URC has announced the winners of its 9th annual Unsurpassed Awards. Launched in 2014, URC’s Unsurpassed Awards celebrate excellence and creativity in residential and commercial automation installations. Entries are accepted from domestic URC dealers and international distributors. Categories for consideration include Best Residential, Best Commercial, Most Unique, and Best International.
Entries for the 2023 competition showcase unique smart residential and commercial installations featuring creative system design, innovative product use cases, distinctive environments, and advanced implementations. Entries include inspiring environments and large installations with URC’s Total Control controlling hundreds of smart home and commercial devices.
This year’s entries include prior winners, like Hemag, Automation Sensations, Potters Home Digital, C.A.V.E.S., Hidden Home Technology, and Elite Audio, who consistently excel, as well as dealers new to the competition like Custom Integration Solutions and Certified Sounds, LLC.
Winners of the 2023 URC’s Unsurpassed Awards include the following dealers:
Custom Integrated Solutions Wins Best Residential Installation – USA
A first-time winner takes the top prize for an incredible residential installation. Located in Eastern Ohio, Brian Williams and the Custom Integrated Solutions team created a truly integrated, smart home compound with multiple buildings and sub-systems all running off URC’s Total Control. The installation boasts numerous user interfaces like 8 TKP-8600 in-wall touch screens with voice control, five TRC-1480 handheld remotes with voice control, and two new TDC-5100 touch screens with hard buttons. Williams installed a massive, 30-zone HDA (High-Definition Audio) system with 14 amplifiers and combined with an Autonomic MMS-Se 5 Music Streams streamer and numerous Paradigm speakers bringing concert-quality sound throughout the guest house, poolside, lakeside, and throughout the primary home. With easy integration, Total Control combines Lutron HomeWorks QSX and nearly 100 lighting fixtures, dimmers, and switches to deliver dramatic settings. Completing the installation with 12 large screen LG and Samsung TVs, two Ring Video Doorbell Elites, 27 Custom Cut Out Acoustic Graphix panels, and a Sennheiser EW 100 G4 wireless handheld microphone, this estate boasts one-of-a-kind spaces ready for primetime entertainment events or political rallies.
Elite Audio Wins Best Commercial Installation – USA
Brantley Waites and the team at Elite Audio (Lexington, S.C.) partnered with architect Wes Taylor of LTC Associates to design an amazing commercial project for Lefkowitz Plastic Surgery and Aesthetics. The client requested premiere audio distribution incorporating several streaming sources and an easy-to-use audio video system to increase patient comfort. The massive system consisted of 15,826 feet of cables and required 67 hours to complete. The result included 32 audio zones, 17 Autonomic AU-MMS-1E music streamers, a noise-masking system, and 15 Samsung TVs. This system is integrated seamlessly into URC’s Total Control with five HDA-8100s, two URC HDA-SW5s, 15 TRC-820 handheld remotes, and 10 TRC-7600 touch screens. According to Waites, “URC’s Total Control was the right solution with user-friendly operation, a highly reliable system and budget-friendly operation for our client.” And, the client raved, “From project start to finish, Brantley and his team were exceptional in every way possible. I could not be happier with the system and service they have provided. I asked for a very complex and versatile system, and they delivered.”
Automation Sensation Wins Most Unique Installation – USA
Neil Lorick and the team at Automation Sensation (Pompano Beach, Fla.) is a returning champion with an incredible design-forward entry from South Florida. This upscale home features URC’s HDA (High-Definition Audio) for audio distribution and extensive Lutron lights and shades to set a dramatic stage for epic entertainment. Integrating with several streaming sources and devices, the audio system delivers studio quality sound throughout the home, including blending seamlessly the indoor and outdoor spaces. The system, controlled by URC’s Total Control, blends a variety of sub-systems prompted the homeowner to state that “this automation system is defiantly sensational.”
Potters Home Digital Wins Best International Installation
Via AWE, URC’s European distributor, comes another truly immersive experience from Potters Home Digital (Tenterden, Kent, England). In fact, Gavin Baker and his team are back-to-back winners. Working with a local property management partner, Baker designed an upgrade from a previous automation system to URC’s Total Control. Originally, the conversion was based on an inability to secure product from another control brand, but, once the homeowner experienced Total Control, the project expanded in scale, functionality, and integration. The home boasts 17 touch screens (12 TKP-9600, five TKP-8600), eight handheld remotes (seven TRC-1480 and one new TDC-5100), 18 audio zones distributed via URC’s HDA (High-Definition Audio), eight video zones, gate entry, security camera integration, HVAC integration, and extensive Lutron lighting. The video experience includes Apple TV integration, video intercom, and quick functions specific to each room, as well as whole home control of elements such as lighting, HVAC, and security. The URC automation system interfaces throughout the five-floor, upscale home offering uniformity and ease-of-use for the homeowner. The house manager boasted, “The new system is great, it’s easy to use and so much clearer than our previous system. The team at Potters have done an amazing job and the new equipment looks great.”
The complete list of award-winning installations includes:
- Best Residential Installation – USA
- Gold: Custom Integration Solutions (OH)
- Silver: Hemag, Inc (FL)
- Bronze: Elite Audio Video Solutions (AL)
- Most Unique Installation – USA
- Gold: Automation Sensations (FL)
- Silver: Certified Sounds, LLC (HI)
- Best Commercial Installation – USA
- Gold: Elite Audio (SC)
- Silver: C.A.V.E.S. (OH)
- Bronze: Quality TV (FL)
- Best International Installation
- Gold: Potters Home Digital (UK)
- Silver: Hidden Home Technology (UK)
Winners receive awards and publicity ranging from crystal awards to digital/social campaigns and badges to feature in press releases and publications.
For more information, visit www.urc-automation.com.
