With 2021 drawing to a close, the global electronics manufacturer Crestron is making one last road trip to provide integrators in the residential and commercial markets one last opportunity to interact with the company via its Crestron Next tour.
Following the company’s recently completed exhibit in Orlando, Fla., as part of the InfoComm trade event, the company headed north to Boston. Setting up shop in the center of Boston Proper—in Copley Square—the N.J.-based manufacturer conducted two days’ worth of training sessions and product demonstrations on Nov. 17 and 18.
“I think it is really important to show Crestron Home to dealers. The platform has been out for a couple of years now and being here at the event and seeing things live is very different to watching webinars or going to a website and digesting the information.”
Michael Short, marketing director, global residential and marine, Crestron Electronics.
Focusing on the residential side of the company’s stop in Boston, Crestron emphasized its Home platform and the growing ecosystem Home provides integrators. Showing the Home platform covers everything from work from home (WFH), and power management, to lighting and shades, and whole-house AV entertainment, Crestron had a number of products on display representing each of these categories and representatives ready to answer Next tour attendee show questions.
“I think it is really important to show Crestron Home to dealers. The platform has been out for a couple of years now and being here at the event and seeing things live is very different to watching webinars or going to a website and digesting the information,” stresses Michael Short, marketing director, global residential and marine, Crestron Electronics.
“Crestron Home over the past two years has had 10 huge operating system updates and being able to physically come and see where the platform is at; to see where the products have come into the platform and into solutions is so important.”
Crestron Next Tour Highlights Latest Home Products
Taking up two floors in the Westin Copley Square Hotel, the lower floor featured classrooms in which Crestron hosted educational seminars for residential and commercial integrators. The second floor, which was a ballroom, featured product displays from its residential and commercial product lines that were divided up by tables full of food and drink for Next show attendees.
Looking at some of the new products on display during the event, Crestron showed its new cloud-based, IP controllable line of power strips.
The Crestron Network Power Controllers are available in 12- and 18-outlet versions and they provide built-in monitoring, power-cycle scheduling and sequencing options. Crestron points out the power products also incorporate traditional features such as surge protection, power conditioning, including EMI and RF noise filtering, and adjustable over/under voltage cutoff.
Additionally, the Power Controllers offer self-healing, and when used with the Crestron Home app, Crestron Home provides a new device health dashboard that dealers and homeowners can use for alerts to quickly assess and fix potential problems.
Another new line of products on display during the Next tour event was Crestron’s highly anticipated line of battery-powered shades.
These shades are engineered to natively integrate into Crestron Home, and with the launch of these products the company offers integrators and their clients a choice of wired, wireless and battery-powered shade options. Crestron notes that its shade options enable integrators to address new construction and retrofit installations, and the battery-powered models provide easy access to the products’ battery storage compartments to allow either homeowners or integrators to quickly change batteries.
Crestron adds that it is supporting the shades with more than 400 fabrics, including 240 designer-lead fabric choices, as well as its custom-color match capabilities, and architectural and décor brackets that allow for integrators to meet the requirements of homeowners and interior designers.
Over in the world of AV, Crestron displayed its DM NAX AV over IP amplifiers, which were first introduced back in June 2021.
When the DM NAX line of products were first announced John Clancy, executive vice president, residential, Crestron Residential, stated that Crestron’s new, state-of-the-art amplifiers allows homeowners to switch between a wealth of sources, including TV, streaming media, alarms, doorbells and intercom services easily.
“DM NAX takes whole-home audio to a new level by removing the scale and functionality constraints that used to bog down usability,” Clancy said.
“DM NAX is a solution that is easy for dealers to configure and provides effortless audio distribution that a homeowner can operate from their phone, touchscreen, remote, or tablet.”
The products support integrators’ ability to scale as many as 256 stereo zones without the need for custom network components or customized network designs. Crestron emphasizes the turnkey interoperability of the amplifiers with its Home platform enables dealers to provide instant entertainment throughout a home.
Using the Crestron Home or Crestron One app, the company continues, allows users to add streaming services as it expands the capabilities of the product line. Some of the current services and technologies the DM NAX line supports includes SiriusXM, Spotify Connect, Apple AirPlay 2, Amazon Connected Speakers and iHeartRadio.
Over the next few months, the Crestron Next tour will stop in cities that include Chicago and Long Beach, Calif., before making its way to Europe in 2022.
