The Age-Old Question: Do You Need High-Quality Speakers to Listen to Records? We Answer Below.

Maybe you’ve been collecting vinyl for decades. Or perhaps you’re just getting started filling a crate or shelf of albums. No matter your experience with vinyl, your music deserves to be heard with crystal-clear sound quality. There are many cheap turntables on the market, but if you’re looking for the best solution, it’s wise to avoid the all-in-one suitcase players. Your best bet is to use a receiver connected to high-end speakers by reputable brands like James Loudspeaker, Triad, or Sonos. From there, you can even expand to whole-home audio that brings your tunes to every room of your home. Let’s go through the basics of high-end audio and vinyl. As an AV design and installation company servicing Irvine, CA, and Orange County, we’ll help you find the best solution below.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           SEE ALSO: 3 Aspects of Home Audio You Don’t Want to Overlook  

Why Quality Speakers Are Essential for Vinyl

There’s something ritualistic about taking a record out the sleeve, placing it on the turntable, and setting the needle for the first song to start. But vinyl brings even more than novelty to music. Vinyl records offer a wide range of sound, enhanced recording fidelity, and an audible warmth that MP3s and CDs don’t quite deliver. Audiophiles appreciate the crackles and hisses in the medium and might find that their records provide a greater range of sound frequencies. You need quality speakers to hear this difference, and if you’re investing in a record collection, it’s worth it to scale up your speaker selection.  

High-End Speakers vs. Low-End

When you first hear records on high-end speakers, it will be like you’ve never experienced recorded music before. ‘High-end’ is a subjective term, but we usually classify it was speakers with quality materials and balanced sound frequencies. The best speakers should deliver low, deep bass notes just as well as mid-range frequencies for clear voices. Can you hear all the instruments? Are the treble notes smooth or irritating? We ask these questions when testing our speakers in our Irvine showroom. Low-quality speakers deliver off-balanced sound. Maybe you can only hear voices while hardly hearing the bass or piano melodies.  

Speaker Brands You Can Trust 

Sonos manufactures arguably some of the best wireless speakers available. You’ll still need to plug the speakers into an outlet, but by ‘wireless,’ we mean you won’t need to connect the speakers to a receiver. Instead, Sonos speakers connect over their own mesh network. Wireless setups are convenient, but we still believe that wired speakers are more reliable and can spread across greater distances. Brands like James Loudspeaker and Triad use durable materials in their speakers with more powerful drivers than lower-end devices. Their bookshelf or floor-standing speakers will connect to your record player via an amplifier or receiver.  

Your Movie and TV Experience Just Got a Lot More Exciting!

As a professional Control4 dealer in Portland, OR, we expertly design and install smart systems every day. With smart lighting, shading, and more, incredible comfort and convenience are a mere button press away. We’ve written several blogs about our love for Control4 home automation solutions, and we will continue to do so because the brand continually offers innovative home control technology for every room of the house – from the kitchen to the media room to your outdoor spaces. Besides the staple high-performance audio and video components required for the ultimate personal home theater experience, there are two other aspects of smart home control you should consider. Scroll below to learn how effortless control and smart lighting can change the way you enjoy movies, TV shows, gaming, and sports!

SEE ALSO: Why You Should Have Control4 Automation In Your Home

Effortless Control

For just a moment, imagine what it would be like if you walked into your home theater and pressed the ‘Movie Night’ button on a sleek, aluminum-bodied remote with a touch screen. In mere seconds, automated shades lower to block out glare from the outdoors, smart lighting dims to illuminate pathways in and out of the room, your AV system cues up your Blu-ray player or Netflix, and your surround sound system prepares to immerse the family into the action of any TV show or film. It’s possible with a Control4 system powered by the Neeo remote. You could also initiate this same smart scene using voice control or your smart device of choice. Talk about a high-quality entertainment experience!  

Smart Lighting

Now consider lighting. Though we all enjoy watching movies and TV shows in the dark, the room still needs lighting incorporated to see what’s going on in the space once the credits roll. Lighting is integral, and a Control4 dealer can expertly integrate various lighting styles to make a stellar entertainment experience. Overhead lighting that dims or brightens at the press of a button makes it easy to transition from a tough day on the job into peak relaxation mode in the evening. Floor lighting can illuminate the path from comfortable recliners to the room’s exit so that it’s safe to acquire popcorn mid-movie without tripping.   If you’re ready to bring customized smart control to your Portland-area home theater or media room, chat with us at the bottom of your browser or call (949) 515-7030 to get started. You can schedule a no-obligation consultation and more when you contact Launch Systems today – we’re your local Control4 dealer. We look forward to working with you!

Your Orange County Home Can Shine in a Brilliant New Way with Tunable Lighting

Tunable LED lighting is a modern smart home addition that can completely transform how you see and interact with your home. Highlighting architectural aspects, showcasing your curated art collection, and supporting your daily activities as you move throughout your Laguna Beach, CA, home are just a few ways LED lighting can make your life more comfortable and convenient. But what exactly is tunable LED lighting, and is one type of tunable lighting better than others? Keep reading below to learn about three different types of tunable lighting and how each could potentially work on your Orange County property.

SEE ALSO: 3 of the Top Benefits to Tunable LED Lighting  

Dim to Warm Lighting

Lighting that can be tuned from dim to warm settings is a more basic iteration of tunable LED lighting, and basic doesn’t mean underwhelming. LED lighting that dims to a warm glow similar to that of incandescent can help you ease into a relaxed state of mind in the evenings before bed. Dim to warm tunable lighting is perfect for homeowners looking for a more cost-effective and longer-lasting alternative to an incandescent, yet still prefer the warm glow of the older lighting technology.  

Color Tunable Lighting

Imagine saturated, vibrant colors from throughout the color spectrum, shining in and around your California property during dinner parties, hangouts, or movie nights with the family. Ketra lighting is our favorite full-spectrum tunable lighting brand because of their dedication to the science and art of light. And with the recent acquisition of Ketra by Lutron, the duo is unstoppable in providing superior tunable lighting solutions to homeowners just like you.  

Tunable White Lighting

Perfect for general and accent lighting throughout your home, these LEDs can shift between a warm-white around 2,700K and a cool-white around 5,000K. Our bodies psychologically respond to these variances in white light, feeling energized with cool, white light and relaxing with warmer, white light. By incorporating tunable white lighting into your kitchen, living areas, and workspaces, you’ll support your daily activities with the power of smart technology!   To further shine a light on the possibilities you can bring to your Laguna Beach-area property, call us now at (949) 515-7030, chat with us at the bottom of your browser window, or connect with us using our online form. We look forward to assisting you!

Lutron RadioRA 2: A Scalable, Wireless Home Control System

Lutron lighting has been around since the late 1950s with the solid-state dimmer's invention by co-founder Joel Spira. Since Lutron Electronics’ inception, the company has continued to innovate the lighting industry and later began dominating the home control market with automated shading and smart lighting. Imagine pressing a button or using a voice command to dim the lights in your house, raise or lower motorized shades, and control your Irvine, CA, home’s HVAC system. It’s possible with a Lutron RadioRA 2 system installed by the home automation experts at Launch Systems. With tremendous respect to our clients’ needs, we design, install and support smart home devices in new homes and retrofit projects in Orange County. Keep reading below to learn how the Lutron RadioRA 2 system can transform your life, then contact us for a free consultation.

SEE ALSO: Lutron’s RadioRA 2 Smart Lighting Technology Makes Life Easy  

Climate Control & Shading

Adding a smart Lutron thermostat to your home control system lets you control the temperature in your home using a wall keypad, your smart device, or a pre-programmed smart scene. Whether you’re at home or away for the weekend, you’ll be able to monitor and operate your HVAC system to ensure maximum comfort and energy savings. By installing a wireless temperature sensor in a room, each room of your home’s temperature is monitored. If a specific temperature is reached, then your HVAC will respond accordingly, or you can override the automation by adjusting the temperature yourself. You can pair your climate control with motorized shading, too. If the room becomes too cool during the day, then your blinds will open automatically to let warm, natural sunlight stream into your living spaces.  

Lighting

A Lutron RadioRA 2 system is scalable, so don't opt out of smart lighting because it seems too daunting for your home project. You can first install the system in your most-used spaces, perhaps the home theater and bedrooms. From there, you can add the kitchen and outdoor entertainment areas when you're ready.  

Integrates with Other Products

You aren’t limited to only using Lutron devices in a RadioRA 2 system, either. You can incorporate your Control4 automation system or use Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Josh.ai voice control. There doesn’t seem to be any other brand nearly as versatile as Lutron. And the brand is continually innovating, something it’s been doing for over 70 years, so your system is built to last as you add more smart products to your home over time.     To enjoy the simple and convenient lifestyle Lutron RadioRA 2 can bring to your Orange County home, connect with us now using this form or chat with us below. We can’t wait to hear from you.