Gramophone’s Favorite Things

Beat the heat and throw a pool party your friends will never forget!

As the weather warms up forget cranking up the AC to stay cool. Instead, take your party outside and make your backyard the place to be!

What To Keep In Mind

 

The size of your pool and backyard are the first things to consider when planning your guest list.  Every pool has a maximum capacity, so don’t try to fit the entire Ravens team in your 12’x24’ family pool. You’ll end the night with only half of the water you started out with. Next, keep in mind the size of your backyard. Do you have a deck where most of your guests will be sitting and relaxing? Do you have enough seating spaces for everyone?

It is also important to start planning about a week ahead and regularly treat your pool and skim the surface of the water to keep it free of debris and to eliminate discoloration. These few and easy tasks will keep your pool looking fresh and appealing to your guests to swim in (because that’s the focus of your party, right?!).

 

Bring On The Games

 

If your guests bring their children make sure to provide a variety of toys that will be entertaining to all age groups. Children love simple and inexpensive water toys such as diving rings and foam noodles. These toys will keep kids busy for hours as they invent their countless new games to play. Also consider purchasing an extra set of inflatable rafts or kick boards to keep the kids afloat!

For the adults an across-the-pool volleyball net or a poolside basketball hoop can create a friendly rivalry among friends. To keep drinks cool, purchase a Mega Chill, an inflatable floating cooler that holds up to 24 cans of your favorite beverage and includes six cup holders along the outer ring.

 

 

Keep It High Tech

 

To get the best out of your outdoor space, consider amping up your backyard with weather-proof technologies- all of which are sold at Gramophone!  

James Loudspeaker offers a great set of concealed outdoor speakers that can make any space sound great without the worry of water damage.  The 70 volt Landscape Speaker set can be concealed in a flower planter and can be placed up to a quarter mile from the receiver without experiencing any signal loss.  The sleek and modern Outdoor Satellite speakers are also a great option when trying to blend your desire for fantastic sound quality with a family-friendly space.

If you are looking for an outdoor television, The SunBrite TV series, also sold at Gramophone, is perfect for your backyard paradise. The SunBrite televisions are rain, dust, and insect proof and resist the damaging effects of extreme temperatures. All models come with full HD and the anti-reflective screen reflects glare.

To put your outdoor space together Color Kinetics lighting systems, such as the Intelliwhite (iW) fixture, lets you adjust the range of outdoor lighting in your space from warm, neutral, to cool white LEDs. You can easily alter the mood of your space by controlling your lights on the external wall-mounted device.  

So get out there and enjoy your summer! Your backyard may just be your new go-to vacation paradise!

-Ela

 

 

Let Your Music Play Outside

Having lived in Maryland for my entire life, I understand that it is possible to experience the 4 seasons over the period of 4 days: Snow on Friday and 80 degrees & sunny on Monday.  If you're not from the area, you may be surprised by this fact, but trust me: it's possible.

The good news is that it looks like we may be heading into a very spring-like weekend, with temperatures reaching 70 degrees.  Which means it's going to be the perfect time to head outside...with your music.  But don't limit the experience to your headphones: share it with your friends & family on a pair of outdoor speakers.  

When you add the Sonos ZonePlayer 90 to your system, along with a pair of Sonance outdoor speakers, you'll have easy access to your entire music collection and be able to play all your music outside.  We can even set it up so that you can choose which music to play from your iPod or smartphone.  Just imagine: you're lounging outside.  The music's on.  Your friends are over.  And all of a sudden, someone makes a song request.  In 5 seconds, you've quickly found the song, and set it to play without having to move!  How simple is that?

Go Outside and Watch Some TV!

There's a move toward the outdoors. It's still springtime and it doesn't get much better than right now. We eat outdoors, we entertain outdoors, we relax outdoors. We've had music outdoors forever. But now we've stepped it up a notch. Now we have outdoor TV! That's right, we no longer have to look in through the window to see how the O's are doing (and not because we already assume they're NOT winning!).

We have TVs - designed for the outdoors that comes in 4 sizes: 23 inch, 32 inch, 46 inch, and 55 inch. They're all weather engineered to protect them from heat, cold, moisture, and insects. They have a heater built in for the cold, so we can leave them up all year round. Extreme temperatures? Not a problem. They'll stand up to temperature ranging from -24 degrees to 122 degrees.

These TVs are all super bright LCD screens and constructed with an anti-glare window so you can easily view them even on the brightest of days.

If you have a deck or a patio or you're thinking about adding one you should consider an outdoor Sunbrite TV. There's no longer any reason to leave one of our favorite sources of entertainment behind when we go outside.

Jeff Hudkins

410-308-1650

Portable Music

Before you know it, summer will be here, and we'll be heading outside to play, eat, swim, and soak up the sun. Great news: your portable music now has a great portable speaker it can connect to. Soundcast presents the Outcast, a truly wireless & weatherproof speaker that connects right up with your iPod. I know that for the audiophiles out there these features send up red flags about sound quality, but I'm here to tell you, the quality is quite good. And with a battery that runs the speaker for up to 10 hours per charge, you can take it with you to the park and play your music all day without a problem. Want to listen to satellite radio or your favorite local station? It can do that too.* Since it's weatherproof, don't worry about doing a cannonball into the pool, the Outcast can take it.

Take out your earbuds, and share your music this summer. The Outcast turns your afternoon in the sun into an event you'll want to repeat.

-Bruce Spivey

*Tech-Speak: Want to know how the RF dock (iCast) works? The iCast has a rear panel analog audio connection. When you don't have an iPod docked in it, the rear panel connection is an INPUT. It can accept analog audio from any source. Here's the catch: if you plan to use the iCast as an iPod dock - for both the soundcast speaker AND your a/v receiver - then that rear panel connection becomes an OUTPUT. Think of the iPod as a mechanical switch. Insert it, and the connection becomes an output, remove it, and the connection becomes an input.

Make This Year's Father's Day Stand Out From All the Rest.

With only 10 Days until Father's Day, these are some of our top picks!

It is almost impossible to write about the "Top Three Gadgets for Father's Day"  There are far more gadgets that Dad would love to have than just three.  How to decide? Headphones top our list of great Father's Day gifts, but there are also great iPod Dock solutions.  And we didn't limit ourselves to picking just three.  We'll let you figure out which of the following would make this year's Father's Day stand out from all the rest.

Better than a tie, but not quite a set of nice cuff links.

Sennheiser's line of headphones offers a great gift for dad for when he goes to the gym.  The adidas Performance headphones with volume control are portable, washable, and simply the way to go when it comes to athletic headphones. Wired Magazine's Product Review Section says: The Sennheiser/Adidas PMX680s provide "Exceptional sound quality. Marvelous bass. Stays put securely. Water resistant and dog-proof."

Better than the really nice cuff links, but not quite his dream golf club set.

At less than $300, this gift is far better than a set of nice cuff links , but not quite at the level of a really nice set of golf clubs.  For the Dad whose music taste is stuck back in time somewhere, these headphones will take him back and let him relive those days -- without causing the whole family to cringe.

Looking for a review? Wired Magazine's Product Review Section says: Heavenly Headphones Create Symphony Hall for Your Ears

Dad has an iPod?

Actually, this gift will be something an entire family enjoys...if Dad's the sharing type.  Starting at less than $400, you can get dad the B&W Mini-Zeppelin or the "big-daddy" of the two, the B&W Zeppelin.  These two are both iPod docking stations that are easy to use and have great sound quality. He'll love the fact that they have digital signal processing, digital amplifiers, as well as s-video & composite outputs. But in addition to that, they just make his music sound amazing. 

Don't take our word for it: Wired Magazine's Geek Dad Section says: "B&W Zeppelin: Still Soaring Above The Crowd After Three Years"

Dad Deserves Quiet Time.

Noise canceling headphones might just be the gift every dad has been wanting. Sennheiser's PXC310 noise canceling, collapsible headphones might just improve Dad's mood when the dog's barking, the baby's crying, and the kids are squealing with delight.  We won't tell if you use them every once in a while too!

 

Dad Wants To Spend As Much Time Outside As Possible (But he still loves movies...)

There's only one choice for this Dad: Epson MovieMate.  "Epson's MovieMate 60 combines an HD projector, A CD/DVD player, microphone unit, and stereo speakers in one portable unit" (And it comes with parental controls, so the kids can't watch movies you don't want them to see!

For less than $700, you can create your very own drive-in movie theater, have a karaoke night, watch a slideshow of family pictures, and more on a picture that can be 120"!

Want to know more about it?  The Today Show featured it!

Dad Hates Digital Music, But It's Time He Move Into the 21st Century

He needs the Peachtree iDecco. Hands Down. The best thing to do is experience the difference it makes in taking the flat sound of digital music and allowing it to breathe and have depth again.  Certainly, you can read reviews. Or, you can just come in and see how simple it is to make your digital music sing!

Dad Needs To Relax In His Very Own...Motorized Chair.

Sometimes Dad just needs to take a seat.  Oh, and this seat will make him feel like a king!  This chair is available in more than 20 colors of high grade woven fabric, and 25 colors of top grain, aniline leathers. With cupholders for his favorite drink, possible snack table, and cushions that will force his body to relax.  Don't go with the La-Z-boy, go with the VIP line of seating that offers so much more!

Dad Loves The Kids And Wants To Spend Lots of Family Time With Them

Is it time to splurge on Dad & the family at the same time?  Spend quality time with Dad while letting him win Wii Golf, snuggling on the couch as a family watching the latest blockbuster, or cheering on your favorite sports team on a 100" screen.  If this sounds like the perfect gift for Dad, they you'll want to check out the Epson Ensemble HD Theater System.  For $5999, it's an all-inclusive investment in Family Time, and what better time to start that investment than Father's Day?  The teenagers just might stay at home to watch movies with the family every once in a while too, but we won't make any promises on that!

We could offer so many other great ideas, such as:

• the portable, wireless, outdoor speaker Dad can take with him anywhere (tailgating included!). Oh, and it links right up with his iPod!
• the outdoor tv for the Dad who loves watching baseball and early season football, but also wants to be outside with the kids!

You want more? Give us a call. Stop by.  We want Dad to be thrilled!

Going Outside: my new project

This is the year, the year we make the great outdoors even greater.  We love music, and we're excited by the idea of outdoor television and movies.  Our challenge now is making the space fit you and your family.

   


We provide all sorts of solutions and ideas for you to peruse, from our online gallery to our state-of-the-art showrooms.  Let us help you design your great outdoors.

Are these some questions you have?

• Do I want to include a Sunbrite weatherproof TV?
  
• What type of speakers do I want?  Do I want them to fit right in with the surroundings?  Madison Fielding Planters could be one option, but then there are the Speakercraft Rock Speakers. 
  
• Of course, there's always the question of sound quality: James Landscape Series or B&W weatherproof speakers?
• What about if I want to have a party and want to play my music outside the patio?  Should I look into the quality, portable, wireless speakers by Soundcast to use during those times?
• Do I want to go back inside to control the outdoor system?  There are several systems that I could use outside (that are also weatherproof) so I wouldn't end up running in and out of the house: Crestron and Control4 are two of them.
  
• What about when a party goes into the later hours and it gets dark outside?  Should I go with lighting control?  Color Kinetics looks like a great idea, but I'm still not sure.

Let's work together to make this year, the year of the great outdoors!  Give us a call or stop by to speak with sales representatives, designers, engineers & programmers to see what they think is best for you!

Timonium 410-308-1650

Columbia  410-381-2100

It’s Summer. Time to Take Music Outdoors

Love the idea of music on the deck, patio or poolside but loathe the idea of bulky black speakers dampening your view? We’ve been working with a speaker vendor called Madison Fielding that has the solution:  high quality outdoor speakers cleverly hidden in a variety of usable planters and functional wooden benches. The PlanterSpeakers line integrates into a variety of outdoor settings and can be filled with live or artificial plants. All models are constructed of top-quality, weatherproof materials.