Smart home wiring, home audio systems – the electrician designing the solutions for tomorrow's homes

We live in an exciting, pivotal age of technology, where each passing year sees introductions to new tools that make our lives easier and more convenient. As the places where most people spend the majority of their time, our homes are natural mediums through which we integrate such technologies – and with the advent of IoT-enabled devices, domestic technology has flown through innovation after innovation.

Home automation and smart home technologies are an incredibly fast-paced side of the sector in 2023. After seeing rapid growth in the 2010s, the introduction of AI and machine learning tech into the mainstream in the 2020s has seen smart homes become even more capable and adaptive. 

With increased technological innovation usually comes increased accessibility, and this is true of smart homes – more and more homes in New Zealand are being connected than ever.

This is where companies like Inception Electrical, a locally owned company providing electrical and smart home solutions for the residential market, come in. In addition to their expertise in lighting design, they are also a leader in smart home wiring and home audio systems – all of which are conceptualised for each individual project in the company's dedicated design studio.

Davey Boyes, the Director of Inception, says the studio and showroom – a recent addition to the company's offering – is a space where he and his team can sit down with customers and truly understand what they want for their project. 

"We put all the electrical plans on our 65" touch screen so we can have an interactive consultation, drawing upon the screen in real-time and making on-screen changes keeps the client involved in the design process," says Davey. "At the end of the consultation, we can share the notes with the customer so they can take these home.

"For example, when talking about lighting, we can show the different beam angles, colour temperature and lenses to create different scenes to suit the mood of the room."

The same principles apply when demonstrating the capabilities of their home audio solutions: the team can illustrate differences in performance between sound bars, in-ceiling or traditional floor-standing speakers. 

"Using our design studio in this way gives our clients the information required to make informed decisions," says Davey. "We also advise on other aspects of electrical needs, such as solar panel tech, landscape lighting, alarm systems, and a host of smart home technologies."

Smart homes, Davey says, remain one of the most common enquiries the company receives. 

“With so many different products on the market, its great to sit down with our clients and talk through the options that will work best for how they will use their home. 

"For example, imagine having a bathroom fan that automatically turns on when the shower turns on and stays on until the room is free of moisture," says Davey. "At the same time, the heated mirror and towel rail turns on, ready to be used, whilst the in-room sensors check the light and heating to keep everything at a comfortable level.

"With smart home wiring, the options are almost limitless."

Home audio is a particular passion of Davey’s – he spent much of his formative years as a musician and has maintained a keen ear for quality audio systems – whether it's a simple compact portable speaker in the kitchen or a sophisticated Dolby Atmos home theatre set-up. 

Like his other electrical offerings, he makes sure to sit down with his customers and iron out exactly what they want from their audio system.

"I like to concentrate on how you control the speakers, and then on the level of quality needed," he says. "If it's just background music using Spotify, floor-standing speakers may be overkill, but if you critically listen to vinyl records, using a small compact speaker may not be appropriate for the results you are after either. 

Using industry-recognised brands such as Focal, NAD, and Bluesound makes it easy to meet both user requirements and budget."

He says while the latest trends showcase the popularity of soundbars, comparing this to in-ceiling speakers or bookshelf speakers may change customers' minds.

"We want to help remove the confusion from audio as things can quickly become very confusing with all the jargon. Helping the customer to fully understand what they are getting and, more importantly, what it will and will not be able to do is important to us – this way, the customer gets the best-designed system for them."  

Learn more about Inception Electrical and its services.