Residential Tech Talks

On this week’s podcast, David Warfel joins us from Madison, WI, where he is founder of Light Can Help You, a lighting design firm that caters to the custom integration industry. David and his company step in as trusted advisors and collaborators for many home tech professionals who first gained their expertise in audio, video, networking and lighting control, but only recently expanded into actual...

On this week’s podcast, Scott Stephenson joins us from Denver, CO, where he is the director of product management – motorization at Hunter Douglas. Scott and Jeremy have been collaborating a lot lately thanks to the generous opportunity afforded by him, his company, and his PR agency Caster Communications that led to six Hunter Douglas Gen 3 motorized shades being installed in Jeremy’s own home. S...

On this week’s podcast, Avi Rosenthal joins us from Ashburn, VA, where is the managing partner of Bluesalve Partners, a company launched three and half years ago to help start-ups as well as established companies manage the Internet of Things business landscape. Through their deep connections with manufacturers, dealers, retailers, and users, Bluesalve and its team of consultants help clients with...

On this week’s podcast, Jason Barth joins us from Carmel, Indiana, where he is owner, CEO, and lead designer of the Premier Group, a residential and commercial integration firm that he co-founded with two college friends back in 1999. Premier has a beautiful showroom in the Indiana Design Center that was completely renovated during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. Jason has experienced some firsts with...

On this week’s podcast, Bill Lehman joins us from Indianapolis, where he is co-owner and president of the home tech integration firm Millennium Sounds. Bill and Jeremy have known each other for a few years, ever since his company was asked by Control4 to install Jeremy’s house-wide network and integrated audio video system. Millennium is involved in a cool new venture with Indy 500 racing champion...

On this week’s podcast, CEDIA’s Senior Vice President of Member Success and Sales, Giles Sutton, and Powerhouse Alliance Executive Director Dennis Holzer join us from Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, PA, respectively, to discuss industry training and smart home technology trends. What these two gentlemen have in common is a passion for not only the overall success of the AV integration business, but sp...

On this week’s podcast, Tayloe Stansbury joins us from Mountainview, CA, where he serves as chairman and CEO of Kaleidescape, the manufacturer of premium movie servers and movie players. A longtime Kaleidescape customer before joining the company, Tayloe was appointed CEO in late 2020, after serving in executive roles at Watermark Insights, Intuit, and Ariba. Last week, Kaleidescape announced a ne...

On this week’s podcast, Mark DiPietro joins us from the Charlotte area, in Mooresville, NC, where he is CEO and managing partner of the home tech integration firm SoundVision. Mark has been involved in the consumer electronics business since the late eighties. Starting in car stereo, he was a product specialist for Kenwood, a manufacturer’s rep for multiple lines in multiple states, before startin...

On this week’s podcast, Jim Pearse joins us from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, while he was on the road meeting with custom integrators in his brand-new job as president of ProSource, the largest audio, video, and integration buying group in the United States. His newly created role is an expansion of ProSource’s senior management team to support the continued growth of the buying group. He has more than 30...

On this week’s podcast, Jennifer Mallett joins us from Northborough, Massachusetts, where she is CEO of Level Up Your Home, a full-service commercial technology, design, and automation firm founded in 2016 by a group of veteran technologists with more than 40 years of experience. For the 15 years prior to launching her own company, Jennifer was the senior business manager for the Custom Installati...

On this week’s podcast, Jamie Briesemeister, joins us from St. Louis, where she is CEO and co-founder of Integration Controls, a company that provides well-hidden technology and connected living through smart home automation. It’s Women’s History Month, so we’ve chosen to finish out March with interviews of powerful female business owners. And while Jamie is, in fact, a prior guest of the podcast,...

On this week’s podcast, Melanie Niemerg joins us from Clearwater, FL, where, along with her husband Paul, she is owner of Integral Systems, a company that specializes in residential and commercial security and smart home automation. Integral Systems offers a platform that allows homeowners and businesses to enjoy the benefits of smart technology without "seeing" it. With that goal in mind, their f...

On this week’s podcast, Ken Johnson joins us from Chicago, where he is owner and president of Premiere Systems, a home integration firm of 65 employees serving both the Chicago, IL and Naples & Miami, Florida markets. Premiere Systems and Bozeman-Montana-based SAV Digital Environments earlier this month completed their acquisition of Xssentials in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and the launch of a new firm...

Patrick Laidlaw joins us from Detroit, MI, where he is on the road evangelizing about the opportunities available in the lighting fixture business as he serves as director of business development for integration at AiSPiRE, the integrator-only brand of WAC. Lighting. WAC produces technology-driven lighting products featuring state of the art LED light engines through their own vertically integrate...

On this week’s podcast, Taft Stricklin joins us from Portland, OR, where he is sales team manager for Just Add Power, the Seminole, FL-based AV-over-IP distribution technology manufacturer. But because one job is not enough, Taft is also CEO of Cincinnati-based RS Pro Sales, an independent sales rep firm for several notable brands, including Sonance, Lutron, and Sony. But that’s not all… He’s also...

On this week’s podcast, home performance experts Corbett and Grace Lunsford join us from Atlanta, where they are the stars of the public television series Home Diagnosis and founders of the Building Performance Workshop. Home Diagnosis is the first-ever TV series on the physics, chemistry, and microbiology of homes. The six episodes of Season 1 were shot in cities across the U.S. as part of the Pr...

On this week’s podcast, Residential Tech Today contributing writer Heather Sidorowicz joins us from Orlando, FL, where she is attending and reporting on the co-located Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) and International Builders’ Show (IBS). Heather is a former CEDIA board member and current owner of Southtown Audio Video, a custom integration firm in Hamburg, NY. In this conversation we learn w...

On this week’s podcast, Joe Whitaker joins us from St. Louis, MO, where, for the past week or so, he has been the VP of business development for Origin Acoustics. Prior to accepting this new role, Joe was president of Thoughtful Integrations, a custom installation firm with locations in Dallas and St. Louis. However, as we learned on my very first podcast back in April 2020, Joe is no stranger to...

On this week’s podcast, Dave Pedigo joins us from Indianapolis, where, for the past two years, he has served as CEO of Auralex Acoustics. You may be more familiar with Dave from his 14 years as director of emerging technologies at CEDIA or, if you’re Facebook friends, his passion for Wordle. Dave and Jeremy have known each for a long time, having lived in the same metro area for the past 15 years...

On this week’s podcast, Eric Thies joins us from Lake Balboa, California, where he runs the custom integration company, DSI Luxury Technology. DSI, for the past 20 years, has built a reputation for creating amazing screening rooms in Beverly Hills, Malibu, and the general Los Angeles area oftentimes for famous filmmakers in the so-called Bel Air Circuit. But that’s just one of many areas of specia...

This week, Residential Tech Today’s contributing editor Michael Heiss joins us from his home in Los Angeles to talk about the recent Consumer Electronics Show and some of the latest TV technology developments and other smart home products that he thinks are worth exploring. He didn’t travel to Las Vegas for CES this year but followed the virtual announcements and press releases very closely to dis...

This week, Indy Audio Labs co-founders Rick Santiago and Ted Moore join us from Indianapolis, where they lead the parent company of the high-performance audio brands Acurus and Aragon. IAL manufactures all of its components in the U.S., using custom fabricated parts and assemblies based on its proprietary electronics, mechanical, and software designs. Acurus is a premium brand for private home cin...

This week, Navot Shoresh joins us Troy, MI, where he is founder and CVO of the custom integration firm, Spire Integrated Systems. Navot and Jeremy had crossed paths at HTSA buying group meetings, but they had never taken a moment to sit down and get to know each other, until now. When Jeremy saw Navot’s recent post about the opening of a beautiful new showroom up the road in Bay Harbor, MI, Jeremy...

This week, Dante Walston joins us from Richmond, VA, where he is co-founder and CEO of IntegrateU, a new custom integration training center that is home to ProSource Academy and embedded inside the integration firm Livewire. IntegrateU recently announced that it is also now an authorized CEDIA Education Partner. Its courses are designed to enable students to attain industry certifications, includi...

This week, Alex Bazhinov joins us from Charlottesville, VA, where he is founder and CEO of Lumin. Lumin’s Smart Panel is currently adopted by hundreds of solar and energy storage installers, providing a system for retrofitting an existing circuit breaker panel to perform energy data analysis and circuit control. Data on connected appliances and systems is gathered and analyzed to assist homeowners...