Explore an expert's guide to the best rated home stereo systems. Compare top models, features, and sound quality to find the perfect setup for your music and entertainment needs.

An Expert's Guide to the Best Rated Home Stereo Systems

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The Home Theater Design Process in Winston-Salem NC

Get expert tips for perfect outdoor TV mounting, from ideal placement and weather protection to professional installation. Learn how to create a safe, high-quality outdoor viewing experience.

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Discover the modern elegance and convenience of electric blinds! Learn about 5 key benefits, from effortless control to enhanced privacy, that transform your home. Ready to upgrade? Contact Carolina Custom Sound for expert installation!

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It’s common to hear “smart home” and “home automation” used interchangeably, and while they are related, there is a big difference between the two.  

<p>Technology is constantly looming in our lives. Smart thermostats regulate our household temperatures. Security devices keep our houses safe while we&rsquo;re away. Our health is continuously monitored with wearable technology. A camera watches our pets at home. We can&rsquo;t escape technology, so we might as well embrace it. As we add more technology to our everyday life, it can be pretty confusing to understand the terms for different technologies.</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s common to hear &ldquo;smart home&rdquo; and &ldquo;home automation&rdquo; used interchangeably, and while they are related, there is a big difference between the two.</p>
<p><img alt="Woman using home automation controller" src="https://d6y5eqdcxq8w3.cloudfront.net/assets/blog/blog_electronics/ci-home-automation-controller.jpg" title="iStock Credit: MixMedia" width="700" /></p>
<h2>What is smart home technology?</h2>
<p>Smart home technology generally refers to a class or series of electronic devices and sensors controlled over the internet with a phone, computer, tablet, or other devices.</p>
<p>A smart home device will often have a dedicated application that can be used to control the technology within a specific ecosystem. Examples include light switches that can be operated remotely, surveillance cameras that can be monitored from anywhere, thermostats that can be programmed to follow a schedule or adjusted spontaneously, and energy or water meters that empower tracking consumption in real-time.</p>
<p>Technology within your home that you can operate, monitor or access information without a physical interaction may be classified as smart home technology.</p>
<p><img alt="Woman uses smart home tablet controller at home" src="https://d6y5eqdcxq8w3.cloudfront.net/assets/blog/blog_electronics/psm-smart-home-remote-tablet.jpg" width="1254" /></p>
<h2>So, what about home automation?</h2>
<p>Home automation refers to utilizing smart home devices together to create events automatically, without user interaction.</p>
<p>The concept behind home automation is that you can enable intelligent devices to work together based on feedback shared between one another. This usually starts with a home automation controller that connects various smart home devices and receives signals from them based on specific events. From there the home automation controller can tell other devices to do things based on the type of events it receives. The goal behind home automation is to automate specific processes and tasks for a simplified user experience.</p>
<p><img alt="close-up of a person's hand using home control system on tablet" src="https://d6y5eqdcxq8w3.cloudfront.net/assets/blog/blog_electronics/ci-smart-home-controller.jpg" title="iStock Credit: AndreyPopov" width="724" /></p>
<p>For example, let&rsquo;s say you want to set your smart home devices to a particular scene as you wake up in the morning. (A scene is a general term that refers to a group of smart home devices programmed to work together based on an application.) With home automation, you would set up a scene that would enhance your morning routine. It could involve starting your favorite playlist on your speakers, adjusting your lights, starting up the coffee pot, and turning off the home alarm &mdash; all with the single touch of a button, or based on the time of day, or many other triggers that would start this process.</p>
<p>Simply put, home automation is achieved when your smart home devices are set up to talk to one another. The devices typically use a controller which is part of a home automation control system to communicate seamlessly across different platforms. The control system serves as a middleman, enabling various devices and ecosystems to communicate with each other; it also eliminates the need for separate control systems and apps for each device. With home automation, you can customize your smart home devices to reduce the effort and enhance the experience of your day-to-day routine. This is done by better understanding your lifestyle and programming the devices to work with the home automation system so that we can help achieve your goals.</p>
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Whether you’re looking to get started with smart home technology or you want to automate an intelligent home system, Carolina Custom Sound provides many options for versatile, high-quality devices, ranging from smart home technology to robust control systems for automation. Give us a call today at <avb-link data-href="tel:"></avb-link> to learn more about our products and services.   
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Understanding the Difference Between Smart Homes and Home Automation 

With multi-room audio systems, your music is free of physical wires and media. Explore multi-room audio and what awesome features you are missing out on.

<p>It&rsquo;s time to take music everywhere.</p>
<p>Back in the day, listening to music used to be tethered to the physical realm: The vinyl goes on the platter or the disc goes into the player, you sit close by, and you listen through speakers or headphones connected to player. And that was pretty much it.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>But that&rsquo;s not the way it is anymore.</p>
<p>With multi-room audio systems, you and your music are free of physical wires and media. Music can flow throughout your whole house &mdash; all wirelessly. Let&rsquo;s take a look at what is possible for multi-room audio, and what awesome features you are missing out on.</p>
<h2>Voice Control</h2>
<p>If you are flitting around your house doing chores, you don&rsquo;t really want to have to go back to the stereo every time you want to change a song or change the volume, do you? Of course not.</p>
<p>Imagine this: Instead, you are walking around your entire house, picking which song or playlist to listen to at any time, all through voice control and without having to stop whatever you are doing.</p>
<p>This is no pipedream; it&rsquo;s the reality of today&rsquo;s multi-room audio systems. Your voice is all you need. Sing away to your heart&rsquo;s content, and then keep on talking to switch songs, switch playlists, switch over to a podcast, or to mute everything. It&rsquo;s your smart home, and the options are all up to you.</p>
<p><img alt="Man jams out as he vacuums because his music is following him from room to room"  src="https://d6y5eqdcxq8w3.cloudfront.net/assets/blog/blog_electronics/ci-whole-home-music.jpg" title="iStock Credit: silverkblack" width="788" /></p>
<h2>One Song, Whole House</h2>
<p>Maybe you listen to music in the shower. Maybe you love to hear your favorite tunes as you prepare breakfast. Or maybe you have a very busy morning routine, which has you moving in and out of several rooms. Whatever your musical needs look like, wouldn&rsquo;t it be great if your music could follow you around?</p>
<p>It can! With a multi-room audio system, you can set one song to play across every speaker in every room in your setup. Walk, jaunt, or shuffle through your house in your bathrobe as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyF8RHM1OCg">&ldquo;Here I Go Again&rdquo; by Whitesnake</a> plays seamlessly, and you won&rsquo;t have to worry about being out of earshot. You&rsquo;ll be pumped and primed and ready to start the day.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
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Of course, picking out which speakers to get and installing them around your house isn’t something just anybody can do — it’s best left to experts! We’ll always be here to help you find the best speaker solution that fits your needs, so give us a call at <avb-link data-href="tel:"></avb-link> today! 
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<p><img alt="Two parents dance with their daughter at home"  src="https://d6y5eqdcxq8w3.cloudfront.net/assets/blog/blog_electronics/ci-home-audio-dance-party.jpg" title="iStock Credit: fizkes" width="724" /></p>
<h2>Separation Can be Good &ndash; Speaker Separation</h2>
<p>That&rsquo;s not all that multi-room audio can do for you and your family, however. Let&rsquo;s say the kids want to stream YouTube kids in one room, you have an important game you need to listen to, and your partner really wants to listen to their loudest throwback-jams playlist.</p>
<p><img alt="Woman blocks her ears at home on her couch " src="https://d6y5eqdcxq8w3.cloudfront.net/assets/blog/blog_electronics/ci-need-home-audio.jpg" title="iStock Credit: Srdjanns74" width="724" /></p>

<p>That&rsquo;s possible. Multi-room audio systems can also break up your audio across multiple rooms, so different people can listen to what they want in each room.</p>
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These are just the tip of the musical iceberg when it comes to multi-room audio and how it can totally change your life for the better. Give us a call today at <avb-link data-href="tel:"></avb-link> and we’ll walk you through all of the different speaker and multi-room audio setup options we have, and help you find one with enough juice to blast music throughout your whole house.   
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Multi-Room Audio: Turn Your Home into a Musical Adventure 

Default Dev Script Validation

<avb-header-after>  <avb-designer-block data-id="27" class="avb-grid avb-typography dsg-block-27-header-after"> <div class="avb-grid__column avb-grid__column--small-12 dsg-block-27-no-padding"> <avb-link class="avb-wrapper dsg-block-27-header-after__content" data-href="https://www.carolinacustomsound.com/contacts#zoom">  <span class="dsg-block-27-header-after__headline"> Click here to schedule your virtual consultation&nbsp;today! <span class="dsg-block-27-header-after--cta"> <avb-link class="avb-button avb-button--primary dsg-block-27-header-after--button" data-href="https://www.carolinacustomsound.com/contacts#zoom">Schedule Now</avb-link></span> </span> </avb-link> </div> </avb-designer-block> </avb-header-after> <style> /* ==================== Header-after (block-27-header-after) ==================== */ .dsg-block-27-header-after{ z-index:998; } .dsg-block-27-header-after-home{ z-index:999; } .dsg-block-27-no-padding{ padding:0; } .dsg-block-27-header-after__content, .dsg-block-27-header-after__content:visited, .dsg-block-27-header-after__content:focus { display: block; background-color: #1f3060; color: #fff; text-align: center; padding: 1rem 0.55rem; } .dsg-block-27-header-after__content:hover { color:rgba(255,255,255,0.5); } .dsg-block-27-header-after__headline { display:inline-block; font-family: 'Roboto Condensed', sans-serif; font-weight: 400; font-size: 1.15rem; line-height: 1.3; transition: .3s; } .dsg-block-27-header-after--cta { display:inline-block; margin-left:1rem; margin-top:0.55rem; margin-bottom:0.55rem; } .dsg-block-27-header-after--button, .dsg-block-27-header-after--button:visited, .dsg-block-27-header-after--button:focus { display:inline; padding:0.5rem; font-size: 0.85rem; font-weight: 700; font-family: 'Roboto Condensed', sans-serif; color: #FFF; border-color:#fff; transition: background-color 300ms ease-out; border-radius: 10px; text-transform: uppercase; } .dsg-block-27-header-after--button:hover { color: #fff; background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0.2); } @media screen and (min-width: 600px) { .dsg-block-27-header-after--cta { margin-left:1rem; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } } @media screen and (min-width: 960px) {} @media screen and (min-width: 1280px) {} @media screen and (min-width: 1600px) {} </style>

Default Header After Global Promotions

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Understanding the Difference Between Smart Homes and Home Automation

Multi-Room Audio: Turn Your Home into a Musical Adventure

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