A couple of years ago I visited the Sonos headquarters in Santa Barbara, CA, for a sneak peek at the company’s new PlayBar, a networked soundbar speaker that can be part of a wireless whole-house audio system. It’s very cool product, and you can read more about it here and in my PLAYBAR review. While […]
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For people who live in a part of the country where basements are prevalent, below-ground rooms are still the dominant place for dedicated home theaters. A basement is a nearly perfect location for a theater or media room for lots of reasons. The sidewalls aren’t usually shared with other rooms; if there are windows, they’re […]
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We’ve written extensively on the benefits of home automation for energy management, particularly on how smart thermostats, such as those offered by Nest, Honeywell, Carrier and others allow you to easily adjust your home’s temperature, even while you’re away, to save money and make your house more comfortable. However, there’s one important part that we […]
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If you ask an interior decorator about loudspeakers, he or she will tell you they should be heard and not seen. Maybe some home theater enthusiasts and audiophiles would disagree, but a lot of people hold the opinion that speakers in an audio system should be as hidden as possible. Imagine if we could actually […]
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There are few home technology projects that can bring as much pleasure as a home theater. Like anything worthwhile, planning for the installation of a home theater requires making a lot of important decisions. One of the first and most crucial is picking the display type. While some audio enthusiasts may argue the point, it’s […]
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The tug of war between design and performance is no more pronounced than in the world of high-performance audio. However, the stereotype of the stereo—a set of oversized black boxes and a nest of boa constrictor cables, is only a stereotype, at least when implemented by a design-minded home systems integrator. Dave Lalin, owner of […]
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Do you like Sonos wireless speakers? If you’re a Sonos fan, you probably have several of the speakers throughout the house. You may have a Sonos PLAY: 3 in the bedroom, a pair of Play: 1 speakers in the den, a Sonos Playbar in the living room and maybe a few more spread around various […]
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Here we are in 2016, 14 years since the Sonos brand launched, and but with a thousand other audio brands on the market, Sonos is still the leading maker of wireless speakers. Why’s that? Well, for starters, the Sonos products are very good (this editor has them in several rooms of his house). They set […]
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So you went out a bought a Nest smart thermostat. You open the app a couple of times each day to turn the temperature up or down, and feel good about the money and energy you think you’re saving (this article states that for most users, a Nest will pay for itself in two years, […]
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Lately the term HDR (high dynamic range) has been popping up in some of our coverage of new 4K TVs, and soon, if not already, you’ll hear the phrase bounced around at electronics stores and dealer showrooms. So what, you’re probably asking, is HDR for TVs and why should you care? HDR or high dynamic […]
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