Latest / CE Pro Podcast / CE Pro Podcast #178: Coastal Source Previews Destination Outdoors and CE Pro 100 Event at CEDIA Expo 2026

Transcript

CE Pro Podcast #178: Coastal Source Previews Destination Outdoors and CE Pro 100 Event at CEDIA Expo 2026 · CE Pro Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody, this is Zach Ricomo, executive editor of CEPro, and today I'm joined by a very special guest, uh Franco D'Ascanio, the CEO and founder of Coastal Source.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Franco, thanks for joining me.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: How's it going?
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's going great, and we appreciate the opportunity to be here.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, so I'm sure you guys are busy just like just like CE Pro and CD Expo and everyone else, uh, you know, gearing up for um for CD Expo 2026 in Denver.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um and one of the cooler things that that um happens at the expo is of course Destination Outdoors, uh, which you guys are really a key part of.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so can you you know just explain what Destination Out Outdoors is, um, how it's evolved and you know how it came to be?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we've always had a booth indoors at the expo.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh going back, I think it's probably close to 14 years now or something like that.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, the first to introduce landscape lighting, outdoor lighting to the CI channel, uh, and then obviously our high performance audio and bollards and all that.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, we've always demoed the audio inside, but that could be a little burdensome on uh our neighbors and things like that.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we started um, you know, very uh a number of years ago uh with outdoor spaces.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's definitely grown.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Our first outsourced space was fairly, you know, modest.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh now it's a half acre.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we get several thousand people uh out to the event.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it really is uh, you know, since our products are strictly designed, engineered, and made for outdoor environments, that's where they work best, that's where they sound best, that's where they look best.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's we wanted to approach as much real-world conditions as possible.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, these things are made for the outdoors, so why not demo them outside?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, how you know has it has it grown since um it's it's in such a oh well, as I said, I think probably our first, you know, our first space was a fraction of the size of the current one.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a few tents.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: It was our audio, it was our cabling.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're very much a systems company, so we've always um designed systems and believe the best and highest use of our systems is when they're end-to-end.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we've always promoted that.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we started with the lighting tent where we're actually doing dark, you know, it's hard, it's hard to demo lighting during the day, right?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: So um we've we've gone from you know a single 20 by 20 tent where the tent this um event is 20 by 100.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and most people were pretty blown away by our tent last year, which uh showed the first via Lutron uh Ketra fixtures uh and our new Evo.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this year we've really expanded it.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Last year it was a walk-in uh area, and then it was a landscape.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: This year we're really taking the intelligent lighting system uh and showing it from indoors to outdoors.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: So you walk in, you're in an indoor living room environment.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh beyond that, you have a patio environment.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Beyond that, you have the landscape environment.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll be showing the capabilities of Ketra and Lutron's control system to really give you that complete experience, right?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Ketra does an amazing job inside, but really, and you know, we get a lot of people that say, well, you know, in the winter, I'm really not outside, landscape lighting, hardscape, and outdoor lighting, you know, it's nice, but we don't enjoy it that much.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is to demonstrate what it looks like when you're in the house, when you're on the patio, what happens during the daytime, what happens during the nighttime.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so it's a major undertaking, but we believe that's a key.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's everything is an experience, right?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: We make all these systems, how they tie together indoors, outdoor, outdoor living, indoor living, your views, you know, your property is if you don't have good outdoor lighting, your property ends at your windows, right?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: We have the ability to extend that out onto your patios where you may be lounging or hanging out or dining, uh, and then into uh the landscape and the rest of the property.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, even from a seasonal standpoint, uh, with VIA, you know, we have the ability to change the color temperatures, color, and things you want to do so that in the winter, if you're up north, you're down here, I'm down the Florida Keys, our seasons don't change too much.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Looks the same pretty much all year long.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: But as seasons change, we really have the ability now to create these beautiful experiences indoors and outdoors.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh keys are beautiful, by the way.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: I've only been there um a couple times, but uh yeah, I'd love I'd love to go back one of these days.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, so what's new for um 2026 aside from the um the the you know Lutron catch right with uh with VIA?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um so in addition with our to our Lutron native by design uh partnership, uh, we're also introducing our power source system, okay, uh, which is a line voltage component uh power system, so that you can bring your outdoor devices um and plug them in very easy.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh most people are uh well aware of our plug and play low voltage power system, right?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: That we've uh got a patent on and um has been used through our all our lighting and our audio for the day one.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we now have the ability to do that in line voltage.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to add dimmers outdoors, if you want a control system, all these things are a super simple uh and error-free way of doing that versus the conventional way, right?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Of hardwiring, pipe, conduit, all that kind of stuff.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: It also allows you to bring your devices and your components closer to the load.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: So your transformer closer to where the lighting fixtures are, your amplifier, since we make outdoor amplifiers, closer to where the speakers are.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's far superior than having these long, low voltage runs.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so convenience, reliability, the build, the ability to have things flush in the ground, right?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: We're not seeing, you know, sometimes um gardens can be fixture gardens, right?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Between the lighting, the audio, the irrigation, the junction boxes, the transformers, etc., we continue to work on cleaning that up, right?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's that's an important part.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: So power source is exciting.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we also are shipping uh and demoing our 1000 series speakers, which are the next uh evolution of our ellipse ballers that were on the market for 10 years and I think set a standard for outdoor audio performance.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, these really take it to the next level.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll have all those on display in the uh Central Park.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you are familiar with that.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: We'll have six or seven systems.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be able to walk up to them, you'll be able to read about them, you'll be able to adjust the volume control to your liking.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and hear the products in the outdoors where they really shine.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then we'll have power source displays, we'll have our plug and play cabling, uh, we'll have our loop system.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we have a new cabling system called Uniconnect.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: And those of you that know our system in plug and play, it's very extremely reliable, high performance, uh, and much more sustainable than your typical conventional wiring with wire nuts and crimping and you know.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: So rather than buying a thousand-foot school cable, cutting it to pieces, and trying to put it back together in a waterproof fashion underground, our cabling system just is far superior.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: And throughput on how fast you can get things done.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we take it to the next level.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uniconnect can do stereo, biamped, and triamp systems with one cable.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: You can't mess it up.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: There's one plug coming out of the amplifier, your phase cannot be um swapped, uh, you can't short the cable connections, you can't hook up a subwoofer to a satellite.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it really simplifies, speeds up the installation, uh, and also makes the skill set required to do a very high performance system lower.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, we have a patent on a loop where you take that same cable system, you strictly daisy chain it between all the speakers.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's no more Y cables required.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's an input and an output on each speaker, right?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: You bring that wire back up to the amp, and there is a significant increase in performance and power.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there's a lot of detail that goes into that on why that is so, but allows us to run very long lengths of cable and maintain performance.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, as an example, uh, in a loop system, our new speakers are 16 ohms, so they also help one match what new switching digital amplifiers are, right?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: They're higher voltage, less current than old style amplifiers.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: And with a higher impedance, there's less loss on the speaker wires.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And outdoor speaker wires are pretty long.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So now we can do up to 400 feet with eight speakers per channel.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: That can't be done with conventional wiring.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, yeah, can you you why you know what do attendees get at this nation outdoors that they don't get, you know, walking the stove floor alone?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, like in how do all these things you guys are showing off?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like tell the story of that complete system integration, um, you know, practical design ideas, and um just how they naturally experience their home, going from outdoor, you know, inside to outside.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, inside we have a 20 by 30 booth, so just that is a limitation, obviously, right?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh playing the audio, we try and behave.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, obviously, our high performance audio uh people love a lot of bass and SPL.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we are limited there.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're limited in what we can show.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, we've got an outdoor pergola and a nice tree, so it gives you an outdoor feel, but it is not like being outdoors.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that I think that's the biggest thing.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then scale, you know, you go from a 600 square foot to a 20,000 square foot space, right?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: We're able to recreate dark in the lighting tent, right?
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're able to demo, you know, we probably have about eight systems out there in in various price ranges, uh, and also just more space to to enjoy things.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's a great networking um uh place, right, to talk to our people.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: And at our events, which on Wednesday is our happy hour, which was become very popular.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think we had about 3,500 people there uh last year.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's just a great place to hang out, enjoy the product, talk about outdoor living, talk to your friends, your vendors, all that kind of stuff.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really a different dynamic.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's um, you know, it just it's a fun place to be.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and as you know, we also have on Tuesday an exclusive event um for the CE Pro 100 dealers uh that will be happening.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we're really looking forward to that um in a very uh a very special way and that won't be that crowded.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully your top uh your top CE Pro 100 dealers will get a a real good deep dive and a and a great time just like the uh happy hour.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I go back to one thing you said, which I thought was funny, um, that you like to behave on the on the on the show floor with the with your volume levels, crank it up.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, I'm gonna I'll talk to Jason.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we'll we'll give you guys a pass just to crank it up.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that works for us.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: We don't and even our level of behavior is still pretty high.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, but no, that's that's great.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um when when requested, we can definitely deliver.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, let's let's have some fun.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, yeah.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um I wanna just, you know, uh thank you very much for for um helping us recognize the C Pro 100 on Tuesday night.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you guys, of course, are our perennial you know winner in the C Pro 100 brand analysis when it comes to uh outdoor audio and lighting.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, you know, what's the what's that you know distinction mean to you guys?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, these these two programs um are really meant to recognize the best of the best.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, including you guys.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, that's not honestly wasn't too surprising to see you guys run away with some of these categories.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, so so what's that mean to you to you know, A, you know, get that recognition and then B help recognize um, you know, the C Pro 100, many of whom are your dealers?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, definitely um we're very proud of that.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're very happy about it.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: And since we are a dealer-centric organization, you know, our history and all this, you know, we've been around um, let me think here, this is 17 years now as coastal source.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we go back many, many decades in this industry.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so a lot of experience there, but we chose uh to go dealer direct, right?
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously that's the CDA channel, that's a CEI channel.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: So really proud to be recognized by that channel.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and everything we do is based around that, right?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So be it, you know, we we truly believe we have best in class lighting and and audio products, um, but we only believe that's half the battle.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's all the other things.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's our intense um inventory of having this stuff in stock when you need it.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's our customer service, it's our warranty programs, our tech services, uh, it's our design programs, which are very extensive, right?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: So we do things differently, our cabling is differently, um, different, excuse me.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, as you know, um, you know, our systems can be very large and significant.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: So there's an education process, right?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: There's resources that we have to support dealers to expand their outdoor living.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think what a lot of dealers find is that what they thought they could sell and accomplish in outdoor living from an entertainment standpoint, lighting and audio can be significantly more when presented properly, right?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all those things that I think that go together that make us um, you know, a great fit for this channel.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and you know, that's exact exactly what we want to do.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: We want to produce uh exceptional products, we want to be great partners for not only our dealers and our reps, but our other manufacturers we work on, including Lutron.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so we're in this for the long run.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: We've been in it for the long run.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we want to we want to continue with that uh exceptional performance, reliability, throughput, the things we think is important to be successful in business for our dealers.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um I couldn't think of a better venue for this event.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um at a really cool outdoor spot with um obviously some some great audio.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna we're gonna bump some tunes and have a good time and have some cocktails and and uh and some apps.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, just note that this is uh uh an event exclusive to the CE Pro 100.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um so if you're walking by the uh convention center and you see destination outdoors Tuesday night and you're wondering uh what's going on uh while all those people having a good time, um now you know.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're interested um in you know coming into it um you know in future years, um if we you know continue partnering with you folks on this, then um, you know, let us know about your business and and uh we'll see where you rank in the uh CD Pro 100.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um excellent.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: Franco, thanks very much.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Anything else that uh you know you want folks to know about um Coastal Source and Destination Outdoors?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's at CD Expo this year.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I I think the the you know the audio is going to be spectacular as always.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think the real key this year is exposing dealers to the huge opportunity in lighting, right?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh outdoors, just uh as an example, you know, outdoor lighting can be very significant.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh six-figure sales happen every month, and sometimes many multiples of that.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, also, it's just simpler.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you're indoors and you're doing lighting or indoor uh ceiling speakers, etc., you got everyone involved.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: You got the owner, the interior designer, the contractor, the project manager, the electrician, uh, the carpenters, all that.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's got to be symmetrical.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Outside, everything's just easier, especially with our system approach.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really, I think, when people experience what an integrator plays a key role in the lighting and the control and the integration from inside to outside is a very powerful story.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great point.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much, man.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate your time.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'll see you uh uh mile high in a couple weeks.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds great.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, everyone.