Dallas-Based DJ Jagger Puts Studio-Quality Audio in Every Room With the ELAN g! System

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It’s safe to say that DJ Jagger knows a thing or two about music after more than 30 years broadcasting on 102.1 The Edge in the Dallas, Texas area. So when Jagger and his partner, Patrick, decided to build their automated dream home in North Dallas, they hired local integration firm Eco High Fidelity to install an ELAN g! system that makes it easy to play the perfect tunes in any room.

According to Tommy Kissell of Eco High Fidelity, Jagger’s top request for his home technology was an immaculate audio system that delivers pristine sound in every room, not just in the high-traffic areas. With 30 audio zones meticulously designed down to the smallest detail, the system ensures the highest fidelity of audio throughout the entire house with Paradigm reference in-ceiling speakers and ELAN S1616 amplifiers. The result is that every bedroom, hallway, shower, bathroom and even the kitchen and pantry are audio powerhouses. Although movies and TV are essential, the owners intentionally minimized the video areas and installed only three TVs to ensure more family time and to emphasize audio.

“With two young daughters, Jagger and Patrick are always on the move,” Kissell said. “Our marching orders were to create a system that allowed seamless transition as they walked through the house. Imagine spending your childhood surrounded by studio-quality audio and a DJ dad who is a walking encyclopedia of music. Something tells me we will see their kids on ‘Rock & Roll Jeopardy’ someday.”

To provide limitless options of music, the integrators built the system around streaming music services rather than traditional media formats. For example, the S1 Digital Music Streamer with over 241,000 songs allows Jagger to play his personal library along with Spotify, Pandora, Sirius and FM stations. The new technology from S1 allows the client to attach any subscribed music service to the system with two-way feedback. The S1 Streamer combined with the ELAN g! system allows Jagger to select his favorite music from his smartphone or tablet while sitting by the pool or anywhere else in the home. An Apple TV box also allows anything to be played seamlessly through the wireless network via Airplay.

The newly finished mid-century modern home was designed by Artex Development, which has collaborated with Eco High Fidelity to create a number of state-of-the-art integrated homes in North Texas. The standards of a project like this required detailed planning from beginning to end. In collaboration with Artex, Eco High Fidelity applied a turnkey system using methodologies mastered from previous projects. The collaboration between Eco High Fidelity and the mechanical, electrical, pool, irrigation, security and landscape contractors were key factors in the design process. The project required constant communication, so over the course of the two-year project, not a single week went by without a detailed conversation about automation and its role in the house.

To manage the massive data traffic within the house, Eco High Fidelity turned to the new Pakedge CP36 to guarantee a strong Wi-Fi signal throughout the house. The enterprise-grade router allows simultaneous internet use, automation and control through the ELAN g! system.

Showing their commitment to creating a perfect system, the integrators also made every effort to keep the system affordable, hidden from view and simple to use. “We designed the Lutron RadioRA 2 system with centralized switches to make it more like the high-end HomeWorks QS system. Although it required detailed planning and collaboration, this is a good solution for builders and homeowners to achieve elegant lighting control designs without breaking the bank. A group of switches is located in the master closet, while the owners control the lights via a variety of keypads and ELAN g! interfaces.”

Of course this project also came with some special requests. As a morning show host, Jagger has a very early schedule, so they programmed low-level light pathways to allow him to get up in the middle of the night without waking his family. The ELAN g! system gives the owners full control of the home’s surveillance cameras, irrigation, pool controls, multiple climate zones and a full-fledged security system. Because they work through ELAN g!, each subsystem can be monitored for sustainability using a detailed usage and event history.

With several ELAN HR2 remotes providing global coverage and full control from any room in the house, in addition to a centrally-located 7-inch ELAN touch panel, the family is never more than a touch away from the ultimate home control experience.

Proactive vs. Reactive Networking Tech Support

Last month, Tommy Kissell experienced a mishap dreaded by integrators everywhere: a router had crashed in a house with a large multizone network with a sophisticated control automation system.
Kissell immediately contacted the router’s manufacturer, Pakedge. Within 24 hours, the California-based manufacturing company sent out an advanced replacement at no additional charge. The system was quickly restored, the crisis averted.

Kissell was grateful for the quick response. “Most companies make us go through a tedious protocol that procrastinates the issue at hand.” He says. “Pakedge’s main concern is the dealer and client satisfaction. They focus on the solution, then the paperwork.”

Kissell has been using Pakedge networking equipment exclusively as the backbone for his Elan g! systems since 2014. As owner and president of Eco High Fidelity in Richardson, Texas, he has projects all over the country, including a branch in Maui. His systems are dependent on the solid networks for maintenance and troubleshooting. Kissell’s opinion of the Pakedge tech support team is overwhelmingly positive, “We couldn’t do it without them.”

Most companies treat tech support as a hassle and outsource it overseas to minimize expenses. The Pakedge tech support team is based in Huntington Beach, California. Seven tech support specialists man the phones from 6 in the morning to 6 at night. Installers calling in often know the staff on a first name basis.

In high-tech companies like Pakedge, support and services play an integral role in the relationships the company has with its customers. Benson Chan, Vice President of Business Development at Pakedge, says that excellent support and services come in two parts.

Being Proactive About Service

“Everyone understands what tech support’s role is in a traditional sense,” says Chan. “You buy a product, you have an issue, and then you contact the business for guidance. But when you really think about it, good tech support comes before you even buy the product. So good tech support isn’t just reactive, it’s proactive. It’s in minimizing the need to even call tech support. It’s in the product planning, the simplification of setup and configuration, and making sure dealers are properly trained.”

One of the proactive services offered by the company is its monthly webinars, in which a sales or tech support specialist coaches integrators on the best practices of the latest products launched. Pakedge makes its collection of training videos and PDFs available on the company’s official website, under its Dealer Portal. Pakedge also offers in-person trainings by sending reps all across the U.S. to give live hands-on trainings in a classroom setting. One of the company’s most innovative training methods involves guiding integrators through a virtual training rack – this training rack lets a new integrator test out the features of multiple devices and turn their ports on and off through a web browser. The company even offers one-on-one trainings upon request.

The drive to train installers diminishes the number of tech support calls over common issues. Mike Colapietro of Bridged Concepts often turns to Pakedge when learning a new feature for the first time. “[Pakedge]is great at showing us how to do it, and documenting it, so that we can make sure we can just repeat it the next 25 times,” says Colapietro. “When cases have presented it, we have gone as far as to have them remote into the system and just get it done. But even in these cases, the great thing is that they still show us everything they did (with documentation) so that we don’t have to keep relying on them every time the same situation comes up.”

Recently, Pakedge put together a 90-day “Fast-Track” program to train new dealers to develop basic networking expertise in Pakedge products and services, to develop a business success plan, and to build personal relationships with their representatives.

This proactive tech support philosophy extends to the product design and development, as one of the company mottos is “making the complex simple.” An example of this is seen in the Pakedge C36 Wireless Controller:  it employs a custom designed graphical user interface to facilitate the setup, deployment, and maintenance of the network. An automated software wizard guides the installer through the setup process, eliminating guesswork. Software visualization tools in the site survey process mimic the surrounding radio frequency environment and eliminate errors. A graphical WAP map lets the integrator upload a floor plan and then drag and drop wireless access points onto it to determine how many access points are needed in an installation and where they should go.

The full spectrum of support and services developed by Pakedge is meant to help integrators accelerate their business, both before and after their purchases. “We couldn’t really ask for a better level of service,” says Colapietro.

Sustainability in Hawaiian Paradise: Is It Possible?

It’s a beautiful Hawaiian Sunday morning and I just arrived at Lahaina Harbor, Maui, to catch a ferry across the Au’au Channel to the Island of Lana’i. I am on my way to explore the island, its potential for sustainability, and to see what the people who live on the island and visit think about the major green tech developments.

Lanai mapLast year, 98 percent of the island of Lana’i was purchased from David Murdock by Larry Ellison, co-founder and chief executive of Oracle. Ellison intends to convert the island into an eco-laboratory utilizing sustainable technologies and make it an example of sustainable enterprise.  The plans include a microgrid powered by renewable energy, expansion to the 1.5-megawatt La Ola Solar Farm, already the largest in Hawaii, and a desalination plant to supplement the island’s water supply.  He also intends to use drip irrigation to support a series of organic farms across the island and some day export produce. Ellison is also developing the infrastructure. He recently purchased Island Air and also plans to add a third hotel, more roads, another runway, and improvements to the harbor. Also still up for consideration is the much-debated wind farm. Developments for a sustainable Lana’i are already progressing quickly. Recently Ellison appointed Byron Washom, the director of the Strategic Energy Initiatives at the University of California, San Diego to oversee the development. Washorn, who dubbed himself the “chief architect,” plans to expand the solar grid and reshape the power demand load. He also intends to evolve the island’s energy storage capacity by focusing on pumped hydro, compressed air and batteries.

        Lana’i’s Manele Harbor

Once on the ferry, I choose a seat on the top deck.  I sit among a group of locals and tourists and there is a lot of chatter about the activity on Lana’i. There is a Little League baseball team headed over for a tournament, a group of bow hunters, golfers, campers, snorkelers and explorers. There is a mix of excitement and hesitation in the air.

“I heard he’s building a park.”

“I heard he’s building another hotel.”

“He is making the island into a giant farm.”

The baseball coach is giving pitching advice to his starter for the day.  He looks up with a big smile and says, “As long as he keeps it Hawaiian.”

Much of the discussion revolves around wind power and how much the population will increase. Before the sale, Murdock intended to build a wind farm, rights which he retained during the sale of the island. Many residents on the island do not want the turbines, as most of the power would be sent to the island of Oahu. The residents do not feel the wind farm would justify what they consider to be an intrusion on the land. Lana’i has barley 3,000 residents and there are only two-resort style hotels on the entire island. Even with the pineapple industry, which has come and gone, the island remains mostly undeveloped. There are no traffic lights, there’s a lack of roads, and the best places can hardly be reached. It has remained throughout the years by chance authentically Hawaiian, and the people throughout the state have a deep appreciation and respect for Lana’i as it is.

        The fields of Lana’i could see some farming changes.

Manele Harbor is small but exciting. The only people here are getting off the ferry. I’m soon alone in a four-wheel-drive Jeep and headed to the Garden of the Gods, the once-proposed site of the wind farm. The drive is peaceful and leads past the La Ola Solar Farm, where I stop and watch sheep, those natural landscapers, eat the grass growing around the solar panels. From there pine trees line each the road for miles where fields were once covered with the world’s best pineapple. These are the fields that will be the future organic farms supported by drip irrigation and sustainable farming methods.

As I drive through Lana’i City signs are posted on fences and houses that either support or oppose the wind farms and the development of Lana’i. Before I realize it I am out of the city and at the foot of hill at the The Lodge at Koele, one of two Four Seasons hotels on the island. From here the road is dirt and the tracks of other four-wheel-drive vehicles are the only evidence that anyone has been here.  Once I pass the horse stables I decide to have a little fun, put it in four-wheel drive head down the dirt road irresponsibly fast.

        Lanai's Garden of the Gods

After about 30 minutes and the most fun driving experience of my life, I reach the Garden of the Gods. The landscape feels more like Arizona than Hawaii. There are massive boulders as far as the eye can see. I imagine building-size wind turbines dotting the landscape and a paved road replacing the treacherous one. I continue down a treacherous and rocky unpaved road to Polihua Beach.  I am the only person here, and there is over a mile stretch of untouched sand where there are no footprints and a wicked undertow. From there I head to Shipwreck Beach, where sea turtles are sunbathing and eating moss off the rocks, while a local family fishes with multiple poles in the water.  Throughout the day I pass a few hunters, but otherwise I run into hardly anyone.

I return back the way I came and have some time to kill before the ferry, so I stop off at the Four Seasons Resort Lanai at Manele Bay. The whales have left for the season, but the dolphins are in the cove, and the beach is peppered with sunbathers and snorkelers. I settle in and think about the contrast between Lana’i and the more developed islands of Maui and Oahu. How does one make one of the most remote islands on planet sustainable and maintain its authenticity? Not just a sustainable environment but also a sustainable economy and community. What are the methodologies? These are all questions that will have to be answered in the coming years. Developing the island will require additional infrastructure and a population increase that will change the face of the place.

Ellison has expressed his love for Hawaii and is involving the residents of Lana’i, including their feedback and constructive criticism. One of his primary intentions is to rely on the community in the development, and he plans to include a council composed of island locals in the decision-making process. There is also a global oversight, as the world is watching and interested. In a digitally connected world there are few isolated spots left.

        Swimming with the sea turtles and a GoPro underwater camera.

It is evident that the people of Lana’i want to preserve the island but also become an example of sustainability. The combination of a community and sustainable technology could be just the micro-example of sustainability the world needs to bring sustainability and green tech initiatives elsewhere. In the meantime get out here if you can and try Lana’i. It is worth the journey.

Tommy Kissell is the owner/president of sustainable electronics integrator Eco High Fidelity of Carrollton, Texas, and a regular contributor to GreenTech Advocates. See some of his company’s cool installs in the links below.