ve been doing this a long time and friends say I know a lot but in the context of other knowledgeable wine geeks, I feel like a babe in the woods. Perhaps they do too. In the company of friends with incredible palates, I shy away from expressing my opinion. I suspect some of you are in the same boat! So talk to me, let me know what you like, don’t like, would like to hear about, etc. I’m manic about wine and will take it as a challenge!

Audio Video Design won the 2018 Integrator of the Year Tech Home Mark of Excellence Award from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) last night at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES)  in Las Vegas. AVD Vice President, Bob Riddle, accepted the award on behalf of Audio Video Design.

The Integrator of the Year Award is presented to a company for their overall contribution to industry. AVD has been serving New England for the past 45 years, providing design, installation and maintenance of smart home systems.

“We gratefully accept this award on behalf of all of the employees and clients of Audio Video Design,” said AVD President, Brad Smith. “We are honored to have been selected for this recognition. We strive for excellence and this award is an acknowledgement of those efforts.”

One of AVD’s recent projects, Cape Cod Cinematheque, was also recognized as a finalist in the home theater category.

‘Tis the season for giving gifts. It’s not too late to present the technophile in your life with something special from Audio Video Design! We even have great ideas for technophobes, too, because AVD makes your digital home easy.

Listen Up…

• May we recommend speakers from Bang & Olufsen? AVD now carries B&O products and can set them up for you. Our staff has recently finished B&O training, so our customers can relax and enjoy the holiday with great sound.Mid-century modern design lovers rejoice! We think this Beoplay A9 speaker is very cool. It offers 480 watts of powerful sound and wirelessly connects to everything! (B&O) Comes in a few color choices (black, white, and smoked oak. Covers are available in a variety of colors). 
• We have often touted the fun products from BlueSound. We think their wireless speakers bring the party to wherever you are! And we’re excited about their Pulse Soundbar. “The PULSE SOUNDBAR delivers a fully immersive sonic experience that brings any soundtrack to life in vivid, cinematic detail. Designed specifically to fit perfectly under your HD TV, the PULSE SOUNDBAR is the world’s first multi-room high-res soundbar to feature crystal clear, 24-bit resolution and audiophile-grade bass response – without a subwoofer. This is the soundbar your TV deserves.” (BlueSound)

• One of our new product lines, we recommend Golden Ear speakers. For this holiday gift giving season, why not give the Aon2 or Aon3 – exceptionally compact, ultra-high-performance bookshelf speakers that were originally developed for use a near-field monitors in professional mixing applications. Audiophiles, contain your happiness!“The design goal was to produce modestly-sized shelf or stand-mountable speakers that would achieve  accurate high-definition sonic reproduction, with superb three-dimensional imaging, comparable to that achieved by Golden Ear’s award-winning Triton Two Towers. Although they don’t have quite the awe-inspiring bass of the floor-standing Tritons, great care has been taken, and extensive technology has been incorporated, to ensure that the Aons can deliver a remarkably satisfying listening experience without the need for a separate subwoofer.” (Golden Ear)
  

Watch in Style

• Speaking of Bang & Olufsen, we love the BeoVision Avant model from B&O. A celebration of movement, this product is an unforgettable fusion of Ultra High-Definition (4K) picture and the iconic Bang & Olufsen sound that engages your senses.

• We’re also fans of the SonyXBR55930 TV. With its slim backlight Drive+, 4K HDR Processor X1 Extreme and Triluminos display, it looks as great as it works. Design conscious homeowners will love it!
  

And…more to love and share

• We’re also big fans of the products from Paradigm. This Millienia CT2 is high-performance design inspired by the award-winning Paradigm Reference MilleniaOne speakers, winners of Sound & Vision’s Product of the Year. It’s a fully powered audio/multimedia system, no receiver required! (Paradigm)

Happy shopping and happy holidays from everyone at AVD!

The holidays will arrive in no time at all, and we’ll be entertaining family and friends. Is your home ready? We love the festive spirit of the season here at AVD, and recommend two ways to prepare your home and welcome guests: set the mood with music and lighting.

The Sounds of Music

Music is a must for any kind of entertaining, and especially so at the holidays. With multiple streaming music services and many state-of-the-art products available, any and all musical tastes are easily shared with family and friends. There are so many services and platforms on which to curate playlists or simply listen to your holiday favorites. We like TuneIn for local radio broadcast stations via the Internet. We also like the iHeart Radio app. Perennial favorite Pandora was one of the early streaming music providers, which uses a complex algorithm to mix your favorite songs- essentially being your personal DJ. We enjoy Slacker Radio for a similar experience – all free but you can upgrade to more robust paid versions. Of course we’re fans of subscription-based Spotify and Tidal that give users access to millions of songs on-demand via their digital services, along with curated playlists.

What we like about Tidal is the option of a high-resolution audio subscription that works well with our compatible high definition audio products. These will bring you Destiny’s Child singing “Apple Pie A La Mode,” Gene Autry singing “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” the Trans-Siberian Orchestra playing “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo,” or Adam Sandler’s “The Hanukkah Song” in a clarity not experienced previously. Most any song can be added to your streaming playlist, all you need to use is your imagination.

We know these services and platforms can be confusing, which is why our expert design team can guide you through the myriad of choices. We will make recommendations based on your objectives and balanced against your budget. All platforms and services work with many products, but we have our favorites, and give priority to best-in-class products that offer ease-of-use and excellent performance. And, like high definition video products (think 4K televisions), music technology keeps pushing the envelope for the best sound possible.

Audio Video Design, a concierge firm for smart home technology, automation and integration, was recognized for professional excellence with a coveted Gold PRISM Award on October 12, 2017.

Hosted by the Builders and Remodelers Association of Greater Boston (BRAGB), the PRISM Awards celebrate the finest projects and outstanding achievements of builders, developers, project owners, architects, land planners, marketing/advertising firms, interior designers, remodelers, and home technology contractors in the Greater Boston building industry.

AVD won a Gold PRISM in the category Best Use of Smart Home Technology  for their Cape Cod Cinematheque project. This year’s PRISM Awards Gala presented awards in nearly 80 different categories to honor accomplishments in the industry.

“We are delighted to have received a Gold PRISM Award from the Builders and Remodelers Association of Greater Boston. In this business it is always a team that earns the honors. No one person can do this by himself. I thank my team here at Audio Video Design for the conscientious attention to detail and dedication to customer satisfaction,” said AVD President, Brad Smith. “We are grateful to our industry partners on this project: interior designer Barbara Kotzen, Kotzen Interiors; and Encore Construction. We enjoyed collaborating with them to create this spectacular home theater.”

BRAGB received almost 300 entries for the PRISM Awards this year, which is the highest number of entries in the program since 2007. A distinguished panel representing various segments of the building industry from across the country performed the judging. For more information about the PRISM Awards please visit www.prism-awards.com

Have you ever been frustrated at the poor reception your cell phone gets at home? Looking for the crispest resolution on your television while watching Netflix? Do you ever feel you have the slowest Wi-Fi in the world? Do you even understand how Wi-Fi works? When we talk about networking, we’re talking about:

• Wi-Fi – accessing the local wireless network for your computer, telecommunication, gaming, printing, consoles and more
• Connecting your devices within your home so they communicate with one another
• Accessing the Internet for email and entertainment
• Compatibility with the latest standards and upgrades

“People are upgrading mostly because the coverage of their wi-fi is not reaching areas of the home they use most, because their service is regularly interrupted, and because of slow speeds. They want their email to work when they want it, they want Netflix to work when in the mood for a movie, and they want to surf the web and do homework. Finally, they want their cell phones to work anywhere in their homes,” says Mike Dillon, AVD Computer & Networking Specialist. “We make that all happen via wi-fi calling.”

The difference between working with a firm like Audio Video Design and walking into Best Buy is quality. We have networking engineers and superior products that are comparable to what corporations use. We provide enterprise-grade networking. Why is this important? Three main factors: speed, reliability and security. You want the fastest connections that don’t buffer, and give you peace of mind for your information. And in this day of Equifax breaches and stolen identities, this is of paramount importance.

Our networking expertise provides the equipment you need, the configurations you want and the ability to grow your system as products evolve. Keeping up with the fast pace of changing technology is another advantage of working with us versus DIY. We work with all network providers like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Cox, MCI, RCN, Century Link and more to enhance coverage and usefulness. You have questions. We have answers.

It seems as though everyone has gone crazy for voice command devices and applications, but we are exercising caution.  Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google’s Assistant Allo all have flaws. That’s what we are hearing from you.  “Alexa won’t turn on the lights in my kitchen.” “Allo can’t open the garage door for my plumber while I’m at work.” “Siri can’t find anything!”

As home electronics, integration and automation experts, we feel your pain. We know you want to speak your mind and have your wishes granted: open the shades, change the music, pre-heat the oven, and on and on. This is life in the 21st Century. The good news is that eventually all of these devices will understand you clearly. In the not too distant future, they will communicate with you and one another!

These apps and devices are basic and limited in what they can do. So if you’re OK with that, go ahead and plunk down $129 for the Google Home device or $179 for the Amazon Echo, and then download the apps that make them work. Want to know the weather? The score of the Red Sox game? Change the temperature on your Nest? These will do that for you.

Name that skill

One of the issues is how the devices in your home are programmed. Let’s say you have multiple lighting sources and need to be very specific, for example, kitchen recessed lights. Your voice command will have to be equally specific, according to AVD Project Manager Glenn Middleton. You may know this but your guests may not. Another issue is that Alexa and counterparts “aren’t at full voice recognition capacity yet, which means they make a lot of mistakes understanding human speech. Eventually they will understand us 100 percent. At that time these will be great devices for interacting on some level with our systems,” says Kyle Tripp, AVD Systems Designer.

Currently Alexa and Allo do not communicate easily with any smart home systems. And they won’t necessarily be able to work the rest of the cool, high-tech stuff in your house. The latest versions from Control4, Crestron and Savant have the capability to be “introduced” to Alexa and learn one another’s language. Alexa’s language is “name the skill” or “call the skill.” Once Alexa becomes more fluent, the skills it knows will be more easily understood by the home integration systems we install. For now you’ll still have to push buttons on your smart phone, tablet or wall touch panel, which in many cases is actually more convenient than voice control. The best smart home systems are now developing their own voice recognition technology.

Father’s Day is a couple of weeks away and if you’re stumped for what to give Dad, we have some gift ideas from our team at AVD. Present the man in your life with a gift certificate for a fully-equipped “man cave”/media room. Or give him one of the items suggested here. And, as man does not live by home electronics, automation and integration alone, we’re offering up some additional thoughts as a way to honor Dad this month – or anytime.

What man cave/media room would be complete without a big-screen TV? Bob Copeland recommends Sony’s new XBR 65A1E OLED Display. John Veloza suggests pairing that with surround sound that works in multiple locations like the Sonos system. Brad Smith suggests one of the Leon Soundbars to be mounted with the TV. Add a subwoofer, says Bob Riddle, and he likes JL Audio. Richard Mullin says an all-in-one remote is essential and recommends the Universal Remote Control. Bob thinks the Savant Pro Remote is a must have for ease-of-use and the coolness factor (just enough to make it fun).

What would our team members like to be gifted – related to business and not related?

Bob Copeland: DAC for Sonos Connect and time with family.

Richard Mullin: Apple TV and a pair of tickets to the new Odyssey cruise ship with dinner aboard.

John Veloza: A Control4 System and an Apple Macbook Pro.