Lighting is one of the most important attributes to your homes design appeal.  Just like watching a set of American Idol you can see that lighting is a huge portion of their special effects and is a serious portion of their budget.

If you are considering some upgrades to your existing home, or even building a new home in the San Diego, Orange County, or Riverside area, you should seriously consider lighting and lighting control.

Imagine Home Audio is a certified Lutron lighting and Design firm and can integrate or automate your homes lighting with RTI (remote technologies inc), or most other home automation providers.

Lighting in itself is pretty simple, use the right color of light, have enough of it, and have it set to the right levels.   With providers like us you can press one button on a in wall keypad or touchscreen, and turn on certain lights in your home to create a preset scene.  For instance, if you are entertaining at your home during the evening, you would hit a button engraved with Entertain.  After that press, all of your art focused lighting, chandeliers, pathway lighting, recessed,  landscaping, and exterior, would turn on to a preset level.  All of those lights can be set to turn on a preset dimming percentages as well.

Other examples of scenes, would be relax mode, cleaning mode, pathway lighting, and you can even tie all of your exterior lights to your security system, which could flash on and off when your Alarm is triggered.

What is great about all of this is that it can be done in retrofit scenarios, and can also be easily integrated into a new construction project as well.

We are advanced level RTI programmers, but we do have Crestron and Elan programmers on staff as well.

Should you consider a full lighting system for your home we would love to show you a demo of what our company can provide.

If you have ever owned a lighting system you understand the convenience and the security aspect of these systems.

Everyone that has ever owned one of these systems will also tell you that they will never live in a home without lighting control again.

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In the last year or so we have really taken a look at some of our competitors in our low voltage field.  Normally called a “Home Theater Company,” but in the construction trade are refereed to as low voltage companies or C7 contractors.  We have come to some conclusions on what you should absolutely check for before bringing one of these companies into your home for work.

In our field you are required to be a contractor.  So no matter what you having done at your house please ensure you are using a currently licensed contractor.  It is always best to check out there license at the California State Contractors Board located here:

https://www2.cslb.ca.gov/OnlineServices/CheckLicenseII/CheckLicense.aspx

Regardless what they tell you or show you, it is your responsibility to check to make sure it is valid, or that it hasn’t been suspended, or that they aren’t using a friends license.  See what happens in this industry, is that the TV hanging companies that advertise all over Craigslist tend to be “fly by night companies” and will disappear in the event of a problem.  So you have no recourse because they aren’t licensed and do not carry a bond like a legitimate contractor.  Also most of the time the mounts and cabling they are using, are the lowest grade money can buy.

Let’s let’s talk about what type of license the contractor should carry.  So you have checked the license and you see that it is valid and the correct company name, but it isn’t a low voltage (C7) license.  Well don’t panic, because you are halfway there to getting it installed by a professional, at least with this person they have a license.  So my suggestion is to only use C7 contractors, and not to use C10.  C10 are electricians and like to cross the line sometimes and dabble in Audio/Video, but unfortunately for you this isn’t their forte.  They are electricians and understand, or should, understand electrical theory, but not audio video equipment installations.  That is like saying because I can control and iPod I must be able to understand how music production works; not quite that simple, we have executed many training events and trade shows to fine tune our knowledge and electricians couldn’t begin to explain the correct speaker placements or sound reflections and deadening.

We have an art in our field, from equipment selection to ensuring that our equipment flows seamlessly into your home decor.  I would consider my company a highly intelligent audio visual and automation company blended with an interior design firm.  All of our equipment comes directly from the manufacturer or from one middle man (the distributor).  Our pricing is dealer cost and cannot be beat.  We pride ourselves on selecting only the best brands, and from completing continuous training with these manufactures so that we can offer their products and be knowledgeable about them.  Having a company that understands the products it sells is really important, because that means they can put together a complete system utilizing multiple brands for your custom application.

Home theaters, home automation, media rooms, entertainment centers, whole home audio video systems, low voltage cabling, surveillance systems, and security systems need to have a legitimate C7 contractor.  I would also check some of their references  as well too.  And if you are a cost no object customer please check the pricing and ensure you aren’t being take for a run.  It is really sad how some companies feel that because you have more money, they can charge more.  Shouldn’t it be that you get better equipment if you spend more?  Well I am sorry to tell you but most of the time greed takes over for these Audio Video installation companies and they try to add some extra costs.

We run a honest and trustworthy company.  At the end of the day you should have a system that seriously impresses you and you should be excited to give our referrals.  Referrals is really where most of our business comes from, so that is our beating heart in this industry.

Until next time.

Back To Imagine Home Audio

Joshua Stanphill

Imagine Home Audio Video & Commercial

Serving: San Diego, La Jolla, Rancho Santa Fe, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Fallbrook, Temecula, Murrieta, Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, and La Quinta