What better place to hold a product launch than the most famous launchpad in the world? That’s exactly what outdoor technology specialist Coastal Source did on Saturday, Feb. 24, when it unveiled its important new lighting and audio solutions at a dealer event at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.

CEO Franco D’Ascanio, a huge model rocket hobbyist, was thrilled to be in his element as he and the Coastal Source team welcomed about 100 of their top dealers nationwide – and a crowd of 200+ overall including dealers’ significant others, reps, manufacturing partners, family, and press including CE Pro.

Indeed, there was even a scheduled rocket launch that everyone would have had a perfect view of, but unfortunately it was scrubbed, and guests had to settle for watching a stunning golden moonrise.

“There’s a couple of really interesting things that we spent some time looking at the space program and the Apollo and Saturn [event building]. This mission that the country went on years ago had 400,000 people working on and contributing to get us to the moon and back again was an amazing team effort, and that’s really the first pillar of why we’re here, because if you look around the room and we think about Coastal Source it’s really about the people,” notes President Jeff Poggi, who joined that team last fall.

“Another piece of that is technology,” he continues. “This ‘small’ rocket above us is a pretty amazing piece of technology, and we’ve spent the past 15 years trying to bring interesting technologies to the outdoor experience.”

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Defying the Elements for 15 Years at Coastal Source

The last piece of why they gathered at the Kennedy Space Center had to do with the company’s tagline, “Defy the Elements,” Poggi adds.

“There’s nothing more like defying the elements than going into outer space. So I think we found the most wonderful space to define the key aspects of Coastal Source,” he enthuses.

While the harshest environment of all might be in outer space, the Space Coast and the rest of Florida, where Coastal has a large presence, has among the roughest environments here on Earth.

Between the near-daily thunderstorms, lightning strikes, grueling heat and humidity, salty marine air, and sandy beach debris impacting projects (not to mention the occasional alligator trespassing in people’s backyards), the outdoor products have to be rock-solid.

The event also served as a celebration of the company’s 15th anniversary. Along with showcasing the product introductions, Coastal Source also presented awards to top dealers, reps, and technology partners during a dinner and presentation held under the massive Saturn V rocket.

Coastal Source Chairman Harold Zimmermann and D’Ascanio, who have been very close over the company’s history as business partners, followed Poggi at the podium. D’Ascanio delighted in explaining and highlighting the versatility of the latest solutions in the broader context of historical outdoor lighting and audio challenges.

“Our plug-and-play cabling system, which is second-to-none, is more reliable, is higher performing, and is faster – time is money and we’re very sensitive to that,” he says.

“The future is our EVO outdoor lighting. It’s quite beautiful … Harold coined the term that it is ‘jewelry,’ so we built some really nice cases for it. The heart of the EVO system is the EVO modules. The solid brass module is more powerful, so EVO’s brighter [than previous products], it has a wider beam angle, and better optics than lamps and modules that are much larger. In addition, the brass housing is a replaceable module, so you’re not going to throw the fixture away like you are with integrator fixtures.”

Plus, all the technology is in the module itself – all the electronics, the driver, the Cree LED, the cabling, the connector, the optics, and most importantly the water proofing elements – is completely standalone, D’Ascanio notes.

Coastal Source Showcases Audio Advancements

Before the evening portion was staged, guests had the opportunity to spend morning and afternoon hours touring the fascinating Kennedy Space Center. Then, as twilight turned into nighttime, attendees enjoyed a hands-on look and listening experience with Coastal Source’s next-generation Bollard Series outdoor speakers and EVO outdoor lighting series.

Of course, the new products were the true stars of the spectacular event. Whether it was coincidence or not, the audio and lighting solutions take a page from modular rocket design by offering their own high degree of modularity for flexible installation options.

Integrators can mix and match modules, as D’Ascanio demonstrated and were on display outside, to create larger or less intrusive satellite speakers and subwoofers. Plus, they can be daisy-chained for simple and scalable installation despite being 8 ohms and not 70-volt.

It had been a long time coming for Coastal to reimagine its standard-setting 10.0 Bollard Series, but its second-generation Bollard 1000 Series appears to be worth the wait. The new speakers feature improved power handling, clarity, and tonal accuracy, the company notes, while maintaining stellar bass response in two styles of sealed enclosures.

“What we did is now the shape of the speaker is an oval front to back. It’s still the same width as our 10.0 Bollard line, but the 1000 Series now adds about 33% more cabinet volume,” explains Adam Domurad, a former integrator who is now a sales & marketing specialist for Coastal Source.

“So, we have more sound quality, we have better volume if you want. It’s also a stronger speaker too, because on the inside of the speaker we have a sealed conduit that the drivers are connected to – the woofer is four 6.5-inch woofers all up against that conduit – so we dissipate heat that way and we add a lot of rigidity to the speaker, which is always a good thing.”

More Details on New EVO Outdoor Lighting

Meanwhile, the modular EVO Lighting Series combines heightened design aesthetics (including traditional and a cool nautilus shaped fixture housings that can be installed with or without hats) and elegance with an extensive selection of forms and customizations to light any space, and in a slimmer form factor, the company states.

The EVO light engine will come in three configurations – STANDARD power, HIGH power, and TUNABLE. The HIGH power LED will deliver the light output of a MR16 bulb from a fixture that is 50% smaller, enabling lighting designers to discreetly place the fixtures so the effect is seen but the fixture stays hidden.

The TUNABLE module will provide professionals system design control of white color tuning and brightness control via an APP. The EVO Lighting Series offers partners more options to customize heights, optical lenses, and finishes on both directional and 360-degree fixtures, Coastal adds.

“The EVO line is the evolution of our lighting lines all in one now, everything we’ve learned in one package here,” Domurad comments.

“And its modular just like the audio, you can kind of build your own thing. And our new module that we have is more powerful than our MR16, but in a much smaller form factor – so now we’re doing a better job of letting you see the lighting without seeing the light. So, more power, better heat dissipation – the whole thing is a heat sink – better gaskets and weatherizing, everything about it is a top-performing model compared to what we have today.”

Look for the new solutions to start shipping later this year.

As for the awards, Coastal Source Director of Sales Pete Sepesi had the task of announcing the winners. This year’s Dealer Awards went to:

• Luxury Illumination, Performance Award
• ETC Florida, Outdoor Experience Award
• Hidden Creek Landscaping, Founders Award

The Manufacturer’s Rep Awards went to:

• NuTech Group, Top Performance Award
• LK & Associates, Biggest Project Award
• SoundTech & NuTech Group, Moving On Up Award
• LK & Associates, Rep Firm of the Year Award

For the Partner Awards, winners were Dai-ichi and Lutron/Ketra (Coastal’s Ketra-ready Modulus Bullet Light was introduced last year) in audio and lighting, respectively.

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