Sunfire Redesigns HRS High Resolution Subwoofer Series to Significantly Improve Listening Experience

Industry-leading luxury subwoofer and home theater audio brand, Sunfire, today announced the redesign of its widely popular, high-performance HRS Subwoofer series. Delivering a dramatically improved listening experience and a boost of serious power, the HRS Subwoofer series utilizes legendary Sunfire technologies to deliver the best and boldest sounding subwoofers from a small but stunning enclosure.

“Sunfire has once again raised the industry standard with the transformation of the HRS Subwoofer series,” Core Brands Audio Marketing Manager Matt Dever stated. “Engineered by Furman technicians, the HRS Series features an all new Toroidal Transformer designed to dramatically reduce noise levels, and improve the overall listening experience for everyone to enjoy.”

Available in 8, 10, and 12-inch models, the HRS series is the perfect option for any size home theater. Exclusive to Sunfire, the innovative Frequency Filtration Design™ (FFD) acoustic tailoring technologies greatly improves accuracy even at the highest volumes and lowest frequencies. The FFD™ also gives HRS subs a remarkable ‘sonic intelligence’ that lets the listener clearly hear and feel all the deep-bass details in their favorite music and movie soundtracks.

Creating breathtaking power with crystal-clear sound, the sub features a built-in 1,000-watt amplifier and advanced driver technology. The 1,000-watt RMS amplifier uses Sunfire’s exclusive Tracking DownConverter™ amplifier to deliver high levels of current with far greater efficiency than conventional amps, for huge, pure power reserves with minimal physical size and cool-running operation. Additionally, the new standby circuitry reduces standby power consumption like never before. If that weren’t enough, the amp’s soft-clipping circuitry also keeps the woofer from being dangerously overdriven or producing obvious distortion, without squashing the dynamic subtleties or compromising its impact during big action flicks.

Much of the HRS series’ powerful performance comes courtesy of the massive, extra-long-throw woofer. The woofer’s ability to make extremely long excursions enables it to displace large amounts of air, producing deep, bone-rattling bass. Additionally, the driver’s large, specially designed surround holds the woofer cone precisely in place as it moves, for the most accurate sound possible. 

For easy-installation and convenience, the HRS provides multiple connectivity options, including RCA inputs/ outputs, speaker level inputs, detachable power cord and international voltage selection for increased installation flexibility with consumer and professional components. This allows the HRS to fit seamlessly into new audio designs as well as existing configurations. Furthermore, line-level inputs and outputs, plus speaker-level inputs let you easily connect this sub to most audio systems, and its variable back-panel volume, crossover, and phase controls help you fine-tune the bass to any particular sound.

What’s more, the HRS now offers a collection of premium audiophile features like auto turn-on circuitry, gold plated connectors, soft clipping circuitry, variable crossover level and variable phase control. “The Sunfire HRS subwoofer is designed in an effortlessly stylish, high-gloss piano black finish that fits flawlessly into almost any room décor, making it the perfect foundation for every great home theater and audio system,” Dever concluded. 

The HRS subwoofers quality control levels have been raised to the highest in Sunfire’s history. Equipped with a one year parts and labor warranty, HRS subwoofers are available now through certified Sunfire dealers. To find a certified dealer near you, visit Sunfire.com/dealer_finder.

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.

SpeakerCraft Now Shipping Highly Anticipated AIM Series 2

SpeakerCraft, the premier audio brand from Core Brands, today announced that its latest architectural speaker series, AIM Series 2, is now shipping to dealers. The award-winning SpeakerCraft AIM Series 2 incorporates new technologies to deliver a superior home audio listening experience.

“SpeakerCraft AIM Series 2 has been 100% re-crafted to support sophisticated installations and advanced object-based surround audio platforms,” Core Brands Audio Marketing Manager Matt Dever explained. “The re-crafting effort addresses every aspect of the speaker, from front to back, resulting in a sound solution you’ll have to hear to believe.”

The most notable of these technologies is the new patent-pending ARC Tweeter Array™. Inspired by large sound reinforcement installations, the pivoting array is nothing short of groundbreaking. By incorporating multiple tweeters in the line array, AIM Series 2 delivers focused high frequencies farther into the listening area than standard tweeter configurations. The ARC Tweeter Array also enables the crossover point to be lowered, thus increasing the sound pressure level at the critical mid-range frequencies. “The result is that, acoustically, listeners enjoy a much larger sweet spot,” said Dever.  

Available with 5-inch, 7-inch and 8-inch woofer sizes, all AIM Series 2 speakers feature an updated WavePlane™ to further focus the high frequency energy into the listening environment for a cleaner, warmer and richer sound. The entirely new speaker housing design allows the woofer to pivot 30 degrees in all directions, while enabling 359 degrees of rotation for the WavePlane and ARC Tweeter Array.  In addition, the ARC Tweeter Array can be adjusted +/- 15 degrees toe-in/toe-out. The result is virtually limitless directional capability.  

While the front of the speaker gets most of the deserved attention, the back of this speaker delivers game-changing technologies as well. The all-new Acoustic Isolation Technology™ decouples the speaker housing from the surrounding materials, providing a more acoustically repeatable installation and improving sound transference to the listening area by minimizing structural resonance created by the surrounding wall or ceiling. The minimized resonance transfer is achieved using co-molded, lower density compounds, setting AIM Series 2 apart from any speaker in the industry. The speaker can be enjoyed as it was meant to be enjoyed – not colored by the resonance of the material on which it is mounted.

Fully re-crafted, all AIM Series 2 speakers feature a U.S. engineered transducer, motor and crossover. The new curvilinear cone design creates greater bass response, and the non-conductive Kapton formers, copper caps and extended poles reduce distortion. With increased power handling and sensitivity, the speakers deliver an overall cleaner and louder sound.

“The enhanced aim-ability of the AIM Series 2 presents new options for sound design – from home theatre to whole home audio,” Dever continued. “More than ever, sound can be redirected to a specific section of a room, angled toward a seating area or where an audio impact is desired. In addition, integrators can now offer their clients the most uniform coverage ever in any room, along with increased power and frequency response. We’re proud to make installation easier and more flexible for integrators while providing consumers with a superior home audio experience.” 

All models of the AIM Series 2 speakers are available for immediate delivery to dealers. For more information about the AIM Series 2, visit: www.speakercraft.com.