Homeowner's Backyard Amphitheater Brings Creativity to the Community

Larger and larger outdoor entertainment systems have been on the rise in recent years, and California is naturally one of the most robust markets for serious installations. One homeowner in Southern California has raised the bar for summer cookouts by thinking pretty far outside the box and turning his outdoor living space into a nearly-commercial level amphitheater with a custom-built 220-inch motorized projection screen (18 feet!), 20 speakers, fully automated landscape lighting and a performance stage with 10 inputs that connect to a mixing board inside. If that weren’t enough, there’s also a 15-foot-tall LED-lit sculpture of a question mark intended to indulge meditation in the front yard. Talk about unique!

“I wanted to create a space where the community could come together, where we could hold events and where my son could really get creative with his friends,” the homeowner said. “The last event we held was a children’s charity benefit where we hosted about 200 people. We had bands play on the stage, and we can broadcast through every speaker both inside and outside the house. It’s been really great, and it allows us to have fun without stressing because it’s so easy to use. Everything is basically plug-and-play, and any adjustments are easy to make with the ELAN g! mobile app on my iPhone or iPad. My son has been using it since he was 6 years old.”

The story starts two years ago when the owner had an ELAN g! system installed inside the home to run multi-room audio and five surveillance cameras. Since then he and his integrator AM House have expanded the system to include automated lighting indoors and in the landscape, where there are six zones split between different levels as the property descends down the hillside, plus the entire amphitheater setup, the spa controls and a total of 20 professional-grade Niles outdoor speakers in multiple zones.

“This is one of the coolest backyards I’ve ever seen, let alone designed and installed,” said Justin Brees, owner of electronics integration firm AM House. “Between the custom-made Vutec projection screen, the super-bright 3600 lumen Optima 1080p projector and the Niles speakers and ELAN control, it’s more like a commercial entertainment space than a backyard. Having a stage to hold performances and play them throughout the entire property was a really cool idea and we were able to make it all very simple to operate with the ELAN system.”

While the homeowner has to be mindful of windy conditions when going to watch a movie on the awe-inspiring 18-foot projection screen, the opportunities for enjoying this incredible outdoor space are nearly limitless. From viewing summer movies and fall football games to arranging concerts and throwing parties, it’s a very impressive yet inviting space for the whole community, or for him and his son to enjoy a quiet night.

“All this is possible because of the stellar job that Jose Bermeo, the main builder on this job, did bringing my vision to life,” the owner added. “I knew what I wanted, and I hoped it was possible, but both Jose and Justin really knocked it out of the park with the execution. To me this is part home improvement, part community building and part gift to my son. And for two years it’s been a work-in-progress because I keep finding new things I want the system to do or new subsystems to integrate, so I’m sure this isn’t the last of it. It might be a unique space as far as technology goes, but for me and my son it’s really a way to fully enjoy the beautiful area we live in with our friends and the community.”

The family controls the whole system through the ELAN g! mobile app on iPhones and iPads, which allows them to set all the lighting levels for the six landscape zones, the volume for the eight indoor zones and five outdoor zones, and to control up the spa and projection system. It’s about as simple as it could be, and that was a core requirement for the project. After all, a party space this cool makes you want to have fun, not tinker with settings and knobs all night.

“I imagine this backyard is the envy of the neighborhood,” Brees added, “and rightfully so! As he said, this is an ongoing project, so I’m sure we'll be adding more cool features over time and that’s why it’s such a good thing we used the ELAN system – it’s easy to expand and easy to use. That’s one of the reasons I stick with ELAN for my business, because it allows my clients to start with a small system and grow it over time.”

The brain of the system is an ELAN controller, and audio is run through an ELAN 16-channel amplifier. There are Niles in-ceiling speakers throughout the home and Niles OS outdoor speakers on the patio and in the landscaping.  The room with the mixing board features four studio monitors. The Jandy spa controls connect seamlessly with the ELAN system, allowing for full mobile control of the temperature, on/off and other settings.

After Fire Ravages Their Home, Couple Upgrades to Whole Home Audio and Video with Niles and ELAN g!

After a fire struck the home of Abe and Elina Rodriguez, sending more than half of it up in smoke, newer local building codes mandated that much of their home be brought up to date during reconstruction. When they hired an architect to help rebuild the home and make the nearly 40 required adjustments, their interest in music and home audio came up. This led to a discussion about a whole home audio system and a recommendation to talk with local integrator Digital Logic Systems, who saw that the Rodriguezes were ready to upgrade to a whole-home AV system. 

“We were very thankful that the security alarm woke us up, but it took us 20 years to get that house how we liked it and we watched most of it go up in flames,” said Abe Rodriguez. “When we set out to rebuild the home we basically had a clean slate to design and create our perfect house. For me, music is a huge part of my life and I had outfitted our home with extensive stereo systems on each floor. When I met Daniel Solly from Digital Logic Systems it was clear that he could deliver the type of whole-home music system I always wanted, and he said the best way to do it was with the ELAN g! system and Niles in-ceiling and outdoor speakers.”

But as these projects usually go, the system didn’t stop with audio. Solly won the bid over two competing integrators because of his superior knowledge and experience, in addition to the affordable nature of the ELAN g! system compared with other home control platforms. After drawing the designs and consulting with the architect, Solly and the Rodriguezes agreed that it was time for them to have a real home theater and integrated video and security throughout the house.

“Daniel gave us a real theater experience right in our home, and he was able to keep it affordable,” Rodriguez said. “When you add that to the whole-home audio and video, it’s a home run. I think DVR is man’s greatest invention, and now we can watch whatever we want, wherever we want, because all the TVs are connected to the system. We have the ELAN TV remotes in four rooms, so it works the same no matter where we are. We also use the ELAN mobile app on our iPhones and iPads to select music and set which rooms it will play in, which comes in especially handy when we are outside." 

The home now has 12 zones of audio with independent volume and on/off controls, including three surround sound systems in the theater, great room and basement family room. The theater and the great room use Niles speakers to deliver superior fidelity audio, which continues throughout the rest of the home in nine of the other ten zones, including the patio and deck. The great room and basement family room each have a wall-mounted 65” Samsung Plasma TV and the theater impresses with its JVC projector and 113” Screen Innovations Black Diamond projection screen.

“We did a lot of comparisons with different speaker brands and different speaker types, because I originally wanted big floor standing speakers,” Rodriguez remarked. “I was told they offer the best sound, but Daniel and my wife convinced me that in-ceiling speakers could not only provide amazing quality sound, but also virtually disappear from sight. This means we don't have to worry about anyone touching them, we don’t have to clean them, there’s no potential for wires to move and we didn’t have to make compromises to position them in each room. Daniel designed the speaker layout very carefully to ensure every spot receives equal volume and dynamic range, and he said the Niles directional speakers helped achieve that.”

Likewise, the couple appreciates that there are no longer cable boxes in every room, and visible wires are a thing of the past. Instead, everything is located in a single equipment rack in the basement, where it is easy to access, maintain and upgrade if necessary.

Beyond consolidated control of audio, video and security that the Rodriguezes implemented, one of the best things about a modern home control system like ELAN g! is remote access that allows the integrator to troubleshoot issues without needing to visit the home. Rodriguez learned the importance of this when there was a small glitch during a party, and Solly was able to log in to the system and fix it quickly. The party didn’t skip a beat, and it was all thanks to a reliable, responsive integrator and a high performance home control system.

By integrating the security system into ELAN g! as well, the Rodriguezes can now view and monitor their home’s security while on-the-go with the ELAN g! mobile app. They know the importance of a security system since that’s what alerted them to their fire. In the future,  the couple may add consolidated control of their home’s heating and air conditioning, among other systems like motorized window shades, surveillance cameras and lawn irrigation.

ELAN® Debuts World's First Universal Remote Controller Featuring Built-In Whole Home Control

A universal remote controller that offers complete home control is now a reality through the new ELAN® g1 Controller from Core Brands’ ELAN Home Systems. Requiring no monthly contract and offering a wide variety of home control functionality, the ELAN g1 is leaps and bounds ahead of other low-cost home control solutions. ELAN has been making the easiest-to-use, yet most powerful home control solutions for more than 25 years, and this is the brand’s first entry into the sub-$1,000 market. That means for about the price of a new TV, users can gain complete control not just of their televisions and home theaters but also of their entire homes. 

The ELAN g1 lets homeowners use a single handheld remote control to manage up to 16 zones of security, two electronic door locks, an audio/video receiver with up to 32 connected TVs, up to 24 lighting keypads, three thermostats, three IP surveillance cameras and up to 16 groups of irrigation. With ELAN’s deep experience in home control, the system is designed to be fully expandable to grow with any user’s home or budget. 

Everything comes in one package, including the main controller, the remote and several accessories that installers can use to maximize the system’s functionality. While using the system is as simple as using a TV, ELAN only offers the system through certified professional technology integrators. This provides users with a g! system personalized to their needs. No two users are the same, so working with a professinal integrator allows owners of homes, apartments and condos to maximize the value of their system and ensure smooth operation for years to come. A list certified integrators can be found at http://elanhomesystems.com/where_to_buy.asp.

For more information on the ELAN g1, please visit www.elanhomesystems.com.

Custom Resort Home Uses ELAN® g! To Offer Simple Control For Guests And Full Automation For Owners

Designing a home automation system that homeowners will love usually comes down to one thing – usability. If the system is easy to use, delivers all the functions the owners desire and makes their daily home life easier, it’s a dream come true. Simplicity becomes an even bigger factor when the home will serve as a guest rental for much of the year.
 
For Tom Taylor, a veteran high-end residential architect, this level of sophisticated yet simple home automation was a must-have for his new home and rental property at the Amangani Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. To achieve this, he hired Connecticut—based C&T Systems to install an ELAN® g! Entertainment and Control System that makes it easy to control the home’s lighting, heating, audio/video, pool, spa, security and surveillance systems.
 
According to Andrew Spalla, C&T’s director of engineering, every step in the project was carefully considered and the design was fully orchestrated before installation began, ensuring a smooth process and a perfect result. “We agreed that for the home to be comfortable for the Taylors while also being simple and luxurious for guests, it needed to provide controls that are intuitive and can be operated by anybody with zero training,” he said. “And it was important to minimize the visual impact of the control system keypads while keeping the operation simple for lighting, music and AV.”
 
All the lighting controls throughout the house are intuitive, from LED light strips and recessed lights that have pre-set ‘high’ and ‘low’ dimming levels to motorized window shades that can be raised or lowered through the ELAN g! mobile app or an ELAN HR2 remote. Each room has a lighting keypad that includes buttons for ‘high’, ‘low’ and ‘off’, plus up and down arrows for diming that allow guests to set their perfect lighting level. The system is intelligently designed to fit each space in the home, so that the ‘high’ level is brighter in the kitchen than the ‘high’ level in the master bedroom, and that certain light fixtures automatically adjust brightness at night and in the daytime. In addition there are select scenario buttons that set scenes throughout the house for things like entertaining.
 
The owners have special settings for themselves that use the intelligently hidden LED light strips to accentuate the grain of the redwood walls, stone fireplaces and the texture of the semi-transparent Lutron window shades that block sunlight but allow the views of the mountains to show through.
 
The shades are an important component, giving the Taylors and their guests control over sun glare when enjoying TV or a movie. A simple tap on an ELAN keypad, HR2 remote or the g! app on an iPad or iPhone lowers the shades and then fires up the home theater or living room entertainment area.
 
“When designing this home and the electronics systems, aesthetics always came first,” Spalla added. “We used Sunfire speakers in the home theater to provide true theater quality sound, and we replaced the spa system’s ugly controller with an attractive keypad that matches the home’s décor and design. By combining all the home’s functions into the g! system we eliminated a lot of standard wall clutter, like light switches, thermostats and a spa control dial. Now it’s all controlled from a single light keypad in each room, or from an iPad or iPhone. We also kept the system as hidden as we could, using Niles and SpeakerCraft speakers that mount flush into the ceiling and can be painted. Unless someone points them out to you, you’d never even know they were there.”
 
The Lutron lighting keypads can be specially programmed, such as the one located near the doorway to the outdoor seating area; it features a special ‘Spa’ button that tells the ELAN g! system to turn on the patio lights and hot tub jets, while automatically turning on the outdoor audio system and playing selections from the owner’s playlist or streaming sources such as Pandora. Spalla and Taylor chose Niles speakers for the outdoor area because they are extremely weather-resistant and provide superior sound quality. Other rooms use multi-function buttons as well, such as the bedrooms where a ‘Suite Off’ button switches off any lights, TV and music that are currently on in the room.
 
The keypads are wonderfully easy to use for each room, but managing the entire home’s bevy of electronic systems requires a true touchscreen experience, which Spalla delivered with a 10-inch in-wall ELAN TS10 touch panel in the kitchen. Through the TS10 the Taylors and guests can manage, monitor and control everything in the home, from the audio, video, security systems and surveillance cameras to the snow and ice melting system. All of this control is also available on the ELAN g! mobile app, which the owners and guests use on their iPads or iPhones to adjust heating, lighting, windows shades, audio and video without getting off the couch, or even when away from the house.
 
Setting up for a movie night is easier than ever using the ELAN HR2 remote or an iPad, which allows the viewer to turn on the home theater or living room media system, choose their favorite program or movie, turn down the lights, turn up the volume and set the heat to their ideal level. And several of the home’s TVs are recessed into the wall, creating another super-custom touch that makes the architecture and design the main attraction.
 

Design and ELAN g! Control Provide Ultimate Comfort in Bayfront Florida Home

Modern luxury homebuilding isn’t just about square footage and exotic materials. The best new homes today incorporate smart designs that minimize energy usage, maximize living comfort and provide aesthetics that perfectly match the owner’s personality. Florida homebuilder Josh Wynne of Josh Wynne Construction knows this better than most, and it’s why he combines designs that utilize the natural elements of a building’s lot with smart home technologies that make home life simple and efficient.

In his latest award-winning LEED-platinum certified home, dubbed “the Pearl”, Wynne has taken eco-conscious design to a new level, achieving the highly regarded certification without the use of solar panels or rainwater cisterns. In addition to making the home friendly to the environment, Wynne made sure the home was friendly to the owners, installing the ELAN® g! Entertainment and Control System that gives them complete control over everything from climate to pool controls with the ELAN g! Mobile app on their iPhones and iPads.

The home is custom designed from top to bottom, including exposed trusses that Wynne hand-built himself. Because the owner likes to host parties but is also a private-minded person, the home features a progression of public spaces, intermediate spaces and private spaces, both indoors and in the landscaping.

To make all these spaces comfortable and easy to manage, Wynne had Mark van den Broek of SmartHouse Integration design and install a variety of high-tech systems. With van den Broek’s help, Wynne delivered the owners a level of home comfort that they couldn’t have imagined just a few years ago. Everything in the home – lights, air conditioning, heating, irrigation, TVs, multi-room audio, security, surveillance and even pool controls – can be turned on and off, scheduled and adjusted from a single iPhone app.

“This home is a culmination of the owner’s aesthetic tastes, my unique mind for sustainable luxury design, and Mark’s technological know-how,” Wynne said. “Walking into the huge open kitchen and living room area, the sense of space and freedom is incredible. We were able to extend the awe even further by implementing smart home systems so the owner could walk into that room and hit a single button to dim the lights, turn on their favorite playlist and adjust the climate to the perfect temperature. It’s a home that uses technology to simplify living.”

With TVs, speakers and lights both indoors and outdoors that can be controlled on an iPhone or iPad, every area in the home can be custom programmed with scenes for different scenarios such as cooking, hosting a party, movie viewing, or even an “Away” mode that turns off most systems and automatically sets the security and surveillance systems. One special part of the security system is a custom-designed digital “gate” on the driveway that alerts the homeowners whenever a vehicle approaches the homes.

According to van den Broek, “The home has three driveways, so a gate wouldn’t have been feasible. I came up with a solution using laser triggers on each driveway, so when a vehicle crosses the beam a video feed of the driveway comes up on the large touchscreen in the kitchen and master bedroom. And if the home is set to ‘away’ mode, the system turns on indoor and outdoor lights and sends an alert to the owner’s cell phone.  It’s a surefire way to protect the house when they are away and a convenient way to see when friends are arriving.”

The most important aspect of the home’s technology is that the owners can use it without any training, without any hassle, and without any stress.  When people drive up, the camera feed simply appears on the touchscreens.  When they are away, they can open the ELAN g! Mobile app and check their surveillance cameras and even view histories of which lights have been on and what the indoor temperature has been. If they are home and want to watch a movie, all they need is an iPhone to turn off the lights, turn on the TV and Blu-ray player, and raise the volume. For parties, switching audio sources to different zones and adjusting volume is a breeze with the on-screen sliders. All in all, the owners of this beautiful Florida home have total control in the palm of their hands, and they don’t have to worry about a thing.