Each year the Philharmonic Society of Orange County (CA), in cooperation with the American Society of Interior Designers presents a Philharmonic House of design for sale, with the proceeds to fund the society’s charter of fostering the appreciation of music and the arts through the development and implementation of a wide variety of education outreach programs. The 2006 house is the most impressive showcase of design and technology. Old world Spanish elegance meets high tech extravagance in this dramatic custom home of meticulous design, built with the finest, most cutting-edge materials and state-of-the-art electronics. Overlooking breathtaking valleys and hillsides, with lush landscaping and inviting pools and fountains, this luxurious home exquisitely maintains the historic character of Santa Barbara architecture. When Ken Hoffman of Digital Home Design in Orange County, CA was approached to specify and install all of the technology for the home, he chose the NetStreams DigiLinX system for the whole house audio and control system due to the quality of the audio, ease of use, automation features, and future compatibility. “I was confident that the DigiLinX system would not only provide the best audio quality possible throughout the house, but also the fact that  the completely IP-Based system would lend to the house being compatible with future IP-Based entertainment sources,” said Hoffman.

Featuring 6 bedrooms, 5 full bathrooms, 2 home theater areas, and a basement with a wine cellar (to name a few of the rooms), the 7,716 square foot home is designed with relaxation and entertainment in mind. The NetStreams DigiLinX system provides audio in all of the rooms as well as the 3 outdoor patio areas and the pool, thanks to SpeakerLinX^™ SL250 IP-Based Amplifier / Room controllers, which are hidden away in the wall or ceiling behind the in-wall or in-ceiling speakers.

As you enter the home, you are greeted with music. A 17” LCD touch screen is mounted in the wall near the entryway for easy control of the audio & lighting in the entry way as well as to view the feeds from any one of the Panasonic^® IP Cameras mounted on the outside of the home. NetStreams TouchLinX^™ 3.8” LCD touch panels are interspersed with larger touch screens, PCs, and wireless web tablets throughout the rooms in the home for easy control of the system. In some rooms Hoffman applied a faux finish to the TouchLinX bezels so they more closely blended in with the interior décor.

Two music servers were installed to stream 12 streams of high quality, uncompressed audio along with the metadata and cover art of easy selection from any of the touch screens installed. Additional legacy sources such as DVD and CD players were made available on the network via the NetStreams MediaLinX^™ MLA101s. Three SwitchLinX^™ SW324s are installed in a central rack to efficiently manage the audio and data over the DigiLinX network, along with several PowerLinX PL750 power supplies and the source equipment. A MediaLinX MLA101 also served as the proxy for the iPort^™ iPod^® docking station, allowing visitors to select and listen to the music from their iPod in any or all rooms of the house, including outdoors.

The DigiLinX system also accommodates room to room or whole house paging without any additional equipment (other than a TouchLinX TL380 or KeyLinX™ KL200 installed in each room) via its IP Intercom feature. The music in the room or throughout the home automatically mutes when receiving a page, while the audio from the intercom is output from the existing in-wall or in-ceiling speakers in the home.

Hoffman installed 12 ControLinX CL100s throughout the home to provide for IP-Based control of several home automation features, including whole house lighting, the Aprilaire^® heating and cooling system, as well as for one button control of motorized lifts (for Plasma
displays), screens and the home theater projector.