Overview

This specific project was part of a renovation to a home built in 1906, and the intent was to keep the history of the home while updating the quality of technology.

Equipment

We started researching period specific speaker solutions to see what kind of an aesthetic that era had offered. In the end, we settled on the Atwater Kent F2 speakers that we completely gutted, refurbished and rebuilt with high-quality drivers. After researching several speaker models and manufacturers we found that those older speakers were always accompanied by an external radio box for amplification and control. Through that process of research, we also decided to incorporate a radio box from the 1920s to put a twist on the traditional control of the systems in this room and again incorporate something creative and different.

Features

The homeowner in this instance didn’t want to compromise his options of what he could watch or listen to and wanted the same features in this room that he’d grown accustomed to throughout the rest of the home. In terms of the features of the control solution, the custom radio box incorporates zone on/off, the volume of the speakers and a channel knob with 9 presets. Those 9 presets could be used to trigger any macro we desire, in this instance, we are using them for sources. The original power toggle switch that turned on/off the radio box was a natural function for our zone on/off functionality.