Malibu Wired Offers Reliable, Time-Tested Home Automation That Won't Leave You In The Dark

A smart home furnishes you with the power to shape your environment to suit your needs and desires. When done right, the intuitive interfaces revamp your spaces into a complete ecosystem, providing the perfect level of comfort and convenience. All these things are possible when you invest in a reliable platform that continues to innovate and won't let you down or leave you with an unresponsive system.

A lot of Insteon users found this out the hard way in the past week. After going out of business, the company shut off its servers last week—suddenly leaving all its users without the ability to control their systems. If you woke up recently to find your Los Angeles, CA home in the dark, the team at Malibu Wired can get you up and running with expert Insteon replacement products and services.

We’ll help you upgrade your smart home with expert solutions from our partners at Lutron and Control4. Find out what these companies have to offer and why they are a trustworthy alternative!

Building or Remodeling? Explore These Powered Window Treatment Options

You may be upgrading to a dream property in Beverly Hills, downsizing to a condo on Wilshire, or perhaps doing an extensive remodel of a beautiful home. No matter the project, you’re likely imagining the window treatments for the spaces. And if you are, you should consider powered options.

Powered window treatments come in many options; you might be surprised by the variety. No matter your objectives, from the aesthetic to the practical, there’s a motorized custom window treatment that will fit your style. Let’s explore four popular options below.

What to Know about Surround Sound for Home Theaters

As you may well know, surround sound for home theater has been around for decades. In the 1990s, multichannel audio components with Dolby Surround started appearing. Surround sound then was very basic. In fact, these first components initially took stereo and synthesized it into surround sound! But things progressed quickly after that.

We don't have room to cover all the history here, but surround sound has come a long, long way. No home theater should be without great surround audio; it is part and parcel of the movie experience. As a home theater company, we know there are many ways to get an excellent surround experience in your Calabasas, CA home cinema or media room. We’ll get into some of the basics below!

Thoughtful Lighting Design Goes a Long Way

Lighting is probably one of those things that you don’t think about unless there’s something wrong with it. You’ll struggle to read in too-dim light, and you may hate the glare from shiny kitchen countertops with overly bright overhead lighting. If a room might seem "cold," maybe it's the color temperature of the light and not the room.

These are the kinds of details professional residential lighting designers love to work out. Keep reading below to learn how to avoid these ills in your Pacific Palisades, CA home.

How a Pro Can Optimize Your Audio

When shopping for a new or upgraded hi-fi audio setup, there’s quite a bit to choose from. The choices, in fact, might be overwhelming. You may want to incorporate existing equipment, or you may want or need something totally new. You need to decide on speakers from what seems to be an infinite range of choices. You need to decide on source equipment, amplifiers, streamers, and other items. Do you go with integrated components or separates?

You might already have a good idea of what you want in your Calabasas, CA home, or you may be open to choices you hadn’t considered. Either way, it might behoove you to think about working with a home audio consultant. Here are three ways an expert consultant – like Malibu Wired – can help.

The Next Generation Loudspeaker

Meridian Audio is a different type of audio company. There are two technology sides to audio, digital and analog. By its physical nature, audio is analog, as sound is produced in sound waves that we hear. And for much of recorded audio history, sound was reproduced by analog methods, whether sourced from vinyl or tape. The CD revolutionized how audio was distributed by doing so in a digital format, and digital technology has now permeated every facet of audio.

Meridian Audio has been at the forefront of technology throughout the digital era. And one of those pioneering efforts has been in active speakers, where the speaker does not need external amplification. Meridian does this to ensure that high-resolution digital signals are not compromised by analog conversion; they go straight into the speaker itself. With Meridian's latest speaker, the DSP8000XE, they've established a new standard for speakers in the digital audio area. Read on below to see how the DSP8000XE can redefine the audio experience in your Santa Monica, CA listening room or home theater.

Your Smart Home Can Get Smarter Still

We all know that technology never takes a step backward (at least so far), and nowhere is the pace of innovation more evident than in smart home automation. As the recently concluded CES technology summit demonstrated, smart home technology is permeating everything – even smart toilets. 

As a premier smart home consultant in the Calabasas and Los Angeles area, we like to stay on top of the latest trends. Smart toilets may be a thing, but we’ve put together the three megatrends that we believe are driving home automation forward in 2022. Please stay with us below!

The Home Theater Becomes a Media Entertainment Hub

Beverly Hills, understandably, is a town that understands film, theaters, and the entertainment industry. Beverly Hills residents had home theaters before home cinema was a thing anywhere else. And with some of the best commercial theaters in the country right here in Los Angeles and Westwood, we all understand a great theater experience.

Unfortunately, as we all know, the pandemic has taken its toll on the in-theater movie business. Streaming platforms have reduced theatrical releases to short theater runs. If you’re in the film business, that may be an issue for you. But if you’re a film fan, it’s never been a better time to have a home theater! Chances are you already have a home theater or media room of a sort, and you may be looking for ways to enhance your experience. As a leading home theater company in Beverly Hills and L.A., we'd like to share some of the top trends we see in home theaters for 2022. While not completely new, you're going to see a lot more of these in the future!

Intelligent Security = Safer Home

Surveillance systems used to be demanding applications to deploy. To make the most of having a view on your property, someone had to keep an eye on the screen. Look away for a moment, and suspicious activity might be missed. Of course, with modern AI security camera systems, intelligent software can replace the human eye and alert you to activity you need to know about. 

But what else can this new level of intelligence do to keep your family and property safer in your Bel Air, CA home? Keep reading below to learn about three innovative smart surveillance features you’ll want this year. 

Explore the Advantages of Hardwired Powered Window Treatments 

Perhaps you’ve found the perfect home in West Hollywood. Unfortunately, the interior design is stuck in the 80s, when Spago was the "it" restaurant, and Madonna and Michael ruled the charts. Of course, you’re planning an extensive remodel to bring the home’s style into the 21st century.

Choosing new custom window treatments for your California Spanish Colonial will be an exciting part of the project. Since this isn’t the 80s, you’ll have the option of powered window treatments for the ultimate in smart home convenience. But you should plan ahead, as you’ll have more and better options for window treatments as you plan other aspects of your remodel. Keep reading to learn more below!

Meridian Audio Solutions are Designed for the Digital Age

High-fidelity audio has gone through several transformations in its long history. The modern era of recorded music was kicked off in 1878 with Thomas Edison’s invention of the phonograph. That scratchy first audio component might not be high-fidelity today, but it was improved on continuously, and vinyl still lives on today as a high-quality format.

But the most important transformation for recorded music was to digital, which started in earnest with the CD. The CD made music more compact, portable, and ultimately transportable. And we all know what has happened since then, with most of the world's recorded music available with a few taps on a screen through the magic of the internet. It's safe to say Edison never envisioned that!

Meridian Audio was born in 1977, just before the dawn of the CD era. They’ve always marched to a different beat of the audio drum, investing early in digital technology and pioneering high-resolution digital audio formats, active speakers, and of late, MQA high-resolution audio for internet streaming.

Keep reading to see why our home audio consultants recommend Meridian Audio solutions for state-of-the-art sound in Bel Air, CA homes.

Gain Peace of Mind with Intelligent Surveillance

Much is written about artificial intelligence and machine learning these days. While some seem to warn about robot overlords and humans losing control of the world, the reality is far more positive. For example, do you like how you can look for pictures of your dog on the phone by searching for "dog"? That's artificial intelligence at work, utilizing the power of advanced computing to identify details in an image to indeed identify a dog rather than a cat, squirrel, or something else. It might seem easy now, but it took many years of advancement in software and computing power to get here.

Besides making it easy to find dog pictures, machine learning has also impacted video surveillance. AI security camera systems offer a new level of smarter, more powerful security for your Westwood, CA home. Keep reading below to learn more about the advantages of AI security cameras.

Maximize Comfort and Productivity with the Right Illumination

The pandemic of the past two years made working from home the rule rather than the exception for many professionals in all types of roles. While many are returning to their California offices now, a funny thing has happened. While working from home has its challenges, both workers and companies discovered that productivity and effectiveness, rather than waning, continued to thrive. Now, many professionals want to continue working from home at least part of the time.

What does that mean? If you work from home a significant portion of the time, you understand the importance of a distraction-free, comfortable workspace. And one of the critical elements of comfort is light. Good lighting makes for a good workspace, while poor lighting can lead to fatigue and a lack of productivity. Here are three tips recommended by residential lighting designers for a cheery and fruitful home office workspace in your Beverly Hills home.

What to Think about When Choosing a Home Theater Display

We’d venture to say that when people think about a new home theater, the first thought might be about what type of screen they envision and how big it can be. It makes sense; a big screen is a large part of the cinematic experience. Fortunately, the options for large screens continue to multiply, enabling you to have a small home theater in your bedroom and a huge one in a dedicated room, with both providing an exceptional viewing experience.

To get you started thinking about your home cinema, we’ve put together a basic Q&A about home theater screens. While this blog can start your thinking about options, the best way to choose the ideal display is to partner with a home theater company like Malibu Wired, which can do everything from design to installation in your West Hollywood, CA home. Keep reading below to learn more about home theater displays and screens.

From Buttons to Voice, It’s All Your Choice

Does Sinatra’s “My Way” resonate with you? Do you like the power and flexibility of choice? If you’re also interested in smart home automation, then you might be interested in the rest of this blog. 

Some smart home solutions want to give you one way of doing things. Many can only harness their full power with an app on a smart device. Who wants to be tied down to one way of doing things? Control4 is a smart home company that gets it. Control4 is the home automation system that lets you manage your home your way. From touch screens to real buttons to the sound of your voice, the smart home consultants at Malibu Wired will have you directing your Beverly Hills smart home your way – just like Sinatra! It won't be “California Dreamin’” when you keep reading below – you can do it your way.

There’s a Style for Almost Any Window

If you’re considering custom window treatments for your Pacific Palisades home, you've got a huge array of options from which to choose. You may be intrigued by motorized shades and treatments, but you think that might limit your style choices. That may have been true in the past, but no more. Powered custom window treatments from Lutron come in an almost dizzying array of styles, fabrics, and colors. 

Lutron’s stated mission is all about managing light, and automated, motorized shading fits perfectly with the goal of harnessing and managing natural light in the home. Keep reading to learn about eight Lutron window treatment styles you can employ in your Southern California home. 

Safeguard Your Premises with Intelligent, Scalable Surveillance

Are you still relying on out-of-date surveillance systems? If you are, you’re not alone. Many businesses are still using older analog Closed-Circuit TV (CCTV) camera systems for basic surveillance. But if you are, you are missing out on much more flexible solutions based on digital technologies and advanced intelligence that can keep your premises safer. AI security camera systems use powerful processing, software upgradability, cloud connectivity, and advanced analytics to give you much more robust security capabilities. Continue reading below to learn more about this smarter security solution. 

Discover a More Magical Way to Control Your Luxury Smart Home

Malibu Wired is committed to delivering tailored technology solutions that simplify your lifestyle and beautify your interiors. With that mission in mind, we’re thrilled to provide our discerning customers a revolutionary way to command their smart homes through Josh.ai Ready Wallplates by Lutron!

Lutron and Josh.ai announced this monumental product partnership on August 18, 2021, revealing a first-of-its-kind voice-integrated keypad that combines convenient tactile control of smart home scenes with the power of total home control through natural voice commands.

Below, read more about the exciting Josh.ai Ready Wallplate by Lutron and reach out to our smart home consultants to learn how to bring this solution to your home in Santa Monica, CA.

What Makes VSSL Different? Our Home Audio Consultants Tell All

A few years ago, a small group of music enthusiasts realized how difficult it was to find a straightforward, universal connected amplifier that made it easy to play music anywhere in the home, from any source. So, they decided to create their own. In 2017, the first VSSL multiroom amp was born.

As the company says, VSSL lets you “set your music free” by streaming all your favorite tunes to all the wired speakers in your Beverly Hills, CA home. If you’re looking for a fun and easy way to stream music wirelessly to any and every room, then the home audio consultants at Malibu Wired recommend VSSL.

Keep reading to learn the features of VSSL and how it stands apart from other popular competitors!

Every Home Looks Better in the Right Light

When it comes to home interiors, the right lighting can turn a house into a spectacular residence. Even a home with the best furnishings and design can be let down by poorly executed lighting. Read below for some of the best ideas that residential lighting designers use to make the finest homes in Santa Monica, CA, shine.