In the world of technology, seeing is believing. For one homeowner in Woodbury, Tennessee, he had the benefit of seeing the latest and greatest technology in his neighbor’s smart home. That neighbor is AV integrator Cobb Home Innovations, and that home is an experience center outfitted with the latest AV and smart home control solutions.

With the ability to get up close and personal with the latest tech, a vision for his own home theater operated with smart control took shape.

“He went through our experience center, which takes about 2.5 hours to do the full tour,” says Cobb Home Innovations’ Hugh Cobb.

“We close 99.9% of the people who go through the whole tour; they can sit and listen to see how the home theater performs and learn about smart home, shades, lighting and all that.” Indeed, the project grew to include lighting, shades, and AV — all controlled from one Pro Control Pro24.z remote.

Affordability, Scalability Lead to Cobb Home Innovations to Pro Control

The homeowner wanted to invest as much as possible in custom touches — from the entrance to the “concession stand” to the lighting and the audio enclosures, to a sitting area where the UK native can sit and drink tea before enjoying a movie. But he didn’t want to choose between spending on that or control for the theater room.

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With that in mind, Cobb suggested Pro Control, an affordable control solution that works with professional and consumer AV technology alike. It was an ideal solution that met the homeowner’s criteria, and could be scaled to address the rest of the home.

“Since the project began as just the home theater, we started with Pro Control,” says Cobb, who used the ProLink.z Processor. “But as it scaled to include lighting, shades, and AV, the Pro Control Z-Series was easily up to the task.”

Building Out the Room with Custom Touches

Cobb Home Innovations started the project from scratch, completely gutting the space upstairs and transforming it into a home office area with a closed-off home theater worthy of a dramatic entrance.

Before walking into the room, illuminated movie posters set the scene and make the owners feel just like they’re having a night out. Past the padded door to the theater visitors are greeted by a concession area, outfitted with a popcorn machine, soft drink fridge, a freezer for pints of ice cream, and microwave.

It also houses the room’s equipment rack, where Cobb’s team can easily access the gear. There, the ProLink.z processor commands the rack’s Yamaha Aventage series flagship receiver, Blu-ray player (with playback ability for regionally formatted and produced DVDs), Apple TV, Lutron lighting, Panamax power, AC Infinity cooling, and the star ceiling lighting processors.

“We’re one of the few dealers in the area that does star ceilings,” Cobb notes.

Huge Display Augmented by High-Performance Audio

Rather than go with a projector, the client selected a massive 98-inch Samsung smart 4K flat panel. Tiny ceiling puck lights and star ceiling panel combine to make a special lighting show while wall sconces and under seating and floor lighting round out the lighting effects.

Audio includes Sonos — which also is in the adjacent home office — while MartinLogan Motion Series speakers deliver high-powered sonic impact. Along with speakers flanking the screen, Cobb custom designed the subwoofers for enclosures under the tiered seating, using a pair of 10-inch subs to complement 12-inch subs up front. Pro Control does the rest.

“When the homeowner sits down, he can hit a button, the lights go down, the screen comes on, and he’s in theater mode instantly,” said Cobb. In addition, there’s “wake mode” to power everything up, “concession mode” that illuminates that area, as well as “shutdown mode” for easy exit.

“We do a lot of homes with Pro Control, but this is the most integration we’ve done with it,” Cobb notes. “It didn’t matter what we threw at it, it was still very simple and intuitive.”

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