Ah, that time between Spring and Summer has finally arrived in Knoxville. Pollen covers every exterior surface imaginable in yellow blankets of dust. The quickly-warming temperatures remind you that the humidity of a Tennessee summer isn’t far off. Right now it is baseball season, but soon enough, the UT fight song will be echoing from every living room in Rocky Top while we watch our football team make it all the way to the national championship this year (a girl can dream). You begin to think about the home theater you always wanted, and how great these games would look on a big screen. You think of the home theater that would allow you to be immersed in the experience of the stadium, without having to buy tickets to the game or spend eight dollars on a beer--that theater with state-of-the-art audio technology, the one you always put off on installing because other things came up along the way. Hey, we know that life happens, and things get put off. Here at iSS LLC.  we are here to make your life a little easier—and a lot more fun. Now featuring Control4 home automation software, we can create the home theater of your dreams--and tailor home automation installations to your personal wants and needs. Still not convinced? Check out a few of the things we can do for your home or your commercial business space by clicking the link below.

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What is a Smart Home?

While there are many smart products available today, it isn’t until these devices work together in orchestration, that you experience the magic of a smart home. From homes small to large, new and old, Control4 delivers power and performance on one platform that coordinates the technology in your house into complete, brilliant experiences—interactions that fit your lifestyle and are easy for your family to enjoy. With one touch, dim the lights, stream high-resolution music, turn up the heat, lock the doors and arm the security system. Or, check in on your home no matter where you are. It’s a smarter living experience that you’ll wonder how you ever lived without. We call it, the New Normal.

There are many reasons that people use rack enclosures now a days to help tidy up their automated world. While TVs continue to get thinner and more beautiful and soundbars are making surround sound more discreet, the components we connect to them, such as our Blu-ray players, cable boxes, game consoles etc...have largely remained dull black or silver boxes. And there are still all those ugly wires to manage! So now we have these neat and tidy solutions to all these issues, and putting them on display can have lots of great advantages as well! Lets learn more..

You Go on Vacations, Smart Homes Don't!

One thing we look forward to every year is vacation time! There is so much that needs to be done to prepare for a vacation but protecting your home no longer needs to be one of them! Now connecting to your smarthome while you’re off in paradise can save you money, worries, and stress.

 Home automation has become all the rage these days and if you have experienced it yourself then you will most likely agree that is has become a convenience you just don't want to live without! Well great news! Now when you vacation or even when you take the boat out, you don't have to be without the automation luxuries you have grown so accustomed to!

If you are tired of being part of the 72%+ of wireless phone users having trouble maintaining cell phone signal strength inside your home, vehicle, outdoors, or at the office, then you need a cellular phone signal booster! In order to improve the wireless service, the cell phone signal needs to be amplified. We work with several great vendors such as SureCall & weBoost that have top of the line products for that will solve your bad reception issues for good! No more Ninja dances, hanging out of the window or foil head wear to try and get more bars! 

HOME & OFFICE:

When you’re at home or in the office, your cell phone signal should just work. But building materials, obstruction from trees or buildings, and even geography can block your cell service. Our cell phone boosters for home and office make sure you never have to go hunting for a signal again. Being unable to take phone calls or use your mobile devices in your home or office can be incredibly frustrating and even interfere with your production at work. End the frustration by bypassing the elements that can block cell service with a cell phone booster for home and office. Get the coverage you need to make the connections necessary for your home and work life.

 Why You Need it & What You Can Do With It:

What lies behind the desire for home automation is often a complex question.  Some may want their home to showcase exceptional technology or to entertain guests, while others may want a powerful experience that helps to ease the actions of their everyday lives.  But almost universally, users of home automation systems want one thing: to feel safe and secure in their homes and businesses. 

 "Network stability is the foundation for every smart home. It’s not just a nice to have, it’s a requirement." - Jamie Lee Corpuz, Marketing Communications Specialist with Pakedge

 Whether you spend a little or a ton on an AV system or a smart home system, its performance is only as good as the network it runs on. Would you buy a high performance Lamborghini sports car and fill it with unleaded regular gasoline? Of course not, but that is exactly what you do when you use the basic plain ol modem/router/wireless unit that your internet provider suplies you with.  Unfortunatly the only time you think about your network is when you lose connectivity, or when your system doesn’t work the way you thought it would. But this is exactly why the network matters. The more devices you connect, the smarter your home is, and the more important your network becomes.

 If you’ve ever experienced lower than expected download speeds, poor quality video  streaming, your connected devices just don’t seem to work well, etc...then you’ve likely  experienced a network break down. Ironically, most people don’t realize it’s a network  issue, and they falsely blame the AV system or the device for the problem. An enterprise  grade network is the “secret” ingredient in pro AV and smart home installations.      

 When most people first get their automation system, the installers keep asking what kind of “scenes” you want. & most people respond with a Blank stare & I had no idea what they were talking about. That is totally fine! We however, can pretty much guarantee that soon, they will become your best friend!

A “scene” in automation world is a combination of controlled events that are activated at the touch of a button, or if you choose to automate them you can set them to trigger based on a time of day or some other event, like the lights & music coming on shortly after you wake up! Pretty Nifty huh!

Here are some examples of some of our favorites:

 ♪ ♫ ♬ AMAZING AUDIO IN ANY ENVIRONMENT! ♪ ♫ ♬

If you want your sound systems to sound great no matter what type of space it is in, this amp is deifinitely the way to go! Heres why:

 The new line of DSP amplifiers feature SONARC (Sonance Advanced Room Correction), which offers hundreds of presets designed specifically for Sonance speakers! They make it very easy to access with simple pull down menus. The presets enable effortless DSP without the need for additional hardware, software, and more importantly time. Additionally, should there be a need for further customization, SONARC provides options for that as well! 

 Are you a Big Sports fan? Let's see, with March Madness starting today, NBA Play offs April 16th and the & MLB starting April 3rd I can't think of a better time for a TV, Projector or Home Theater Upgrade! Every year sees new models that are bigger, better, with more features and lower pries. When is that point where the performance difference of a new device is worth the hassle and the cost?

 The Control4 philosophy is as straightforward as it is simple: life's better when everything and everyone works together. From a company strategy perspective, Control4 stands behind an open platform: we are committed to interoperability so both Control4 dealers and customers can count on a system that communicates with and controls virtually anything and everything in the home.

 A few years ago, a little thing called the “app” changed the way people interact with the electronics in their homes. With so much hoopla surrounding control apps, it can be easy to forget about one of the most respected user-interfaces available: the dedicated touch screen.  

Don’t let this tried-and-true mode of control slip your mind, though. The dedicated touchscreen, like the new 7- and 10-inch models from Control4, offers a wealth of benefits that no other type of interface can match. The user-interface on a touch screen presents a great deal of information about your house—all in high-resolution quality—from reviewing the current settings of your home’s thermostats and lights, to receiving a status report of electronic door locks and viewing the current weather forecast. With all the pertinent data at your fingertips, organized and laid out in a manner that’s easy to read, the touch screen is arguably the most engaging and intuitive of all user interfaces.

 We’ve heard it many times, “Time to meet in the boardroom". But let’s be honest, how many times do you get ultra-excited to commence another discussion full of PowerPoint presentations and laser pointers that conk out in the middle of the presentation. Chances are you’re reading bored-room instead of boardroom on your way in. So, why aren’t you excited to get in the boardroom? The reason why you’re not fully engaged these days isn’t because of the compelling information you are discussing with your colleagues or presenting to your group.  Perhaps it’s because the technology in the room itself is outdated.

Whether you’re just starting a business or you’re looking to take your company to the next level, we can do a boardroom technology installation to make your work environment more convenient and effective. Easy-to-use controls can transform the way you conduct meetings, communicate with employees and manage your day. Plus, a strong network and integrated system will allow you to control every aspect of your conference room with the touch of a single button.

 5 Reasons You should Leave your Security to Professionals:

A professionally monitored system can stay up to date with less effort than a self-maintained system. Security systems come in a lot of different varieties. If you install and monitor the system yourself, you might only have an alarm set up for the front and back doors, or you might also include sensors on windows. With security monitoring, you get a lot more for your money.

 Whether you’re planning on making renovations to your home by motorizing your window treatments or if you’re in the process of having a new house built, you might want to know about the many advantages of having motorized window blinds. As you’ll soon see, it is not limited to having control over the lighting in the rooms of your home. It offers you so much more. You might be thinking of this as an added expense. Let us assure you that your motorized blinds will pay for themselves even before the year is up!

 How to Create an Outdoor AV Haven for all Seasons:

If you’re planning your new home, you’ve probably noticed that “interior” design has found its way outside. In modern homes, the backyard patio, deck or pool area can often be as elaborate as any inside space, sometimes incorporating a full kitchen, extensive seating and dining areas, and, of course, electronic entertainment. That means getting sound and video, normally enjoyed under the protection of a roof, safely outdoors. It also means being sure your AV equpiment is protected from the weather in all seasons.  

Forget 4K, 8K TV is the window into the future we’ve been waiting for!

The market has been flooded in recent years with higher resolution TVs that promise more detail and better picture quality. For television buyers, there’s only one letter that will truly matter in the future and that’s the letter K. Consumers who have shopped for TVs lately have undoubtedly been asked what version of high definition they’re after. The vast majority of televisions today come with a 1080p resolution. Recently, however, an increasing number of televisions have hit store shelves that deliver 4K resolution. 

Conserving energy at home shouldn’t require you to sacrifice comfort or make you feel deprived. With an automation system in control of your house, you don’t need to be uncomfortable or inconvenienced to conserve energy. The system is able to operate the lights, thermostats, and other power-hungry devices with the best efficiency. The system gives you the power to easily shave money off your monthly utility bill. Here are five ways an automation system can help manage energy efficiency:

1. All Off:  No longer worry about if you left a light on, a curling iron heating up, or the music playing as you leave the house. An “All Off” command, which can be issued from a keypad, touch screen, tablet or your smartphone can tell an automation system to sweep through the house to turn off and adjust devices as needed. The closing of the front door, the arming of a security system or a signal from a motion sensor can also be programmed to trigger the house wide “All Off” command.
2. Curtain Call: Sunlight can quickly heat up a room, causing your AC system to go into overdrive. Motorized shades, when automated, can close at certain times of the day or when a sensor notices a heavy amount of sunshine.
3. Stat Patrol: Thermostats can be finicky pieces of technology. But with an automation system in charge, their built-in schedulers become easier to manipulate. Plus, you’ll be able to sync the stats with the operation of other electronic devices; for instance, when the automation system tells the lights to turn off; the thermostats can automatically set back too.
4. Spin Cycle: Ceiling fans help circulate warm and cool air, making your heating and cooling system work more efficiently. By automating the fans, they can turn on and off at certain predetermined times of the day.
5. E-Motion: Use motion sensors to make sure lights are only on when people are actually in the room. Why waste energy lighting an unoccupied room? And we all know that kids – and some adults – have a physical inability to turn a light off when they leave a room. Motion sensors ensure that lights are on for safety and use when a room is occupied, and go off when they are no longer needed.

Our company offers several energy efficient products and automation options for you to choose from! From Control4 and Nest Thermostats to lighting control and full home automations systems weve got youu covered! Call us today to discuss your options and start saving energy and money today!