Sorry To Be A Bother, But I Appear To Be Dying

It’s the end of the year… Which means everybody is getting sick or out on the holidays. Hopefully not both! But we’re still committed to bringing you the latest news in the residential space. Uncle Richie, Principal of Fregosa Design Rich Fregosa joins us hot off the heels of A State of Control’s 100th episode. Which be its own spoiler since the show goes up this Friday. But if counting sequentially is a spoiler, anything is possible.

Parasound founder Richard Schram is retiring from the industry after selling the business. Schram has spent four decades with Parasound, and feels he is leaving the company in good hands with David Sherriff, who is active in product growth and supply-chain management. We discuss this transitional period for the company and what it means for the industry at large.

Since it is the holiday season, why not get some entertaining news segments? We start with Melco’s latest noise-reducing ethernet cable. The C100 features specific grounding to prevent noise interference. Is there such a thing as AV snake oil? Who are buying these things, and do they really have any difference in quality?

Now we have a solution with a gimmick… That Matt doesn’t hate? It truly must be a holiday miracle. Ikea has launched their new Symfonisk lamp that features a high-quality speaker within. Hiding audio sources is not a new thing, but this combination of furniture and speaker is something worth mentioning. Is this the way to bring good sound into a space while still keeping a solid design?

Masimo has announced the expansion of the HEOS wireless multiroom audio platform and integration with their Masimo Health cloud system. Following their acquisition of Sound United, Masimo is leveraging the HEOS ecosystem to provide users with health data. Is Masimo’s foray into healthcare going to bear fruit? Or is this a case of a company trying to utilize their recent acquisitions? Trying to figure out what this means for integrators.

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