August 9, 2018 | Sandy Giardi
“Just like the rest of the home’s environment, the smart home has infiltrated the backyard,” shares Elite Media Solutions’ founder Brian Gibson. And, just as it’s commonplace to see outdoor TVs and music, outdoor lighting is now huge for the home integration specialist. “We’re putting it in like crazy,” says Gibson, and that includes the landscape outside their newly-revamped Wellesley Hills showroom.
When Elite Media Solutions installs outdoor lighting systems (working alongside landscape contractors)—illuminating pools, architectural features and beautiful trees and plants that warrant admiration no matter the hour—they use one and only one product line: Coastal Source. “It’s the best,” says Gibson, without hesitation—and a very well-designed and well-thought-out product at a price comparable to brands of lesser quality.
Coastal Source was created by a homebuilder in the Florida Keys, explains Gibson, who installed landscape lighting reputed to be the best of the best for a coastal home, only to have it look pitted and rusty in short time. After a second failed attempt with another brand, the builder started a company of its own, engineering hardy, all-brass and attractive outdoor lighting solutions that can withstand the effects of tropical weather conditions. Here in New England, we're all for products that defy the elements.
The secret is Coastal Source’s patented cable connector and the way it screws in, one end to another, creating a perfect seal. Plus, there are barriers to stop water, bugs and debris from getting in the fixture, and you don’t get that “Christmas light effect,” laughs Gibson, “when one light goes out and the whole system fails.”
Coastal Source has become the lighting choice of many architectural lighting companies and designers and is being specced by premier landscape architects in Greater Boston, and interwoven with audio.
For their clients, more often than not, Elite Media Solutions is attaching it to their lighting control system, where five minutes before dusk (configured on an astronomical time clock, which is most efficient, considering the timing of dusk varies by day), a particular set of outside lights switches on. The effect is luminous.
Says Gibson, “People make such significant investments in their landscapes, yet no one can see it at night.” No longer. “Lighting makes such a difference,” he continues. “It really adds to the beautification of the property.”
Elite Media Solutions was named CES 2017 Integrator of the Year.
Images courtesy of Coastal Source
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