Encore Northern AZ Security, Home Theater and Automation

Distributed or whole home audio and video systems allow for a highly enhanced entertainment experience throughout the home. With a properly designed and installed system you can enjoy jazz in the kitchen while the kids listen to their rock and roll from their iPod. Or you could start a television program in the family room and finish it in the bedroom. Consider complex systems that are “heard but not seen”. We can design the system so that all the electronics are housed in a centrally located rack so that you don’t have to view all the black boxes and wires.  Finally, simple and intuitive control can be implemented via in wall touch screens, keypads or handheld remotes. Now that’s simply smart technology.

Today’s modern home or office is often jammed with various gadgets and electronic systems of many various types. There’s a table covered by remote controls, security system, heating and cooling, home theater, photovoltaic monitoring systems, whole home audio systems, lighting controls, etc. and all are wonderfully useful tools but, they are far more complex than we would like them to be.  This complexity often means that even the most technically savvy person finds them annoying. Those less canny may find the various systems extremely intimidating; often to the point of refusing to even operate them.

The root of the problem lies in the fact that each of these, and other, products are intended to be used in many different ways and by many different means. We would typically prefer to operate them in a way that suits OUR needs. Not our neighbor’s, not our coworker’s, OUR needs and preferences. Another issue is that many of the systems don’t “talk” to one another, leaving us as the “activity director” for all our electrical and electronic tools. For example, at bedtime, we typically must wander the home to turn off all the lights, turn down the thermostat, turn off TV’s,  arm the security system, lock doors, close the garage overhead door, look in on our sleeping children  and more. 

That’s where Encore Security’s custom designed automation systems come in. We start by working with you to determine specifically what you may be looking for and what your expectations are for an intelligent automation system. By emphasizing solid design principles, we can bring the various systems together under one umbrella that allows your home or buildong to work for you rather than vice versa.  Utilizing state of the art, affordable technology, we are able to turn the model around and allow you to operate all of these various systems as one “super device”. We have the ability and experience necessary to provide you one elegant point of contact that presents to you an attractive graphical interface that is tailored to your needs, hiding the complexity behind the scenes. This interface can, in turn, be presented in a number of ways including in wall and wireless touch screen controllers; hand held, unified remote controls; via laptop, desktop and television monitors; remotely via a secure internet connection and more. From any one of these interfaces, the user can easily and intuitively control the lighting, security, HVAC and audio/video systems. We also present single button routines that invoke a number of changes throughout the property with a click of a single button. This provides for the concept of ultimate control. Other popular options include RFID tagging, irrigation/sprinkler control, access control via door locks and overhead garage door control, security camera surveillance, motorized window treatments, hot tub/spa/pool controls, environmental monitoring, integrated intercom systems and more.

There is a further model that our custom designs allow for and that is true automation. We think of it as a, “Hands In Your Pockets” approach to control. What this means is that the house doesn’t require input or control instructions from you. It can react to stimulus and conditions on it’s own, at any time, whether you’re home or away. Powerful functions included in true automation include passive security via smart lighting; energy savings via occupancy based lighting, HVAC and appliance control; email alerts based on security, camera snapshots of those that approach the home, high/low temperatures, water leaks and more; intelligent macros that can place the home into a “hibernation” mode when you’re away for extended periods of time; The list goes on and on and is limited only by your imagination. By building in  a secure port in the network, we can offer basic changes in programming of many of the homes systems and routines remotely for a highly reduced service call fee (as compared to traditional “truck rolls”).

Imagine, pressing a single button on a centrally located touch screen or remote control that triggers all of your bedtime routines, saving you time and energy. Imagine selecting the music you would like to listen to in the kitchen by pressing on a picture of the cover art of your favorite artist. Imagine a home that monitors your energy usage (and possibly the production) and adjusts the home’s lighting, heating, cooling and other “power hogs” to regulate them. Imagine all of this powerful control even when you’re not there. Remotely access the property to monitor and control your HVAC, lighting, security, etc. You can even view live camera images from the other side of the world!

Imagine how comfortable, secure and entertained you can be!

Encore Security is the premiere lighting controls design and installation firm in the Flagstaff and the greater Northern Arizona region.  No one else in the region has a better grasp of the inherent possibilities of a well implemented package and the benefits thereof. Like all of the services and systems we offer, our process begins with understanding exactly what the end user wants, needs and expects of the system. After a brief interview, site survey and/or review of the building’s plans, we are able to not only make recommendations of necessary equipment but also make suggestions on how the lighting controls can be brought under the greater umbrella of a more sophisticated control system. This allows for seamless integration between lighting controls and such disparate systems as security, comfort controls and more. Imagine the simplicity of effortlessly turning off lights throughout your home with a single press of one button. Consider the elegance and aesthetics of setting comprehensive lighting “scenes” when relaxing, entertaining, romancing, tasks such as cooking and reading or even enjoying a blockbuster film.  Whether you’re looking for the simplicity of controlling the lighting in a single room situation, such as your home theater, or you desire the ability to operate every lighting device in the home from a single location, we believe that no one else can serve you better.