It’s been a great year for residential AV where we have seen some big developments in the market. As we enter a new year, we take a look at some of the biggest and most read stories from 2019.
Financier wins £500,000 damages in court case over “ugly duckling” home cinema project
We start off with this story from March 2019, where a senior financier took an architect to court over what was described as an “ugly duckling” floating home cinema project. The financier won the court case and the architect was ordered to pay £500,000 in damages.
German TV brand Loewe goes bankrupt and shuts down
It was announced on 1st July that Loewe, a German luxury TV manufacturer, had to cease business operations due to insufficient funds. However, it has just been announced that
Skytec Group Ltd now owns and operates Loewe, and will focus on growing it into a global TV brand with the launch of new TV ranges this year, consisting of OLED and UHD LED, as well as a networked sound system.
SnapAV & Control4 complete merger into single organisation
Big news hit the AV industry headlines in May when it was announced that SnapAV was acquiring Control4 in an all-cash transaction of approximately $680 million. The merger into one company completed in August.
IKEA and Sonos present first products in SYMFONISK range
Back in January, IKEA and Sonos revealed plans to launch a line of smart speakers, named the SYMFONISK range. The first products were unveiled in April at Milan’s Salone del Mobile – a table lamp doubling as a smart speaker, and a SYMFONISK bookshelf with a Wi-Fi speaker.
The threat of the ‘DIY smart home’
HiddenWires’ editor, Amy Wallington, investigated the issue of the ‘do it yourself’ smart home. The demand for smart home products is higher than ever and many manufacturers are jumping on board with making their products smart. With so many plug-and-play devices available to consumers, how is it impacting integrators?
Entering the decade of sound
With the turn of the decade also comes a new focus in the market – according to HARMAN, we are entering the decade of sound. I attended Futuresource Consulting’s Audio Collaborative event in November where HARMAN presented the opening keynote, titled ‘The Future of Listening’. Read to find out how sound will play a bigger role in this decade’s AV market.
ABB reveals its next level of home automation at IFA 2019
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IFA in Berlin saw ABB showcasing its new smart home automation solutions, designed to take security and comfort to the next level for smart home owners. Its new open API platform provides a central portal to attract developers to work with different APIs that integrate with ABB Smart Building’s ecosystems.
Sonos sues Bluesound in copyright infringement battle
CLASSYPICTURES / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Sonos was in the news again in July when it opened a legal battle against Lenbrook Industries, the parent company of Bluesound, accusing the company of copyright infringement. The case claims that Lenbrook has infringed on seven of Sonos’ patents with the Bluesound brand.
The 2019 EMEA & Global CEDIA Awards – Who won?
September was a busy month for CEDIA, with CEDIA Expo returning to Denver in the middle of the month and the CEDIA EMEA Awards taking place in London at the end of the month. The awards is always an iconic event in the industry and this year was no different.
Held at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the sell out event celebrated some of the best projects and companies in the residential AV industry from France, India, South Africa, UAE, UK, and USA.
Control4 launches Smart Home OS 3 to control different devices on one system
In May, Control4 took a big step in home automation with the announcement of its new Smart Home OS 3, which takes control of thousands of different branded devices all under one system.