The talents and expertise of the Long Beach, Calif.-based Digital Installers integration team were called upon to work out a home automation solution for a remodeled primary home — an estate in Lake Forest, Calif. “It was quite a special project,” said Rusty Deeble, president of Digital Installers. “The client is a twochannel audiophile,” he explained, “and his family wanted a truly smart home, so we brought in wholehome automation, which they’d never had before.”
The client had initially linked with Digital Installers through a conversation at a golf club where client and integrator were both members. That led to Digital Installers being contracted to do a first project, and when that was completed to the client’s satisfaction, this second project was awarded to the firm.
“We worked with the client and our partners to arrange for multiple visits to our showroom and various manufacturers’ facilities, to ensure he received the very best products,” remarked Deeble.
The Digital Installers team then partnered with the client’s general contractor and designer to execute the Control4-system-based project, which included a large network with 13 wireless access points, an automation system, 17 custom-mounted TVs, 11 wall-mounted touch screens, and 19 zones of audio. It also entailed designing a dedicated theater that doubles as the client’s two- channel audiophile room, motorized window coverings and doorways, outdoor heaters, fire features, a pool control system, and RGBW tunable lighting treatments.
The client travels frequently, said Deeble, so of paramount importance was putting in place security cameras throughout — both indoors and outdoors — as well as an alarm system to protect the owner’s collection of classic and high-end new automobiles.
Since this was a retrofit, one of the main challenges, adroitly addressed by the professionalism of the Digital Installers team, was to thoroughly wire the home. This was done with an eye to any future connectivity needs that might come down the pike. “We felt we should future-proof everything,” Deeble said, “so we put in a lot of fiber optic cable and also multiple locations for power. It’s a large home, and since we were not starting from the ground up, we felt we had to engineer the location of the equipment a certain way.”
Everything was programmed to the customer’s specific needs, and all was set up for 24/7 remote management with Parasol’s remote support system.
The outdoor audio setup was especially noteworthy. A Digital Installers video outlining its design notes that it is split into four zones: the overall yard area, a barbecue area, a California room, and a pool/Jacuzzi area.
“I really liked how the outdoor audio and the placement of the TVs turned out,” reflected Deeble. What were some of the other high points for him, when all was said and done? “The recessed shades, the dedicated theater room, the family room and the kitchen. There were so many elements that came out really well, and we were able to put automated touchscreens everywhere and to get the network to be super-stable. Everything’s solid. The client and his whole family were very pleased.”
Equipment List
- Network: Araknis – 11 indoor and 2 outdoor access points; OvrC remote management; Wattbox remote power management
- Control 4 automation: 32 lighting loads; 6 thermostats; DSC security alarm integration; Hunt CCTV integration; Qmotion shading integration; outdoor heater integration; pool control integration; motorized doorway integration
- Atlona Video Distribution: Omni-stream video matrix
- House Audio: Control4 Audio Matrix – 19 zones of audio; Variety of TruAudio speakers
- RGBW Tunable Lighting: Colorbeam (kitchen, patio, and theater)
- Motorized Window Coverings; 6 Qmotion shades (family room and living room)
- Motorized Doorways; Custom Integration (family room)
- Outdoor Entertainment: 4 zones of audio – 25 landscape speakers; 3 underground subwoofers; 1 above-ground subwoofer; 4 in-ceiling speakers; weatherproof soundbar; 3 Sunbrite outdoor TVs
- Dedicated Theater: 7.4.2 configuration, powered by Macintosh MX122 preamplifier; Classe and Parasound amplification; Wilson Audio (left- & right-channel speakers); Tru Audio (Atmost & center-channel speakers); Aerial (rear speakers); Steward Filmscreen (151-inch acoustically transparent screen); Wolf Cinema 4K projector; 8 Fortress custom theater seats; Colorbeam RGBW cove lighting; Control 4 automation
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Nancy is a contributing editor for Connected Design
