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.

ELAN g! and Niles Speakers Provide the Foundation for an Easy-To-Use Full Home Automation System

Building a home always starts with laying a strong foundation. The same can be said for any home control system, and that’s exactly what the ELAN g! System and more than 50 Niles speakers have done for one Pennsylvania homeowner.

“This client came to me asking for a simple way to control everything in their home from the TVs to the pool, but they didn’t know how to accomplish that,” said Keith Foltz, owner of Harrisburg, Penn.-based Momentum Sound and Media. “I told them that I could take care of everything, and that it would all tie together seamlessly through the ELAN g! system. All of the other components are intentionally behind the scenes, so the most important thing for them is an enjoyable user experience and reliability, which ELAN delivers in spades.”

Like most homeowners today, this family didn’t want to see wires hanging from TVs or clunky black boxes in every room. Foltz was able to eliminate all of that clutter by combining all the ELAN equipment plus every cable box, audio receiver and subsystem control unit into two equipment racks located in the basement utility room. Then he designed a whole-home audio system using Niles legendary in-ceiling speakers so every room has crystal clear audio and no visible speakers. These considerations keep the house free of mess and also make it easier to troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

“Putting all the electronics in one stack is the only way I would organize a system this large,” Foltz said. “That way if anything needs to be changed, replaced or fixed, I don’t have to trace wires or open walls. It also makes the system cheaper, because all equipment like this should be connected to high quality surge protectors, so I can install just a few of them for the whole rack instead of putting one in every room.”

Even the backyard has its own music zones with two wall-mounted speakers, two planter speakers, two rock speakers and a hidden in-ground subwoofer, all from Niles. So what is it like to control nine TVs, 52 speakers in 21 zones, five zones of HVAC, the home’s lights, security, garage doors, irrigation and pool from one device?

“The ease of operation and convenience of the iPhone/iPad app is best part of the system,” the homeowners said. “Control of the entire house is literally at our fingertips at home as well as when we’re away. With four children, it is amazing convenience to be able to turn off lights, TVs, and music from our phones rather than running through the house each time we leave.”

With a centrally-located 7-inch ELAN touchscreen, five 2-inch wall-mounted touchscreens throughout the house and eight ELAN HR2 handheld remotes for the TVs, the family is always just a few buttons taps away from putting their favorite music or TV on in whichever rooms they choose. It’s just as easy to check that the security system is armed, the garage doors are closed and the lights are off, making it easy to come and go without walking around to make sure everything is set appropriately. And whether they are home or halfway around the world, the family can check in on the home’s surveillance cameras from their iPhones, iPads or any computer. In the near future Foltz will install and integrate electronic locks on several of the home’s exterior doors and ELAN control for the driveway gate.

The crown jewel of the home’s entertainment offerings is the luxury home theater. Combining a backlit 122-inch Screen Innovation Black Diamond screen, a JVC 4K projector, three Sunfire CRM3 ribbon speakers in the front, six Niles HD8 speakers for surround and a Sunfire in-wall SubRosa subwoofer with nine Salamander Designs theater seats, the theater takes viewers away from the home and places them right in the movie.

“I love that the ELAN system is compatible with so many products from other top-name brands like ELK Security, Aprilaire, Pentair, Lutron, Access surveillance cameras and more,” Foltz said. “It gives me a lot of flexibility when designing a control system, both in terms of functionality and price.”

To download hi-res images of this installation, click here.

New Tryon International Equestrian Center Is Off to the Races with an ELAN g! Control System

Developer of the world-class equestrian facility, part of the new Tryon Resort, knew it would be a challenge to keep everything running on schedule, but the task has been made a lot easier with integrated ELAN g! Control System installed by Home Tech Theater & Automation.

When it staged its first event in July, the new Tryon International Equestrian Center, which is part of the 1,400-acre Tryon Resort near Asheville, ushered in an exciting new chapter in the long love affair Polk County, North Carolina has had with horses — a love affair that many locals believe dates as far back as the late 16th century. 

More recently, organized regional horse sports traces its roots back to Fall 1917 when Carter Brown, from Michigan, arrived and subsequently founded Tryon Riding and Hunt Club in 1925. The Tryon Horse Show, founded in 1929, remains today as a rated United States Equestrian Federation event, and in 1956 the US Equestrian Team prepared and trained for the 1956 Olympics in Tryon.  

This rich history is one of the main reasons that Tryon Equestrian Partners chose to construct one of the finest equestrian facilities in the world in the area. When Mark Bellissimo, managing partner the development group, met with Scott Sisk of Home Tech Theater & Automation to design a control system to keep the new facility operating smoothly from the ‘starting bell’ he made it very clear that he wanted a management system that was affordable, scalable, reliable, and able to be maintained and updated on a regular basis.  “I knew right away that the ELAN g! Control System was the only choice for this project,” explained Sisk.  “It met all of the criteria for the job at hand and then some.  Coming from a much larger company like Core Brands, I knew that the ELAN g! Control System would run the distance.” 

Make no mistake about it.  The new Tryon International Equestrian Center is a far cry from most people’s perception of an equestrian facility. It features five riding arenas with world-class footing (eventually increasing to 10, including one with 6,000 stadium seats) 500 permanent stables and up to 16 tack rooms.  “Each tack room has a door lock that is controlled by the ELAN SC2 System Controller that’s installed in each barn.  Every time a new person rents a tack room the code allowing access to the tack room is set up in advance for each customer, thus ensuring that management can precisely track who and when people enter the rooms.  All traffic into and out of the barns is also managed through the g! System Controller.” 

Outside of the equestrian areas, the resort is already offering luxurious log cabins that rent for up to $3,000 per-week.  Each cabin features four HD televisions, DirecTV, and an ELAN SC-2 System Controller. From the central office, staff can then control four lights, two stats, temperature settings, and the door locks for each cabin.  “The entire system that we designed is for the benefit of a team that needs to be able to effectively manage, secure, and operate an operation that is spread over 1400 acres.  It’s a complete remote property management solution that includes several event maps to warn of unauthorized intrusions, or if the cabin gets too hot or too cold, a fire, or other events.

In addition to providing top-level equestrian competition, Tryon Resort will feature a 150-room hotel overlooking the show grounds, an Arnold Palmer designed golf course, and a future resort and span. There are also numerous options for hiking, biking hunting and water sports. “The resort’s first hotel is now under design and development,” Sisk explained, “and it is very likely, based on the client’s satisfaction with the performance of the ELAN g! System to date, that the g! system could be installed there as well.”

Based in Campobello, South Carolina, Home Tech Theater & Automation is a custom installation business which designs, sells, and installs audio, video and home automation systems, including home theaters, home theater accessories, surround sound systems, whole house music systems, whole house audio/video distribution systems, lighting control systems, central vacuum systems, and integrated security systems. The firm has been an ELAN dealer since 2000 and now carries most of the solutions offered by Core Brands. “I love being able to source a number of high quality performing, reliable solutions from a single source of supply,” Sisk explained.  “And my clients get the benefit of knowing that their entire system, from control to speakers to home theater to connectivity, all comes backed by one company.  It really provides them with peace of mind when making the investment.”