Architectural Electronics, dba SimpleHome, a pioneer in smart home technology, proudly marks its 50th anniversary, celebrating five decades of innovation, reliability, and a commitment to the luxury design community.

Founded in 1973, SimpleHome quickly became a leader in the luxury home electronics industry, providing high-quality alarm systems at a time when most were unreliable. By the mid-1980s, the company had transformed alongside technological advancements, providing every type of home electronics to the luxury residential market and specialty tech to restaurants and corporate boardrooms.

At SimpleHome, the ethos is clear – to create living spaces that are functional, aesthetic, and simple. From basic WiFi speakers, thermostats, and cams to the sophisticated technologies of Circadian lighting, Lutron motorized shades, and air and water monitoring systems, SimpleHome is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for its customers.

"We've spent 50 years understanding what people need and how to make it hassle-free. Our focus has always been on reliability and ease of use," says Brad Smith, Chief Performance Officer and Principal. "At SimpleHome, we are truly committed to keeping it simple and reliable while still providing the fun and luxury you expect in a quality home.”

Key highlights of SimpleHome's 50-year journey include:

Enjoy a lifestyle of luxury and comfort with a home automation system 

Imagine a home that is perfectly designed to satisfy your every need: a house that knows exactly what you need to start your mornings the right way and creates the perfect environment for you to feel happy and inspired throughout the day. Doesn’t it sound dreamy? Brace yourself, because at simpleHome, we can make it a reality! 

With our home automation system solutions, you effortlessly have full control of your surroundings and create an ambiance filled with luxury and convenience in your Cape Cod, MA, home. Keep reading our blog to learn more about this sophisticated lifestyle! 

SimpleHome stems from the idea that we can create a stronger company with top-level services when great teams work together. 

Collaboration is at the heart of innovation and business success no matter the industry. When you bring in new personnel to a team, they bring differing perspectives and experience. We believe that those differences are what make us stronger, and that’s how SimpleHome was born!

By combining the experienced staffs from Audio Video Design and Sounds Good Corporation, we were able to craft a team of experts prepared to collaborate on delivering a first-class product and client experience. Not only that, but with an experienced group of project managers—SimpleHome is even better prepared to follow best practices when it comes to working with builders, architects, designers and of course, the homeowner! 

Below we outline the tiered service options that make SimpleHome stand out while explaining the Audio Video Design and Sound Good Corporation merger that made us become the go-to choice when choosing a home automation company in Boston, MA.

When setting up the display system for a home theater, many video enthusiasts face the choice of using a flat panel TV or a projector. Here is a brief overview of flat panel TVs and projectors that can help you understand their differences, advantages, and disadvantages.

• Image size and resolution: A high-definition television has a constant image resolution and size that cannot be changed. Images from projectors can be adjusted to a degree by varying the distance between the projector and the screen.
• Image quality: You can count on the image quality in a flat panel TV to stay consistent. The image from a projector can be affected by the brightness of the light source for projection. If there are problems with the video, they will likely be more noticeable in the larger projection image.
• Space considerations: A flat-panel TV, though much smaller than previous generations of tube-based television sets, will still take up a significant amount of space in any room. Projectors are often mounted on the ceiling or in an out-of-the-way spot where they aren’t obtrusive. Screens for projectors can be rolled up and put away. In cases where the wall of the room is used as the screen, the only space needs are for the projector itself.
• Convenience: Once your flat panel TV is set up, you usually don’t have to do much else to it. Projection systems that use portable screens will need to have the screen set up and taken down each time its used. Image adjustments may also require physically detaching, moving, and resecuring the projector.
• Operating costs and lifespan: You can expect to pay for your flat panel TV once and get around 60,000 hours of use out of it. Projector bulbs can burn out frequently, requiring the investment of hundreds of dollars and the aggravation of changing bulbs.

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!