Audio Impact is proud to announce that it has won the 2011 Gold Outdoor Space Electronic Home of the Year award.

The Electronic House editorial team picked the winning entries, which featured fantastic audio, video, lighting and automation systems, and ultimately awarded 32 winning installations in 12 categories. The winning entries were selected based upon technological innovation, creative solutions to challenges, and design elements and will be showcased in the May/June and July/August issues of Electronic House magazine and on www.electronichouse.com/specials/hoty11.

“The focus on an outdoor space was a new challenge for us. The underwater speakers were built into the pool frame, at the right depths, to create amazing sound in the infinity pool. The Jacuzzi TV was built into a custom design deck/housing, on a swing arm, behind a glass wall to ensure it is completely weather resistant. We are most proud of the integration of all the unique features into an overall automation system that can be controlled throughout the home.” said Ryan Lipkovicius CEO of Audio Impact Inc.

In 2010 Audio Impact won the Best Master Suite Electronic Home of the Year Award. Audio Impact is proud of these accomplishments that portray our emphasis on quality, attention to detail, design innovations, and exemplary service.

Audio Impact wins Gold in Outdoor Space Category

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Pushbutton Paradise

April 29, 2011 by Rebecca Day

It started off with a request for basic lighting control. The owner of this Del Mar home simply wanted to control the newly installed LED and security lights on the property from the master bedroom suite above the pool. The backyard, meanwhile, was undergoing a complete overhaul, morphing from an area with a simple pool and barbeque pit to one with an infinity pool, sauna, Jacuzzi and outdoor kitchen/dining room.

The custom electronics (CE) pros from Audio Impact, San Diego, Calif., fulfilled the lighting request with a Control4 system that organized the sconces, pool lights, and security spotlights into easily accessible zones. Since they were there already, Audio Impact president Ryan Lipkovicius asked the client, why not add a little music and some video, too? Eighteen months and 250 feet of conduit later, the backyard had been wired for six zones of audio and a big-screen Jacuzzi theater.

The owner got his bedroom-controlled lighting system and then some. He can turn on lights in various zones of the backyard to keep an eye on the kids, check on the firepit, and turn off the pool or security lights without having to leave the bedroom. Audio Impact added a three-way switch outside that mirrored the lighting commends in the bedroom so that the lights could be managed from either place.

Control was a key concern for the owner, who didn’t want to have to go to different areas to change the volume on speakers or flip lights on or off. Audio Impact had the benefit of being able to start from scratch with the backyard do-over. The crew ran wire in conduit to speaker locations and control pads and installed specially designed pool speakers according to spec. Underwater music requires heavy-duty amplification, according to Lipkovicius. The pool speakers are fed 100 watts each because “you need a decent amount of power to move sound through the water,” he explains.

There’s a central Control4 touchscreen controller in the master bedroom above the pool deck where the owner can set the lights and volume levels for each zone, including the Paradigm on-wall speakers on the balcony above the pool deck. Individual controls in each zone allow users to tailor the sound at those locations. The outdoor kitchen received a bit of special attention. In addition to an independent volume control for the music, there’s an OnQ intercom station. From it, the parents can call any of the three kids to dinner from various locations in the house. They can also use the intercom to buzz in guests who are waiting at the front door.

The spa area got its own private theater, a Samsung 46-inch TV built inside a thick shatter-resistant pane of glass. The sealed window in front of the TV protects it from moisture and doors cover the TV for extra protection when it’s not in use. All of the video sources from the home’s main video distribution system are available to the spa theater. This includes DirecTV, cable, Apple TV, a Blu-ray player and feeds from the surveillance cameras around the property. While the five other zones in the backyard enjoy a single source—usually a Rhapsody online music channel—spa users can toggle between music and TV audio while watching a movie or game. As for the indoor entertainment system? The owners save that for a rainy day.

Underwater Tunes
Installing pool speakers in is a lot like putting a light into a pool, says Ryan Lipkovicius, president of San Diego–based Audio Impact, the company added the electronic elegance to this award-winning backyard. The round Aquasonic speakers and their special housings, which were used in this award-winning space, had to be positioned at a certain depth based on the volume of the pool. “You need enough pressure for it to work,” Lipkovicius says, and in this infinity pool that depth was about six feet. At the proper depth, the speaker vibrates the water, resulting in music “that sounds pretty good,” Lipkovicius says. “I was amazed.” EH

The pool includes special underwater speakers built into the pool’s frame.


This outdoor oasis even has an entire built-in kitchen complete with a pizza oven.


The entire backyard is packed with hidden technology.


The Jacuzzi area features a TV hidden behind two wooden swing doors. TV is built into a custom design deck/housing on a swing arm behind a glass wall to ensure it is completely weather resistant.


The outdoor lighting is controlled by a Control4 system. One button from the Mater Bedroom keypad or any touchscreen turns all groups of outside lights on and off.



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Home of the year 2010 Winner by Electronic House Magazine

Everything from the TV to the motorized shades moves in this innovative beachfront bedroom suite. Underbed Lift Enhances View at Beachfront Suite

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/underbed_lift_enahnces_view_at_beachfront_suite/Slideshows

Even with this bedroom’s beach view one might eventually want to watch TV in bed or order up a movie.

But where to mount a flat-panel TV without destroying this Mission Beach vista just north of San Diego? Easy. Just place the TV in a lift — under the bed. And at the press of a button have it slide out and tilt into view.

Actually, it wasn’t so easy.

First, a special Underbed Lift from MK 1 Studio was required to slide arms from under the bed and position the screen upright. Then, the lift had to be designed into the bed frame, according to Ryan Lipkovicius of custom electronics company Audio Impact in San Diego.

Once the homeowners press a button on their RTI T2 remote control, the TV takes about 32 seconds to rise into view. Lipkovicius says a 39-pound Samsung LED TV was chosen for its thinness and light weight, above all else. It also doesn’t hurt that the LED TV is more energy-efficient than many other types of sets, and that helps make up for the energy required to operate the lift mechanisms.

The TV is accompanied by two 8-inch B&W CC M80 two-way in-ceiling speakers in the bedroom area, as well as two of the same in the adjacent sitting room. The owners can summon music from an XM Radio tuner and iPod docks located downstairs in the main part of the house. A spacious bath area with a cool shower and copper tub is wired for speakers as well, but those have yet to be installed.

When the owners are done with the TV, they simply press another button, and the screen disappears, leaving a not-so-bad beach scene.

Other very cool scene-setting technologies in this master suite include motorized curtains and shades. But these are no ordinary curtains. They’re curved metal and perforated to complement the very contemporary form and feel of the house. (The house encompasses five floors of striking curved layers.)

The curtains close over the curved glass wall of the sitting room, and in the bedroom area three custom-sized Lutron Sivoia blackout shades descend for those rare times the owners don’t want to feel like they’re lying on the beach. Another blackout shade descends to block light from the sitting room.

The curtains and shades are controlled by a http://www.electronichouse.com/article/underbed_lift_enahnces_view_at_beachfront_suite/Slideshows