Residential Tech Talks

On this week’s podcast, Eric Crawford joins us from Boise, ID, where he is owner of The Loop, a custom integration firm serving The Treasure Valley area of Idaho. Jeremy connected with Eric years ago to discuss his CEDIA class on the importance of having a great process for designing, building, installing, and servicing integrated home systems. Since then he’s always there for ResTech when they needed a quote in the magazine, but this is the first time they’ve done a deeper dive into Eric’s...

On this week’s podcast, Heather Sidorowicz joins us from Hamburg, NY, where she is owner of Southtown Audio Video, Western New York’s premier audio-visual company. Heather is a Residential Tech Today contributing writer and former CEDIA board member. Today, during her third Residential Tech Talks appearance, Heather shares her favorite discoveries from last week’s InfoComm trade show, a convention that is primarily focused on the commercial AV integration market. InfoComm is a great place...

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 lighting and lighting design. Through his insightful and entertaining writing on his own...

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. Scott has been with Hunter Douglas now for almost five years, but his residential tech career...

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 the insights and resources needed to develop, market, and manufacture products and services for...

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 new AV products over the past two years and his team pulled off an impressive showroom...

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 Tony Kanaan and his custom-built racing simulators. Jeremy had the chance to attend a...

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 specifically the technical training that is needed in this industry. Last year at this time, they...

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 new strategic partnership with Keith Yates Design, the theater design and acoustical engineering...

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 starting his own business. With SoundVision, he is responsible for day-to-day operations, as well as...

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 years of extensive retail experience, including Wireless Advocates, where he served as the...

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 Installation and Extended Warranty Business Unit in the Americas at Bose Corporation. During that time,...

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, since her previous appearance 15 months ago, two really cool things have happened for her. She...

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 firm is actively involved in their local NARI branch, which is the National Association of the...

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 called Premiere SAV to better serve the ever-expanding needs of those in that area of the...

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 integrated manufacturing facility. Being a true manufacturer, the Port Washington, NY-based company has...

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 one of the most entertaining people to follow on Facebook, arguably the number-one party host...

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 Proof Is Possible Tour, and the show follows Corbett and Grace in their Tiny Lab as they use...

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 what we may have missed by not attending these two massive events at the Orange County Convention...

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 working with Origin, having assisted with product development as a consultant. This is not the...