by Bob Archer | May 7, 2026 | News, Nexus 21
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Nexus 21 Next-Generation Motorized Mount Brings Flexible Elegance to Art TVs Including Samsung’s The Frame™
Designed to complement today’s contemporary interiors, Nexus 21’s new Apex motorized mount brings large low-profile TVs closer to the wall than any other, delivering unmatched aesthetics, functionality, and viewing versatility.
Phoenix, AZ – May 7, 2026 — Nexus 21, the U.S.-based leader in motorized TV lift systems, has reengineered its Apex Motorized Wall Mount to make art TVs feel even more like true statement pieces. Uniquely designed to conceal most of the mounting hardware within the wall, Apex allows TVs up to 83 inches to sit just under ¾ inch from the surface, creating a clean, gallery-style appearance for displays like Samsung’s The Frame.
As large-scale TVs continue to grow in popularity, Apex keeps pace by offering AV professionals, interior designers, and builders a sleek, high-performance solution that balances flexibility with refined aesthetics. When positioned flush against the wall, the TV blends seamlessly into the space as a work of art; with the press of a button, it extends and swivels to function as a conventional television.
A Multifunctional Mount That Matches the Design Intent
“Most motorized mounts leave a one- to two-inch gap between the wall and the TV,” says Cory Lovett, CEO of Nexus 21. “Apex delivers a significantly slimmer profile, creating a noticeable difference in aesthetics, especially when paired with a display designed to resemble art.”
When not positioned flush against the wall, Apex offers full motorized articulation for optimal viewing flexibility. The mount extends up to two feet from the wall and swivels up to 45 degrees in either direction. Whether the goal is minimalist design, multifunctional living spaces, or premium entertainment with artistic flair, Nexus 21 makes it easy to achieve the desired look and performance.
Benefits for AV Professionals and Homeowners
For AV integrators, Apex significantly reduces the labor typically required to achieve a seamless, built-in appearance. Rather than constructing a recessed cavity for the TV to occupy, the included Wall Box installs directly within the wall with only minor stud modifications, allowing the arm assembly to be easily secured in place. This approach helps preserve delicate finishes, such as wallpaper or specialty textures, while delivering a cleaner, faster installation overall.
Built-in cable management conceals and protects the cables from wear, while Nexus 21’s Smart Drive technology allows for manual adjustments without compromising the mount’s internal mechanisms. It also stops the mount from moving when an obstacle is detected for added safety.
Apex delivers effortless performance and refined functionality. Its smooth extension and swivel capabilities make it easy to achieve the perfect viewing angle for any seating arrangement, while whisper-quiet operation—at just 39 decibels—ensures movement never disrupts a serene environment. With control options ranging from handheld remotes to IP and IR control and seamless integration with leading smart home systems, Apex delivers both convenience and customization.
“Today’s home and business owners want technology that complements their space, not competes with it,” says Lovett. “Apex supports that vision by delivering installation solutions that keep the focus on design while offering precision control and movement of their favorite low-profile TVs.”
For more information, visit www.tvlift.com.
About Nexus 21
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Nexus 21 is a leading manufacturer of precision-engineered motorized systems. Renowned for their ultra-quiet, reliable, and installation-friendly solutions, Nexus 21’s products are designed to seamlessly integrate technology into living and working spaces. Serving integrators, architects, builders, and designers across more than 75 countries, the company offers a comprehensive range of pop-up, drop-down, and flip-down lifts tailored for both residential and commercial applications. Committed to quality and customer satisfaction, all Nexus 21 products are proudly made in the USA and backed by an industry-leading 10-year full-replacement warranty. For more information, visit www.tvlift.com and follow Nexus 21 on social media:
Media Contact:
For reviews, interviews, or more information about Nexus 21 contact Katye McGregor Bennett of KMB Communications by emailing katye@kmbcomm.com or calling 406-446 1283.
by Bob Archer | May 4, 2026 | Blog
Regardless of the economy, homeowners are always interested in the security of their homes. Arguably, a deeper dive into homeowners’ security interests typically finds surveillance and motion sensors at the top of their priority lists.
Secondarily, door locks are becoming increasingly popular, especially as manufacturers add smart features and more style choices to their products.
One aspect of the residential access control market that may be overlooked are garage door operators (GDO). Sizing up the access control market, a study from Grandview Research estimates the global access control market size in 2024 was about $10.76 billion. The study goes on to estimate the market will grow at a rate of 8.4% at compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to reach a figure of approximately $17.30 billion by 2030.
It is also important to note that making up roughly 31% of the market, the U.S. generates nearly a third of those global access control market revenues.
Putting Garage Door Operators Under the Microscope
Providing more insight on garage door operators and that category within the access control market, research from Market Reports World finds the GDO category accounts for approximately $1.27 billion in revenues in 2024. Moreover, new construction installations accounted for about $1.5 billion in 2022.
Market Reports World goes on to state in its research the category is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3% to reach nearly $1.7 billion in revenues by 2033.
Helping to drive this growth the study continues is the growing demand for automation, smart connectivity, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. Additionally, it is important to emphasize the Market Reports World study says that smart home device penetration in the North American market in 2024 exceeded more than 60%.
Nice GDOs Meet Market Demands
Given the market growth that is forecast in the access control market and within the garage door operators category, it’s time to look at some of the products that populate the GDO landscape.
Here are six garage door operators from the global manufacturer Nice to meet a range of modern residential access control needs:
Nice Linear 621: Designed as an affordable solution for today’s homeowner, this GDO features an integrated battery, along with a DC motor that includes the company’s soft start and stop technologies. The Nice Linear also offers homeowners HomeLink and MegaCode compatibility, and LED lighting.
Nice Linear 661: The global manufacturer points out the 661 is part of a new series of garage door operators that combine new industrial designs and new-age features. The Nice Linear 661 incorporates amenities such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and it works with the company’s Nice G.O. app. The GDO also includes a built-in battery, LED lighting, and a DC motor that is engineered to operate quietly with soft start and stop capabilities.
Nice/Linear LDC0801: Developed to serve homeowners as an efficient GDO, the LDC0801 offers homeowners a choice of options to meet their various needs. The unit provides features such as a single-bulb 100-watt light, battery backup options that are CA-969 compliant, and a built-in MegaCode format receiver with more than 1 million unique codes and configurable access levels for as many as 10 users.
The Nice line of residential garage door operators also includes the LDC0836B, the LDC0841, and the 1461J. The LDC0863B utilizes a quiet motor that offers variable speed operation, and soft start and stop capabilities. The LDC0841 features the company’s smooth industrial designs and its smart GDO technologies.
Wrapping up the Nice residential garage door operators is the 1461J. This unit is a jackshaft GDO that includes a DC motor, integrated LED lighting, and a battery backup. Nice emphasizes that through its slim 4.5-inch width, the 1461J complements a variety of homes, including homes with large doors or high ceilings.
For a look at what Nice offers in the commercial GDO market, check out this news item on the company’s latest commercial products.
by Bob Archer | May 1, 2026 | Blog, KMB Communications
For whatever reason, home audio and audio news in general once again captures the lion’s share of attention in the KMB Comm Tech Week in Review.
Of the six news items in this week’s tour of technology news, four stories relate to audio, while consistent newsmakers such as Apple and AI-related content also find their way into the wrap-up.
This week’s news comes from national websites such as LinkedIn and Yahoo, as well as B2B (business-to-business) sites like Mix Magazine, and AVNation.tv, and the specialty consumer audio website AVNirvana.com.
Audio Dominates KMB Comm Tech Week in Review
Picking up a story from Bloomberg, LinkedIn posted a story on Spotify adding Peloton fitness classes to its platform for subscribers.
The post points out that Peloton users at one time spent $50 for its class subscriptions, but now through the classes’ availability on Spotify, the streaming service’s premium subscribers can access more than 1,400 classes for $12.99 per month.
In a story in which AV Nirvana calls the product, Wilson Audio’s, “most ambitious launch,” the audiophile speaker manufacturer has announced its Autobiography loudspeaker. The story states the speaker stands more than 81 inches tall; nearly two-feet wide, and approximately 35-inches deep.
The five-way design speaker also weighs 821 pounds per speaker, and AV Nirvana adds, the speaker’s retail cost is $790,000 per pair.
Transitioning from the home to the car, AVNation.tv posted an item on the newly introduced Dirac Spaces product.
According to the story, this new automotive solution is designed to transform in-car audio into an immersive audio experience by recreating environments that include studios and concert halls.
AVNation.tv explains that Dirac Spaces maps a car’s interior and acoustic target to create a more engaging immersive environment. Dirac Spaces debuts in the electric executive flagship SUV, the NIO ES9 and it works in tandem with the car’s Lyra audio system.
Counterfeit Vinyl Operation Headlines National Technology News
Falling under the banner of either, “whoops” or “oh no,” the AI platform Claude, has deleted PocketOS’ production database.
The story, which was posted by Yahoo says that PocketOS a provider of software for car rental businesses, experienced an enormous outage after the AI tool wiped out its database and its backups within a matter of seconds.
At the time of the blackout Yahoo continues, PocketOS was running a coding agent called Cursor that included Claude Opus 4.6. The founder of PocketOS went on in the story to attribute the issue to systemic failures related to modern AI infrastructure.
As for the weekly KMB Comm Tech Week in Review Apple news item, LinkedIn is reporting that new company CEO John Ternus is set to oversee possibly as many as 10 product introductions. These products could include a foldable iPhone, along with a smart home hub, camera pendant, and a tabletop robot.
Concluding the KMB Comm Tech Week in Review for the week of April 27, is news from Mix Magazine on a vinyl counterfeit operation.
Mix Magazine points out that London Police seized about 6,500 records that have an estimated value of more than $350,000 back on April 22. Some of the counterfeit records include pirate pressings of Queen’s Greatest Hits album, as well as albums from Coda Records, a company Mix Magazine notes, that deals in the loopholes of unsanctioned live recordings.
Putting the counterfeit operation in context, the story adds the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) reports that U.K. vinyl sales increased more than 13% in 2025 to reach the figure of 7.6 million units. U.S. sales in 2025 accounted for more than a $1 billion based on RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) figures.
To learn more about KMB Communications and its clients, click here.
by Bob Archer | Apr 28, 2026 | D-Tools, News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | DOWNLOAD IMAGES HERE
D-Tools SI v24 Raises the Bar for System Integration Teams: Faster Projects, Stronger Collaboration, Greater Control
The industry’s most trusted business management platform enhances real-time team collaboration via new multi-user project editing capability and more.
RENO, Nevada – April 28, 2026 – D-Tools today announced the release of System Integrator (SI) v24, the latest version of the company’s end-to-end business management platform, highlighted by a new multi-user project editing feature that enables real-time enhanced collaboration capabilities to integrators worldwide. With more than 27 years serving the system integration market, D-Tools has built SI v24 around one straightforward goal: giving integration firms the tools to run more efficient, more profitable businesses.
This release addresses the real-world pressures integration firms face today, including tighter project timelines, more complex scopes of work, and the constant need to do more with leaner teams. SI v24 reflects D-Tools’ ongoing investment in practical capabilities that improve how integration teams work, from initial estimate through final installation, without adding complexity or compromising accuracy.
“The rate of change in this industry has never been faster, and the integrators differentiating themselves are those investing in how they operate, not just what they install,” said G Paul Hess, CEO of D-Tools. “SI v24 is built to help enable that outcome. When project teams collaborate without bottlenecks, financials stay accurate across every job, and workflows match how the business actually runs, integrators can take on more work, protect their margins, and grow with confidence.”
REAL-TIME COLLABORATION THAT ACCELERATES PROJECT DELIVERY
The centerpiece of SI v24 is multi-user project editing, a long-requested capability that changes how integration teams work together. For the first time, team members across sales, design, engineering and installation can work within the same project at the same time.
The practical impact is significant. Teams no longer need to wait for a colleague to check out a project file before making their own contributions, removing the sequential handoffs that slow delivery timelines. Changes are saved to the server automatically as they are made, so everyone works from the same current, accurate data. The result is fewer delays, fewer version conflicts, and a shorter path from project kickoff to completed installation.
COLLABORATION THAT EXTENDS BEYOND THE OFFICE
SI v24 also improves how integrators coordinate with outside parties. A new Gantt chart export to Microsoft Project lets teams share detailed project timelines with architects, general contractors and other collaborators who do not use SI. Integration firms can present professional, accurate project plans to any stakeholder without workarounds, duplicate entry, or reformatting work.
In the Project Editor, users can now reorder items in the bill of materials to reflect how work is actually sequenced in the field. Related products stay grouped together, the risk of missed items drops, and handoffs between departments become cleaner and more accurate.
DEEPER OPERATIONAL CONTROL ACROSS THE BUSINESS
SI v24 includes a broad set of enhancements that give integration firms greater control over financial, operational and administrative functions:
- Financial precision: Custom timesheet fields, mass update capabilities and tax configuration by labor type give operations and accounting teams more accurate cost data, supporting tighter margin management and reliable job costing across every project.
- Catalog-level consistency: System types can now be assigned to labor items and packages at the Catalog level, ensuring uniformity across projects and reducing the setup time required for each new estimate.
- Change order governance: New user group permission levels for approving internal and external change orders give firm principals and project managers clearer oversight of scope changes, protecting margins and client relationships at every stage.
- Enterprise scalability: SI Server can now be optionally deployed on an Azure Load Balancer, giving larger firms and complex IT environments the reliability and performance they require.
- Mobile workforce support: The Mobile Install app now supports file transfers up to 100MB, giving field crews reliable access to large drawings, documents and project media directly on the job site.
- Administrative control: Software update notifications can now be limited to SI Admins, giving IT teams better control over change management and reducing disruption across the broader user base.
D-Tools SI v24 is available now. For more information, visit www.d-tools.com.
ABOUT D-TOOLS, INC.
D-Tools, Inc. is a global leader in business management software for system integration firms. Its System Integrator (SI) and D-Tools Cloud platforms support sales, design, project management, and service operations for over 8,000 companies across 90-plus countries. For more than 27 years, D-Tools has helped integrators build more efficient, more profitable businesses. Follow D-Tools on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Tim Bigoness, D-Tools – (925) 270-4102 – timb@d-tools.com
Katye McGregor Bennett, KMB Communications – (406) 446-1283 – katye@kmbcomm.com
All products, product names, trademarks, and registrations mentioned are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
by Bob Archer | Apr 27, 2026 | Blog, SONOS
There has never been a better time to be a music fan. Home audio through formats such as vinyl, the comeback of CDs, and of course streaming audio offer music fans choices with no compromise in quality.
In terms of coolness, vinyl has been trendy for several years due to album artwork and the simple TLC it takes to drop the needle. More recently—CD—another form of physical media has picked itself up off the mat through its 16-bit/44kHz lossless sound quality and value. CDs are 1/3 to a quarter of the cost of vinyl and CD/DVD players are readily available to spin these discs.
With vinyl and CDs once again popular, it is easy to forget about streaming audio. Despite the possibility of streaming content to be taken for granted in 2026, the format is by far the largest generator of revenue for the music industry.
Using data from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the music market produced $11.5 billion in revenues in 2025, and of those revenues, paid-subscription streaming audio’s 106.5 million subscribers accounted for $6.4 billion of those revenues.
Looking back at why streaming content is so popular, services such as Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, and Qobuz provide access to millions of songs and in some cases 24-bit/192kHz high-resolution audio.
Using what is the one home audio brand that helped to drive mainstream access to not only a choice of streaming services—Sonos—but also several ways of playing that content, let’s breakdown some of the popular manufacturer’s top products.
4 Sonos Streaming Audio Products to Address a Range of Applications
One of the nice aspects of streaming products from companies like Sonos is the flexibility the products offer. Google Android user … no problem; Apple iOS … no problem. Smart homeowner with the desire for audio across their home … once again, no problem.
Additionally, the product line also caters to personal audio experiences with the Ace headphones. The headphones allow for TV listening and travel without sacrificing Dolby Atmos audio accessibility.
Diving into the Sonos product line a bit further, here are four products to consider for just about every streaming audio situation:
Amp Multi: Developed specifically for the technology integration market and professional integrators, the Amp Multi provides eight channels that are rated to produce 125-watts-per-channel. Sonos points out the multichannel, multizone streaming audio amplifier utilizes GaN technologies and post-filter feedback to optimize efficiency. The product also incorporates the company’s ProTune technology that’s designed to optimize system performance in a range of room environments.
Arc Ultra: This soundbar produces immersive audio up to levels as high as 9.1.4 to allow homeowners to listen to their favorite shows, movies and music in Dolby Atmos. Sonos points out the soundbar provides a choice of control options, including Sonos Voice Control and the company’s companion app.
Era 100 SL: Available in a choice of black or white finishes, the Era 100 SL is one of the most affordable ways to bring streaming audio into a home using Sonos components. The versatile powered speaker can be setup in pairs to form a true stereo configuration, and the speaker can also be used as rear surrounds in a Sonos-based home theater.
Sonos Ace: Concluding this look at Sonos products is the company’s Ace Headphones. Available in a choice of black or white, the headphones come with a carrying case to support its use as a travel companion, as well as cables for connections such as USB-C and 3.5mm analog. What makes the Ace Headphones stand out as a streaming audio solution, is the headphones’ Dolby Atmos compatibility. Apple Music subscribers can play their favorite band and listen to their favorite albums mixed in Atmos, and play Netflix or HBO content with full surround sound just by simply wearing the headphones.
To learn more about the Sonos Amp Multi Professional Multichannel Amplifier, check this press release from KMB Communications.
