Sound is special. It’s the difference between watching somebody strum a weird wooden shape and listening to somebody perform Bach on bass guitar.

The importance of sound isn’t just limited to concert performances or watching your kid’s school band play “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” for the millionth time, either. It’s also important at home and can bring a whole new level of immersion to your music, TV shows, and movies.

For those of you that aren’t quite convinced -- or are still on the fence about ditching your old dusty system and upgrading to something new -- we took the liberty of putting together some reasons why – and how -- a new hi-fi home audio system will change your family’s life for the better.

Technology is constantly looming in our lives. Smart thermostats regulate our household temperatures. Security devices keep our houses safe while we’re away. Our health is continuously monitored with wearable technology. A camera watches our pets at home. We can’t escape technology, so we might as well embrace it. As we add more technology to our everyday life, it can be pretty confusing to understand the terms for different technologies.

It’s common to hear “smart home” and “home automation” used interchangeably, and while they are related, there is a big difference between the two.

It’s time to take music everywhere.

Back in the day, listening to music used to be tethered to the physical realm: The vinyl goes on the platter or the disc goes into the player, you sit close by, and you listen through speakers or headphones connected to player. And that was pretty much it.  

But that’s not the way it is anymore.

With multi-room audio systems, you and your music are free of physical wires and media. Music can flow throughout your whole house — all wirelessly. Let’s take a look at what is possible for multi-room audio, and what awesome features you are missing out on.

Summer is exciting for many reasons: No distance or in-person school, beach vacations, poolside staycations, and of course, the warm weather. But what about when you are inside and want to keep some of that sunlight out?

That’s what smart shades are for!