SOUND & VISION readers will know Savant as one of two upstarts that, along with Control4, arrived in the early 2000s to challenge Crestron and AMX in the emerging home automation market. Today, some 15 years after its founding by tech entrepreneur/billionaire Bob Madonna, Savant continues to expand its Mac-based smart home solution, and with some recent acquisitions, to broaden its market reach. Most notable is the high-profile purchase this year of GE Lighting. Lighting is an obvious element of home automation, but there are less visible benefits for Savant, starting with the strengthening of its position in lighting control. More critically, GE is a respected consumer brand with strong retail distribution (including for its own “C by GE” connected home products), and its technical expertise runs deep. Craig Spinner, Savant’s senior VP, explained that “the Savant brand will remain steadfastly committed to the professional installation channel,” but he added that the acquisition “creates an opportunity to reach millions of homes and drive the mass adoption of smart home technologies via the do-it-yourself, do-it-for-me/electrical contractor, and dealer/professional installation channels.”
The acquisition in 2017 of premium loudspeaker manufacturer Artison is more directly relevant to this soundbar review. Savant has long been a proponent of audio over-IP solutions for distributing whole-house audio. Absorbing Artison, and giving the company access to the expertise of speaker industry legend Cary Christie (a co-founder of Infinity) plus the product family he developed, allows for an obvious expansion of Savant’s network-controlled audio lineup while delivering true audiophile sound quality.
This story is from the October - November 2020 edition of Sound & Vision.
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This story is from the October - November 2020 edition of Sound & Vision.
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The Big Clean
Chances are you probably do not think about the state of your electronic devices too often. Oh, you might think about all the upgrades you would like to make; where you would put those new tower speakers, or how a second or third subwoofer would really tame those bass modes in your room, or how much more cinematic a larger screen would be. Sure, you think about that part of your system. But how often do you think about the well-being of your system?
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