You may have noticed some not-so-subtle changes to the ACS online presence. We are in the midst of an exciting expansion to further promote our national reputation as a factory-authorized and trained dealer and installer of the finest A/V, Lighting Control, Motorized Shading, Network and Home Integration equipment anywhere on the web. Part of that development includes this new blog presence.

We’re going to be using this space to announce important ACS company news, spotlight preferred manufacturers and components, and generally keep in touch. If you have a need for custom electronics design and integration, whether for your home or business, this is going to be an excellent resource for you.

ACS has an expansive array of services, including:

• Automated Shading
• Home Theater Design
• High End Audio
• Lighting Control
• Managed Home Networking
• Integrated Living Solutions and much, much more!

With offices in the New York Metro region, Los Angeles and South Florida, ACS is among the largest residential Audio/Video, Lighting Control and Home Integration companies in the country. Anyone anywhere, from Maine to Washington, who’s looking for technology solutions that respond to their lifestyle while maintaining their home’s architecture and interior design, should give us a call! We’re here to build lifelong relationships with our customers and look forward to demonstrating our expertise.

One of the fastest growing companies in the luxury smart home market, Savant has become a recognized leader in home integration.  Today its systems are compatible with more than 5,000 products encompassing lighting, climate, entertainment, security as well as an in-home communication system that allows you to talk from your phone to the speakers in the house.  Are you in Metro New York?  Audio Command Systems can design a home integration system that will revolutionize the way in which you interact with your home.

Relationship with Apple®

Savant has formed a strong alliance with Apple and uses its hardware, in particular the Mac Mini, to run the software. Savant also uses Apple devices, including iPhones and wall-mounted iPods and iPads, to control and adjust the various subsystems within a home. Like most Apple products, the Savant System is easy to understand from the get-go and syncs automatically with all your Apple devices. Savant was also the first home integration company to develop an app for iOS, called TrueControl™. The app allows even the most discerning homeowner the ability to customize the way they interact with their home. Ease-of-use and attractiveness are two key features of the Savant system.

One example of how friendly the Savant experience can be involves taking pictures. Snap of photo of your living room using Savant’s TrueImage Control® and it becomes the touch screen to control your home. Press the lamp in your photo and it comes on. Turn on the TV, thermostat, and even your fireplace with a one touch. Using Apple’s iCloud service allows the Savant system to distribution audio throughout the entire home as well.

Total Control of Every Aspect of Your Home from Anywhere

Light in your home is not merely functional; it’s part of the décor, enhancing every experience within the space.  Whether it’s an evening curled up on the sofa with a favorite movie, a laughter-filled dinner party, or a serene afternoon in a quiet corner with a best-selling novel, Lutron offers an unrivalled range of lighting control solutions that can create and enhance a mood.  Strong and bright, soft and subtle, or dramatic and theatrical; see what light can do for your life.  ACS’ years of experience allow us to deliver a truly individual solution for your home. For decades ACS has partnered with Lutron for its continual advancement in redefining how you control light in a space. The latest innovation is the Palladiom™ keypad.

With Lutron’s Palladiom keypads pressing one button can lower light from table lamps and recessed fixtures, and adjust shades to create the right atmosphere for enjoying the latest movie.  Another button will adjust the lighting level to a brighter setting for shooting a round of pool.  Wall stations incorporate temperature along with lighting and shades, providing the optimal user experience.

The Palladiom keypads combine subtle elegance with architectural design. To give the keypads a consistent aesthetic, the buttons and faceplate are flush with each other and made from the same material; 10 architectural matte colors, 11 metal finishes, and clear glass, making it easy to complement any décor. Choose light almond to match a neutral color palette throughout your home or antique bronze to coordinate with your faucet, handles and knobs in your kitchen. Your wall and fixture coordination along with the ease of controlling lights, window treatments, and climate, will never be the same.

As part of the Lutron HomeWorks® QS system, wired Palladiom keypads and Wall Stations can control Lutron wireless QS dimmers and switches, making them an ideal choice for new construction or minor renovation. Lutron and ACS offer an unrivalled range of lighting solutions and installation expertise. Regardless of the size of your project or budget, from New York to California and Florida, call ACS to learn about “smart” solutions for your home.

When you decide to upgrade your home or business technology, selecting the right contractor is one of the most important decisions you will have to face. It’s a choice that remains with you long after the instillation portion of the project is finished. That said, with every company telling you that they are the best option for your job, what does ACS bring to the table that separates us from the competition? So happy you asked!

Everywhere You Need Us to Be
ACS has offices in the three largest residential and commercial regions in the United States (Metro NY, Los Angeles and South Florida) and has been delivering cutting-edge technology to these high-end markets for nearly 40 years.
No matter where you are or where you need the work performed, ACS has the history, experience, and focus to give you the results that will keep you coming back.

Qualified and Prepared
At ACS, we focus on having the best-trained installers in the industry. We have over 100 knowledgeable and reliable employees nationwide, with every job receiving its own project manager and a visit from a member of our executive team. This attention to detail can take more time than many of our competitors are willing to offer during the initial phases, but we’ve found that a higher percentage of customers (95%) are happy with the initial version of their plans as a result of this more meticulous process.
 
Recognized for Excellence
CE Pro Magazine rated ACS on of their Top 3 companies 7 years in a row, as well as the #1 Installer in the Country. We’ve won awards for Best Home Theaters, Best Technical Design for Media Rooms, and were featured in Robb Report magazine as one of the best integrators in the business. Every job receives our distinctive “white glove” treatment, and the accolades we receive year-after-year simply validate our commitment to best-in-class service.
“This expert firm consistently delivers cutting-edge technology—and is frequently called upon to give a command performance in a celebrity's home. Industry professionals and clients both agree that Audio Command Systems (ACS) is one of the premier designers and installers in the country.”
– The Franklin Report

Working for You is Our Privilege
ACS invests in the most elite staff and their continued education for one simple reason: Because we want to be the best integrator in the U.S.A.! We actively demonstrate our customer-service integrity so each and every client becomes a partner in the life of their technology, anxious to revisit our process when the next challenge presents itself. Our solutions are never “cookie cutter,” and that alone can make all the difference in the world.

Contemplating an upgrade or preparing for a new build out? Call us today from anywhere in (or even outside) the U.S., and give ACS an opportunity to demonstrate all we can do on your behalf.

Why does experience matter? It gets you invited to the Netherlands, for one thing.

ACS has a client for whom we’ve integrated 4 different homes. It just so happens that the client’s 5th home is a 95-ft yacht…and it’s being built in Amsterdam. You can’t win them all, right? Well…

While the client explored integration options overseas, a priority for the family was for the controls within the yacht to have the same look and feel as the other homes on which ACS had previously worked. This meant viewing the same menu – regardless of the location – to set the music or raise the shades or view the status of any room in that home or across the globe. To aid in this endeavor, the client brought their world-renowned yacht builder to Los Angeles to review the systems in the 85,000 sqr ft home in Beverly Hills (which also happened to be the most recent work ACS had completed on their behalf).

This location has the advantage of the features that have made ACS a Crestron Gold programmer. More than a decade of development has gone into our template, featuring options many integrators don’t make available as their base offering. ACS has found it’s easier to include more options (and edit out what isn’t optimal for the client) rather than add what we consider basic functions at an additional cost. To demonstrate, the client took quite a bit of pleasure adjusting the volume in surrounding rooms while we conducted our meeting, as well as showing off the “home-at-a-glance” feature that displays the status of every zone from a single screen.

After the meeting, ACS was asked to review the company chosen for the integration overseas. Frankly, it was a quality organization, and we didn’t feel it made sense for us to be involved to any greater degree. However, there’s a peace-of-mind component to all such work. So, when the client offered to fly us to Amsterdam for 3 days to review the system with the chief engineer, who were we to argue?

Talk to custom home technology professionals throughout the country and one common philosophy emerges: Taking over a project can be more trouble than it’s worth. Unless, of course, you’re talking to ACS.

Project takeovers happen when the original firm is either unable to complete the work, or maybe even goes out of business mid-build. This can be frustrating for the client (to say the least), but it can also be treacherous territory for a company that jumps in to complete the job. Since the takeover firm didn’t order the components, they don’t hold the original warranties. Without being involved in the initial pre-wire or technical design, the new integrator is starting from scratch while the client anticipates the project is close to finished. It’s easy to see why integrators hesitate getting involved. Thankfully, ACS has a solution at the ready.

Due to a variety of circumstances, ACS takes over an average of 2-3 projects a month. Why, when so many view the act of completing another professional’s work a thankless job at best? Maybe it’s because, after nearly 40 years of custom electronic design and integration, ACS has the process and the people to make it right for those in need of expert assistance.

Ex: Last year, ACS lost a bid to work on a home. These things happen and there are never any hard feelings. However, after many months of planning and progress, the integrator who won the bid was no longer able to work on the build. Worried about what would become of the investment they’d made so far, the client reconnected with ACS to see if we could help.

As is the procedure, we completed a full investigation of the project. To everyone’s relief, ACS determined that the only issue unresolved was the HVAC. We provided a quote for the completion, the new client readily agreed, and ACS was able to complete the work they required to get their system working.