1- WiringYou 'might as well' wire for the future now. Never, and I mean NEVER skimp on your wiring, especially if you are building a new home. If you have the vaguest notion of ever wanting a particular feature or device, wire for it. You'll save major bucks adding in that extra wiring now instead of sitting around your house some future day choking on drywall dust while one of our experienced and professional technicians drills holes in your custom finished walls. Remember even “wireless” devices need a solid wired infrastructure.

2- "Multi-zone" AudioYou 'might as well' get the music going in every area of the home. With today's tech it just doesn't make sense not to have a "multi-zone" audio system. If you are going through the trouble of adding background music to your project, systems from Crestron, Control4, AMX, Savant and Sonos make it painless to play different music in different rooms of your home at the same time. No longer are you chained to pushing one "sound" to every speaker in the house. Wanna fire up Pandora in the Dining from your iPad? No problem. Crank up Sirius/XM in the yard while your significant other enjoys Rhapsody in the Kitchen? Easy as cake.

3- Computer NetworkingYou 'might as well' surf the Internet in style. This can be a tough one to appreciate; most people don't realize how dependent our lives have become on the Internet. If you are going through the process of having electronics installed, think about how many things rely on your Internet connection. From the basic things like email to surfing the web, to content delivery like Netflix, AppleTV, Pandora & DirecTV, EVERYTHING relies on that very un-sexy Internet infrastructure. Many people have added all the exciting new toys to their home without thinking twice about the $99 router that is holding the whole thing together. Don't skimp here; go all in. A quality integrator will recommend things like "Enterprise-Class Hardware" or "Managed Wi-Fi Systems" and they will all come with a big price tag. Before your eyes glaze over, just remember you would never buy a new Ferrari and then get tires for it from Wal-Mart. We have had numerous clients notice significant improvements to their network speed after a network makeover, even without upgrading their monthly service!

4-Media Room (aka Man Cave)You 'might as well' have a grown-up playroom. Remember those giant tower speakers you used to have in college? Like the old ad with the guy's necktie getting blown away over his shoulder and his hair pushed back by the sound?  Well the experience is still here, and waiting for you (even if you have a lot less hair). Except now the speakers sound better, look better, and cost more money. Audiophile quality systems from Bose, B&W, Bay Audio, Meridian and Live Wall will bring back the good old days.  But hey, now you can afford the good stuff. Go for it.

5-TV SizeYou 'might as well' admit that size matters. I have never, ever had a client say "I wish we would have gotten the smaller TV." Never.

In tribute to that greatest event in history, I wanted to share this brief video.  Click on the artist's pic for the link.

by Bryan Naquin.  Follow Bryan on Twitter @ACIexperts.  And you can always contact him at 225.906.2589 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Bryan Naquin is president of Acadian Home Theater and Automation based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  CEPro Magazine ranked Acadian in the top 100 consumer electronic companies in the U.S. coming in at Number 87 for 2011.

This week we celebrate both the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as well as Passover.  I thought I might suggest some inspirational movies for you to consider this week.

These are in no order whatsoever.  This isn't a "best of" list or anything like that.  Some are classics though most are of a more recent vintage.  Some are historical while others are contemporary.  The tones of these movies range from innocent (Jonah-A VeggieTales Movie) to graphic (The Passion of the Christ).

Such a list is only the tip of the iceberg.  Looking at the list might even remind you of a totally different title you might not otherwise have thought of.  Hopefully, you'll find one title in this list for your family that best fits the holiday.

• The Prince of Egypt (Spielberg)
• The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson)
• The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille)
• Amazing Grace (Michael Apted)
• Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Andrew Adamson)
• One Night with the King -The Story of Esther (Michael O. Sajbel)
• Jesus of Nazareth (Mini-Series by Franco Zefirelli)
• Courageous (Alex Kendrick)
• Fireproof (Alex Kendrick)
• Flywheel (Alex Kendrick)
• Facing the Giants (Alex Kendrick)
• The Hiding Place (James F. Collier)
• Jonah-A VeggieTales Movie (Mike Nawrocki, Phil Vischer)
• Faith Like Potatoes (Regardt Van Den Bergh)
• Soul Surfer (Sean McNamara)
• The End of the Spear (Jim Hanon)
• Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson)
• Ben Hur (William Wyler)

What is the magic that makes home automation work so spectacularly?  Well, it has about as much "magic" as Disney's Magic Kingdom does.  In other words, its really huge amounts of science, engineering and technology operating at breathless speed!

If you've ever seen a home automation "control system" at work, its all "oohs and ahs!"  Maybe it works like this:

You press a button that you named "Good Morning."  At that one touch, your bathroom vanity lights and heater turn on to a pre-set level just right for you, your dressing room light turns on, shades slowly rise to let in morning light, interior lights gently fade on, your preferred morning show turns on so you can catch your favorite music or else the morning headlines and your security system is disarmed so you can step out onto the back patio without having to squint at a keypad.

What's going on here?  The brain of the control system (the CPU) recognizes the button you pressed and instantly processes complex commands to activate specific strings of code simultaneously to each of the sub-systems (lighting, climate control, motorized shades, security, etc.) telling them what to do nearly instantly.

Now each manufacturer of their respective systems provides an app for their product.  But consider the following.

If you're like me, you already have used your smart phone or iPad around your house to stream music, control your DirecTV DVR or remotely control some device you have at home.

Of course, in my business, we create lots of home automation and control systems from manufacturers such as Crestron, Savant and Control4.  Invariably, everyone wants their smart phone or iPad to be programmed as a control device for whichever one of these systems we install.  And honestly, those phones and pads will work VERY well for that purpose.  Now as soon as I say that, let me be quick to add that those will not operate as seamlessly for that purpose as the manufacturer's own branded mobile device.

Still, for ease of use, each of those manufacturers has created apps for those commonly owned media devices for the simple reason that the consumer is already familiar with it and generally keeps them handy.  Those apps work as well as the control system manufacturer can possibly program those phones and tablets to perform that way.  But know that there will always be some kinda glitch--some incompatibility--that the consumer will experience when using their phone or wi-fi pad to control their home automation system.

Here's a good example of what I'm talking about.  Back in the day, you either owned a PC or a Mac.  If you created a document or spreadsheet in one type of platform and emailed it to s0meone who owned the other type of platform, they couldn't even open the thing let alone read it.  One day, the industry smartened up and started creating programs so the two could talk to each other.  Now the two could interface and everyone was happy.  But anyone will tell you that the two don't work together perfectly and your sometimes encounter formatting problems in documents or linkage problems in spreadsheets.

That's the way it is marrying the popular smart technologies with automated systems.  They WILL work and will be quite enjoyable when they do.  But for best results, use the mobile device designed for the product.