Audio Advice Showroom

Recently, decades-old retailer Audio Advice opened a new location in the Nashville area, which in June celebrated its grand opening. Unlike the dealer’s other locations in North Carolina, Las Vegas, and Miami, this one in affluent Franklin, Tenn., presented a blank canvas to work with, which led to some creative designs and features—like a stunning whiskey bar that immediately captures visitors’ attention and a vibrant space to showcase Coastal Source.

With outdoor living becoming more in demand in this rapidly growing market, it was a priority for the integrator to highlight the elevated outdoor experience. So, rather than treating outdoor living as an afterthought, the team intentionally designed a dedicated experience within the showroom—making it easier for homeowners to visualize premium outdoor audio and lighting as an extension of the home.

The result is a roughly 18’ x 18’ space to Coastal Source outdoor lighting and audio as a key destination in its thoughtfully designed 6,500-square-foot showroom. Despite being indoors, the vignette is situated adjacent to a kitchen and living room to simulate a window view looking out onto the yard.

Collaboration Yields Outdoor Lighting & Audio Showcase

Ed Simonton, Nashville’s general manager, collaborated with Coastal Source VP of Sales Pete Sepesi on the room design, which closely replicates the successful setup implemented in the Wilmington store’s makeover.

“I wanted to approach this where we could add real value and inspire them to create a space dedicated to outdoor living,” says Sepesi. He worked with Coastal Source Creative Director Val Kugler to create a rendering based off previous projects that could serve as inspiration.

“The goal wasn’t simply to display products… it was to help customers envision how an integrated outdoor environment could look on their own property.,” Sepesi adds.

The installation spotlights outdoor audio with Coastal Source’s Razor on-wall and Ovation in-ceiling speakers, and a Cube subwoofer. Using Razors to flank a Samsung Terrace outdoor TV provides a realistic setup to help customers visualize outdoor entertainment.

Meanwhile, outdoor lighting fixtures include an assortment of Coastal Source EVO uplights and downlights and Niche well lights. This illustrates elegant, discreet, and impactful illumination plus the possibilities of enjoying the outdoor experience well into the evening.

“I really like in here how we have the lights focusing down on the Razors. Outside, those speakers are a key visual aspect, so we thought, how can we enhance that with lighting? For us to be able to bring in the lighting part will just help drive the projects to a different level for us,” Simonton enthuses.

Integrator Illustrates Extending Indoor Luxuries Outside

One of the showroom’s most effective demonstrations blurs the line between indoor and outdoor living. By connecting the Ovation speakers to the same Control4 distributed audio system as the interior spaces, visitors experience how entertainment can seamlessly extend beyond the walls of the home. Also, customers can hear how a subwoofer like the Cube—which also has an attractive granite top—adds richness and fullness to the sound.

“People spend a lot of money on their outdoor spaces. I’ve seen a trend for years in this area where there’s still home theaters, maybe a multi-mix media space inside the house, but lately a lot of clients take that allocated budget and move it outside into really nice outdoor systems,” Simonton explains.

Understanding the client’s motives and how they use their outdoor space daily helps the Nashville team craft well-suited solutions. Another factor to consider is what types of areas comprise their full outdoors.

“The weather here is nice nine months out of the year. It’s important to have that conversation about how they utilize the space so that we can start talking about the level of audio and video—making sure they understand it doesn’t have to be a simple TV outside,” Simonton suggests.

“These spaces are very large, with water features and fire pits, so as you’re moving around the whole space outside, let’s make sure that the audio experience just continues with you. Then, bring that lighting aspect into it and let the lighting paths and landscape follow you.”

Showroom Design Delivers High-End Experience

The store is like a compact version of the area’s common large homes. The entryway leads into an open-concept kitchen and living room space—with luxury design features such as an underlit quartzite countertop and coffered ceiling. Smart home tech focuses on Lutron lighting and shades, while a 135-inch AWALL LED wall provides video wow factor.

The high-performance outdoor speakers blend in well with the showroom’s high-end feel. Other entertainment rooms include two dedicated stereo spaces with good/better/best setups and two home theaters featuring immersive surround sound.

The home theaters offer impressive demos from video via Epson and JVC projectors and full-throttle immersive surround sound from JBL Synthesis and Paradigm/Anthem.

Other details include framed photos of notable projects performed by Audio Advice, and room names that pay homage to iconic Nashville locales like the Ryman Auditorium.