by Bob Archer | Feb 2, 2026 | Blog, D-Tools, KMB Communications, Kordz, SONOS, Torus Power
Luxury used to mean marble, motorized everything, and a home theater so ostentatious it left family and friends searching for words. Now? Luxury is the absence of friction.
Today’s luxury-seeking homeowner doesn’t ask, “why did the music stop in the kitchen?” Luxury is when the designer doesn’t get the dreaded text: “The wall plate is crooked and the TV keeps glitching.” More than anything luxury is best represented when the integrator doesn’t get a frantic Sunday night call because the equipment rack decided to throw a tantrum mid-party.
That’s the reliability conversation I’m most interested in during the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2026 show in Barcelona on February 3–6—especially with the show’s “Push Beyond” mindset setting the tone for what the industry values next. (ISE 2026)
For integrators and their clients the “wow” moments we all love with the modern home are only possible when the fundamentals behave. And this year, four brands are making a strong case that reliability is, in fact, the new luxury—each from a different angle.
Power integrity: Torus Power
Start at the beginning: Clean, stable power. Torus Power is showcasing its toroidal isolation approach at ISE 2026, highlighting why electrical isolation isn’t just protection—it’s performance and long-term stability. If you’ve ever chased a hum, ground issue, or a mysterious “it only happens at night” failure, you already understand why power is a luxury feature in disguise. Torus will be on-site at Stand #2D300. (CEPRO)
Signal integrity: Kordz
After power, the next part of the modern home that needs reliability is signal. Kordz offers connectivity integrators seek: Cables that are built for the way systems are actually installed—dense racks, tight bends, high bandwidth, real-world abuse. The show spotlight includes new HDMI and control solutions positioned to reduce failures and keep systems stable under pressure. Kordz will be at Stand #2F550. (Kordz)
Process integrity: D-Tools
Reliability isn’t only hardware—it’s also documentation and proper workflow. These efficiencies allow for fewer opportunities for human error to sneak in. D-Tools is previewing what’s next for its System Integrator and D-Tools Cloud integrator tools. These solutions focus on streamlining quoting, collaboration, and field execution. When the process is tight, the install is cleaner, the handoff is smoother, and the client experience feels “effortless”—which is exactly how luxury should feel. D-Tools will be at Stand #2J500. (Commercial Integrator)
Audio system integrity at scale: Sonos
Finally, let’s talk about reliability where homeowners notice it most: Whole-home audio. Sonos is introducing Amp Multi, a multi-zone audio solution that is specifically for professional installations. The new Sonos multi-zone streaming amplifier provides eight channels rated at 125 watts each, as well as up to four configurable zones, and architecture designed to scale by adding units as needed. Sonos also calls out the engineering choices that support long-term stability, including GaN power architecture and a fanless design. At ISE 2026, Sonos will be in Hall 1, Booth 1E500, with regular demos and broader installed-audio conversations across its lineup. (newsroom.sonos.com)
For press members, this is the editorial gift: Reliability is not a “spec sheet” story. It’s a human story about trust, reduced consumer friction, and systems that quietly do their job so the homeowner can enjoy the benefits that today’s luxury smart home is capable of providing. For integrators, it’s a profitability story: Fewer callbacks, fewer fire drills, and more capacity for the work you want to be doing.
At KMB, we love the glossy product moment as much as anyone—but we’re also obsessed with what makes that moment possible. This year at ISE 2026, the smartest coverage might be about the fundamentals … because that’s where the real differentiation is hiding.
KMB CEO and founder Katye McGregor Bennett will be at ISE. To book time to meet with the brands mentioned above, email katye@kmbcomm.com with “ISE Meeting Inquiry” in the subject line.
KMB Communications hosts a podcast called AV Trade Talk. Listeners can check out the podcast to learn about the latest happenings in the custom installation electronics industry. To listen to the KMB AV Trade Talk Podcast, click here.
by Bob Archer | Jan 20, 2026 | News, Torus Power
TORONTO, ON, CANADA — January 20, 2026 — For more than two decades, Torus Power Inc. has been a leading advocate for the critical role clean, isolated power plays in achieving optimized, high-performance audio and video systems. At ISE 2026, taking place February 3–6 in Barcelona, Spain, Torus Power will celebrate its 20th anniversary by showcasing a comprehensive lineup of toroidal isolation transformers engineered to meet the evolving performance demands of custom home theaters, two-channel listening rooms, and whole-home AV installations.
Featured prominently at the AV EMEA Stand #2D300, the exhibit will highlight flagship models from Torus Power’s highly regarded RM Series and AVR Series, demonstrating how properly isolated power can significantly enhance system performance, reliability, and longevity.
“Our 20-year legacy is built on delivering reliable, audiophile-grade power solutions that enhance system performance while protecting valuable AV equipment,” says Kevin Main, President and COO of Torus Power. “The products we’re showcasing at ISE 2026 represent everything we’ve learned over the past two decades. Our flagship RM and AVR models demonstrate our continued commitment to innovation and give integrators powerful tools to elevate the performance of their most demanding projects.”
RM Series: Reference-Grade Power for Luxury Residential AV
Designed for luxury home theaters and high-end audio systems, the Torus Power RM Series remains unmatched in the industry for performance, protection, and value. Offering models ranging from 4 Amps to 50 Amps, the RM Series delivers robust power isolation, noise filtration, high instantaneous current capability, and comprehensive lightning and surge protection.
One of the most popular models, the RM-16CE, will be featured at ISE 2026. This technologically advanced solution safeguards and optimizes AV system performance by reducing noise, stabilizing current delivery, and protecting connected components from power anomalies—ensuring consistent, uncompromised operation.
WM 45 AVR-2 ELITE Series: Intelligent Voltage Regulation and Isolation
Also on display, the Wall-Mounted (WM) 45 AVR-2 ELITE Series combines toroidal isolation with Torus Power’s exclusive Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) technology. Designed for installations where high-performance AV equipment is exposed to fluctuating line voltages, the WM 45 AVR-2 ELITE maintains a stable output voltage within an optimal range of 230V (+/– 8V) through multiple input taps.
In addition to surge protection and true isolation, the WM 45 AVR-2 ELITE supports local web-based setup, monitoring, and control, as well as remote system management via Torus Power’s integrated Power Connect cloud platform, giving integrators enhanced visibility and control over system performance.
Benefits Beyond Traditional Power Conditioning
Unlike conventional power conditioners, Torus Power’s toroidal isolation transformers electrically decouple AV components from the incoming power source, dramatically reducing electrical noise and eliminating transients. The result is a significantly lower noise floor, delivering improved audio dynamics, enhanced imaging, tighter bass response, and more immersive sound. Video performance benefits equally, with crisper detail, brighter colors, deeper blacks, improved contrast, and a more engaging viewing experience.
Beyond performance improvements, Torus Power solutions protect connected equipment from surges, spikes, brownouts, and voltage fluctuations, helping systems maintain peak performance under real-world power conditions. Available in both wall- and rack-mount configurations, Torus Power’s isolation transformers offer exceptional installation flexibility for a wide range of applications.
Where to See Torus Power at ISE 2026
ISE attendees interested in learning why Torus Power isolation transformers are trusted to power and protect LED video walls, audiophile-grade audio systems, and other high-performance AV installations are invited to visit Stand #2D300. To schedule a meeting with Kevin Main, President and COO of Torus Power, or for additional information, email sales@toruspower.com.
For more information about Torus Power, visit www.toruspower.com and follow Torus Power on LinkedIn and Facebook.
About Torus Power
Torus Power toroidal isolation transformers are the world’s finest clean power source for audio, video, and control systems. Dramatically increasing performance levels of connected AV components from video displays to amplifiers and powered speakers, Torus Power products utilize patented NBT noise filtering technology and medical-grade toroidal isolation transformers to eliminate power-line noise artifacts and protect equipment from potentially damaging AC power line events while increasing system reliability and extending product life. Torus Power products deliver higher levels of instantaneous current which ensures that dynamic components and high-performance systems are never compromised or starved for power.
Built to rigorous specifications in Toronto, Canada, Torus Power’s toroidal transformers perform and protect like no other. For additional information visit www.toruspower.com and follow Torus Power on LinkedIn and Facebook
Media Contact
For interviews or reviews please contact Katye (McGregor) Bennett of KMB Communications, Inc. by phoning (406) 446-1283 or emailing katye@kmbcomm.com.
by Bob Archer | Dec 15, 2025 | Blog, D-Tools, KMB Communications, Leon Speakers, Quantum Media, Somfy, SONOS, Torus Power, Wall-Smart
As 2025 draws to a close, it is time to take a look what KMB Communications (KMB Comm) has been doing to support its clients—and help to contribute to the smart home industry’s growth.
Led by founder and CEO Katye Bennett, the veteran public relations professional works closely with the popular smart home B2B (business-to-business) publication Residential Systems contributing monthly columns that focus on a range of topics.
KMB Comm’s Lisa Montgomery, another veteran market professional, has also written a range of content items for publications across the consumer electronics industry.
Highlighting Bennett and Montgomery’s contributions to the smart home industry in 2025, here’s a look at some of their articles.
A Look Back at KMB Comm’s Residential Systems Columns for 2025
Over the course of the year Bennett’s monthly column tackled a variety of topics to stir conversation, while providing thought leadership to help integrators streamline their businesses.
Here is a recap of the KMB Comm Residential Systems for 2025:
Highlighting a few of these columns, March’s “Outsmarted by a Smart Toilet” demonstrated that just because a product incorporates the latest technologies, it does not mean people will use the product if the solution isn’t intuitive to operate.
In May issue of Residential Systems, the KMB Comm column, “How to Stand Out in a Competitive Marketplace” looked at ways integration firms can make their businesses stand out. A few points of interest from the column include the importance of clear communications and the ability to deliver ongoing support and maintenance.
The column also provides examples of ways that integrators can validate their work to show potential clients their capabilities.
Towards the end of the year, the KMB Comm Residential Systems’ column, “From Browsing to Beling: Turning Clients into Community” examined why it is important for dealers to make clients feel like they are a part of something bigger.
The column makes the point that homeowners aren’t just buying a smart home system, they are buying integrators’ solutions and culture. Bennett recommends several ways that dealers can involve their clients in their communities—and most importantly make them feel like a valued member of a community.
Content for Other Media Companies
Montgomery has also been active throughout the year providing stories to publications that include CE Pro and Residential Systems.
Using her decades of industry experience, which include work at the consumer publication Electronic House, as well as the B2B publication CE Pro. Earlier this year Montgomery contributed an item to CE Pro on how to sell power management and energy storage, and just recently she contributed an item on high-performance, luxury home theater.
The KMB Comm account manager & copywriter’s contributions to Residential Systems includes an item on how to use the popular audio brand Sonos in light commercial environments such as restaurants and retail stores. Another interesting contribution Montgomery made to the large publication was a story on the rise in high-performance video walls in luxury home theaters.
In addition, the newest KMB Comm team member is former CE Pro staff member Bob Archer. Joining the team about a month ago, he had written a couple of noteworthy items for CE Pro earlier this year.
In the spring of 2025, he put together a story on the grassroots industry organization BIG AV. BIG AV’s goal is to provide more educational and employment opportunities to its diverse membership to help grow the smart home industry and fulfill its need for qualified labor. The other noteworthy story he wrote was the second annual CE Pro Women to Watch List for 2025. This story recognizes the contributions of women to the growth and prosperity of the smart home industry.
Of course, KMB Comm has its own website where visitors can learn about the PR firm’s roster of clients and what’s happening in the residential and commercial electronics industry. Go here to check out everything KMB Communications has to offer.
KMB Comm Sponsors CEDIA Awards
Helping to fuel the public relation firm’s profile within its core market, KMB Communications served as a sponsor for the CEDIA. The trade organization points out that KMB served as the headline sponsor for its 2025 Smart Home Awards, along with the firm’s clients that include Apex Technologies, Leon Speakers, Quantum Media Systems, Somfy, Torus Power, Wall-Smart, and D-Tools.
The awards recognize industry professionals that are driving current and future trends as the home technology market continues to evolve.
Commenting on the sponsorship of the annual CEDIA program, KMB Communications founder Katye Bennett emphasizes the awards provided her firm a platform to showcase its support of the smart home industry.
“At KMB, our support of the industry runs deep. So much so, that we were compelled to be the headline sponsor of the CEDIA Awards at CEDIA Expo. This provided us the opportunity to share who we are, what we do, and why we love and support the industry as we do—creating, distributing, sharing, and celebrating compelling content, creative, communications, and strategies for some of the best brands and people in the biz,” states Bennett.
“It was nerve-wracking at first [read the post on the event on LinkedIn] that was published in KMB’s feed the week after the show) but for me personally, it served as a career-defining moment. KMB turns 15 in 2026, and you will be hearing a lot more about our company, partners, offerings, and growth plan. Until then, you’re just going to have to wait eagerly …”
KMB Communications hosts a podcast called AV Trade Talk. Listeners can check out the podcast to learn about the latest happenings in the custom installation electronics industry. To listen to the KMB AV Trade Talk Podcast, click here.
by Bob Archer | Dec 12, 2025 | Apex Technologies, Blog, D-Tools, Daisy, KMB Communications, Quantum Media, RoseWater Energy, Somfy, SONOS, Torus Power, Wall-Smart
With Thanksgiving in the rear-view mirror and Christmas and New Year’s rapidly approaching the entire technology industry is trying to button up their 2025 activities. Keeping pace with this end-of-year pace, KMB Comm has its weekly roundup of technologies stories for the week of Dec. 8-12.
Headlining the week’s news cycle, Residential Systems has announced its 2026 Companies to Watch list. Several KMB Comm clients were represented in the list, including Apex Technologies, Daisy, Global Wave Integration, HYPERSUB, Quantum Media Systems, RoseWater Energy, Somfy, Sonos, Torus Power, TPI Aerospace, and Wall-Smart.
In addition, Residential Systems named KMB Communications as a company to watch for its work within the smart home community helping its clients to meet the media goals.
The complete list can be found here.
Over in the world of audiophiles, the Audioholics website posted an item on Integra’s latest high-performance amplifiers.
The new Professional Series of Amplifiers offer a choice of models with features that include DSP capabilities that are highlighted by presets for Klipsch loudspeakers.
Check out the Audioholics item here.
Also, in the world of residential technologies, the popular data and research company Parks Associates released a study on the multi-family, multi-dwelling (MDU) category. The firm posted the item on LinkedIn and a couple of takeaways from the data include people are delaying moving and the spending of their disposable income.
Other findings in the report include that 14% of those polled in the study pay a technology fee, and more importantly, Parks Associates emphasizes, 84% of those paying this fee, which averages $75 per month, state the fee is worth the price.
The Parks Associates study can be found here.
One of the most difficult categories in the home technology market to navigate is power. Helping to shed some light on what some of these products and systems offer from this often-misunderstood category, RoseWater Energy has a nice summary of the differences between the solutions.
RoseWater Energy in its latest blog summarizes power terms such as solar power, battery backup, power conditioners, surge protection, and more.
The new RoseWater Energy blog can be found here.
KMB Comm Technology Week in Review’s Look at Commercial AV Happenings
Some of the best usage cases for video technologies can be found with 3D video walls and more specifically 3D billboards.
SCN’s AVNetwork website has an item this week on Disney+’s promotion of the second season of its “Percy Jackson” series. The billboard is located on the corner of Hollywood and Vine, and the story notes the second season, which the 3D billboard is promoting is based on the second book, “The Sea of Monsters.”
The story also explains that underneath the billboard is a pool that catches splashing water from a water tank that supplies the exhibit to add the fun factor to the advertisement.
To see the 3D billboard in action and to learn more, click here.
Noteworthy National News
One of the big news items from the prior week was Netflix’s bid to acquire Warner Bros. Following this news, numerous reports suggest the acquisition is now under scrutiny over concerns of antitrust regulations.
For more on these reports, check out this LinkedIn post.
The KMB Comm Technology Week in Review also has another LinkedIn item. This post focuses on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s comments on U.S. employment figures. The story goes on to assert the economy is entering a time of uncertainty led in part to statistics that may not be accurate.
Here’s more on Powell’s comments.
One last story from LinkedIn on Apple and how the tech giant handles AI. The story points out that Apple shares have increased 35% since mid-year based on some its competition perhaps moving too quickly with their AI plans, while the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has taken a more measured approach.
See the Apple AI post here.
KMB Communications hosts a podcast called AV Trade Talk. Listeners can check out the podcast to learn about the latest happenings in the custom installation electronics industry. To listen to the KMB AV Trade Talk Podcast, click here.
by Bob Archer | Dec 3, 2025 | Blog, KMB Communications, Kordz, Leon Speakers, Somfy, SONOS
On the surface gift giving sounds easy, but for the person that seemingly has it all, gift giving can be difficult. Unless of course, they are living a smart home lifestyle.
Because of the nature of technology with it always moving forward, staying on top of the latest technologies and trends can be a losing battle, particularly in the fast-moving smart home industry.
The ever-evolving nature of smart home living provides an evergreen level of opportunity for family members and friends to find gifts for the hard to buy for people in their lives. Whether it’s something simple like a Netflix gift card to ease those streaming subscription burdens or something more elaborate, here are some suggestions to help family and friends lead a more tech-savvy lifestyle in 2026:
6 Smart Home Products for a Holly Jolly Holiday
Epson QB1000 4K Projector: The QB1000 is a part of the company’s recently released high-performance Q Series of products. Epson specifies the QB1000 to produce up to 3,300 lumens of color and white brightness to allow the projector to reside in dedicated home theaters and multipurpose rooms. The projector also provides HDR10+ compatibility, and technologies such as the company’s Epson QZX Picture Processor.
Kordz ONE Outdoor Speaker Cable: At the recent 2025 CEDIA Expo show in Denver Kordz featured several new products that included the ONE Outdoor Speaker Cable. Designed for use as an above-ground connectivity solution, the 14AWG speaker cable utilizes a UV-resistant outer jacket. Internally, the cable employs OFC copper connectors, and the company says the smart-home friendly outdoor cable is packaged in easy-to-pull boxes to facilitate termination in the field to allow for efficiency when setting up outdoor AV systems.
Leon Speakers Ente SoundTile: Leon Speakers is a defining smart home audio manufacturer, and a good example of the company’s heritage can be found with its Ente SoundTile. Combining art with audio, the product features a set of stereo speakers with the option of Sonos amplification. Homeowners can choose the Ente SoundTile’s artwork and the option of LED lighting to discreetly integrate audio into home environments.
Somfy Motorized Awnings: Earlier we noted the increase in popularity of outdoor technology solutions. Somfy’s Motorized Awning solutions are a good example of bringing the benefits of smart home living to outdoor spaces. Somfy’s motorized awnings offer users protection from the elements, and the products can be activated through a simple button push.
Sonos Ace Headphones: Often overlooked by music fans, the high performing Ace headphones offer a combination of active noise cancelling, immersive audio (Dolby Atmos), and the ability to complement users’ existing Sonos’ systems. The competitively priced headphones also provide up to 30 hours of battery life, and a choice of Bluetooth, USB-C, and 3.5mm connection options.
The Sonos Ace headphones are the perfect complement for smart home audio and travel. (photo credit: Sonos)
Torus Power TOT Series: The Canadian company’s compact line of power isolation and filtration products can bolster the performance of smart home components that include networking and AV gear. The TOT components like the rest of the Torus Power product line employ isolation transformers to eliminate line noise issues. The TOT Mini is rated at 7 amps, and it can be used with projectors, TVs, source components, and network products. The TOT Max is rated at 15 amps, and it can be used with amplifiers and subwoofers.
KMB Communications hosts a podcast called AV Trade Talk. Listeners can check out the podcast to learn about the latest happenings in the custom installation electronics industry. To listen to the KMB AV Trade Talk Podcast, click here.
