Residential Tech Talks

Following up on a recent trip out to Phoenix for an up-close look at the ABB-NASCAR partnership, we sat down with a different division within the ABB umbrella to talk about the implications of electrification. Adam Mease, ABB's Business Line Leader for Electrical Distribution in the Smart Buildings Division, shares how the company is rapidly innovating to meet the power needs of the modern home, a...

For the last decade, Deako has aimed to provide the best smart home experiences to homebuyers nationwide by ensuring accessible and customizable smart home lighting solutions for everyone. Their innovative product has, in a way, reshaped how homeowners can adopt and maintain smart control solutions. To get a better understanding of the product and the brand, we sat down with founder and CEO Derek...

There is no one-size-fits-all method to building and growing a successfull custom integration business. That said, from what Matt Bernath, President of Vital, has seen in his years of working with and coaching CIs, there are many similarities between a company stuck in that $1-2 million range, and those that have gotten over the hump and scaled their business. At CEDIA Expo, Vital was our booth ne...

This past CEDIA Expo in Denver was one of the more active Expo's in recent memory for the team at Wisdom Audio. During the show, we sat down with Joe Walters, the eastern regional sales manager for their team, to talk about some of the new launches, their American-made approach, and much more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFjBN8o1kJo

When we were pulling together our Women of Influence issue of RTT magazine, we knew that there was only one individual best-suited to help expertly craft the content alongside our team. With her background in the publishing business and her innate ability to pull the perfect story out of anyone she sits down with, MaryEllen Oswald was hands-down the best choice to step into this role and offer her...

Skyler Meek and the rest of the team at Just Video Walls are just a bunch of former integrators looking to make life a little easier for their custom installation brethren. Their approach and their style results in a winning culture that impacts everything from their bottom line to the relationships that they forge and grow with their partners.

It feels cliche to say, but data truly is king no matter the industry you're talking about. Having strong data can help you forecast how a particular market will evolve, allowing you to position yourself for success in the future. That's exactly why the team at Portal has placed such an emphasis on gathering the best data possible and leveraging it to make decisions that will positively impact the...

There are so many nuances and rabbit holes that you can explore when at a show like CEDIA Expo—from the high-end audio world, to video walls, lighting and shading, to media servers and more. One of the hottest topics in recent years has been the methodical rollout of 8K displays and 8K content. While in Denver for the show, we sat down with representatives from the 8K Association and IMAX to talk...

After they got done helping us properly install the short throw projection screen that served as the backdrop for our podcast setup at CEDIA Expo, Elite Screens sat down with us for a podcast. During the chat, we dive into the latest advancements in screen technology, what's new with their brand, trends they're following, and more.

Distribution companies sit at a unique intersection of the industries they represent. They see the comings and goings of product, which, when tracked and analyzed properly, allow them to understand which categories, SKUs, etc., are performing best—ergo, they are uniquely qualified to share valuable insights on the ebbs and flows within their particular space. That's why we like to keep close tabs...

A show like CEDIA Expo is always going to create a lot of news and excitement around new introductions, and new opportunities for custom integrators. In our chat with Alex Weaver of Legrand AV, we dove into one of the hotter topics swirling around the world of CI—that being light commercial, or resimercial work. Seeing the commercial category make its way into a show like CEDIA Expo speaks to how...

Blackwire Designs is a special type of distributor in the CI channel, in that they have a team that's intimately aware of the challenges faced by a custom integrator—because they're all former installers in their own right. At CEDIA Expo 2025, we sat down with Cody Crossland, Vice President, Sales and Customer Service at Blackwire Designs, to explore how they leverage that collective experience bo...

Patrick Coleman and his team at Future Automation & Design have built a reputation of being a very hands-on and white-glove type of integrator. That approach has helped them build clients-for-life and one of the most knowledgeable teams around—all as the business prepares to enter adulthood in its 18th year. Now, Coleman and his team are working on a new initiative to help other integrators le...

Massive displays and impressive audio might draw all the attention at a show like CEDIA Expo and in the world of custom integration. But the channel wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the products and solutions that come out of a brand like Just Add Power. The brand brought a bunch of new Audio and Video over IP solutions to the event, showing how there's still plenty of innovation to be had f...

At CEDIA Expo 2025, Lutron rolled out a massive new partner program that has the potential to change the course of the channel. The first major product to launch out of the program was a collaboration between Lutron and Coastal Source. We sat down with Ben Bard, VP of Luxury Residential at Lutron, to dive into the program, it's intended benefits to the integrator, and much more. https://youtu.be/l...

Ahead of its official grand opening, Andrew Davis walks us through the brand new World Wide Stereo experience center in Wayne, PA. Davis, the CEO of Gramophone and Partner at World Wide Stereo, explains how the 21 different zones come together to paint a complete picture for potential clients. Bringing the building to life was also a great example of the growing partnership between the WWS and Gra...

At CEDIA Expo 2024, Richard Charschan introduced us to his passion project, Home Theaterology . The book serves as a love letter of sorts to the home theater industry. But it's also proof that the ultimate in-home cinematic space can still be the heartbeat of the custom integration industry. One year since its launch, we caught up with Charschan to look back on the book's influence, how it came to...

When you look at the portfolio of a company like ADI | SnapOne, it's easy to feel slightly overwhelmed as an outsider. Imagine what it must be like, then, to manage that massive product landscape. For Matt Kamp, VP of Product Management for the brand, it's a role he feels like he was built for and is thriving in. We jumped into it with Matt to explore the trends of today, where there are growth op...

Messing with water heaters sounds like something that professionals who typically deal with hard wiring and electrical work would much rather avoid. However, in today's increasingly connected home, where every system appears to interact and communicate with one another, water heaters are becoming smarter. Here, we chat with Cala Systems Co-Founder and CEO Michael Rigney about the company's forthco...

Explaining what's possible within the realm of custom integration is a constant challenge when speaking with an industry outsider, or a potential client for that matter. The biggest reason why? This is an experiential business. You have to "see it to believe it" in every sense of the phrase. The problem, then, becomes how you go about getting a client to experience the smart home before they decid...

Launched earlier this year, OpenAV Cloud is a new platform, founded by some of the most influential brands in the pro-AV space, that promises to bring a simpler, easier, and more customer-focused experience to the connected AV industry. Their goal? More collaboration among brands, and true standardization and adoption of open cloud connectivity. We chat with Steve Hoenig, Engineering Director at L...

Dirac has been making a push, recently, to get their room correction technology out into the market and improving more consumers' audio experience in a more streamlined and simpler way. Ahead of the official launch of the Dirac ART tech in Marantz and Denon product later this year, we sat down with Rikard Hellerfelt, VP of Consumer and E-commerce for the brand, to learn more about the push, the st...

Leaning on his engineering expertise and audio industry savviness is nothing new to Rob Jones—nor is launching brands into the CEDIA channel. This go, Jones is helping lead the charge for Magnetar Audio as the brand enters the North American market. In this conversation, we chat with him about Magnetar, their niche-yet-necessary product, and how it serves the evolving audio consumer's needs. https...

Chopping it up with Jason McGraw is a favorite pastime of ours for many reason, not the least of which is his love and passion for the custom integration and technology industries. He's been in this space—on the trade show side—for many years, and his expertise around it is among the best in the business. Here, we chat about the upcoming CEDIA Expo in Denver, how trade shows, including CEDIA Expo,...

A little over three years since the rebranding of his group—and just a few weeks post the third-annual Oasys Summit—we sat down with Hank Alexander, director of Oasys Residential Technology Group. We dive into the progress his team has made over that time, where their attention is right now in terms of creating value for members, and look at the evolution of the CI channel. https://www.youtube.com...