Pimp my shack


11 Oct 2006

Residents of the second phase of houses in the new town of Adamstown will be a musical bunch if Smarthomes has its way. The company is installing new systems that allow homeowners to access up to six separate iPods in stereo quality in every room of the house.

Smarthomes will be installing the system in the Paddocks housing development.

Smarthomes managing director Sean Gallagher explained: “You can insert up to six iPods into the control panel and their full contents are accessible in stereo quality sound in every room of the house through a specially designed key pad.

“Each keypad in the system recognises the unique features and special settings of each iPod plugged in. As a result, you can listen to your favourite album, a playlist or a podcast in one room while somebody else listens to their iPod in another,” said Gallagher.

“This multi-room audio system also includes settings to allow you programme in all your favourite radio channels, which are also accessible in each room of the house. In addition, if you don’t own an iPod, you can purchase a hard drive which is designed to store up to 40,000 songs,” he said.

“The beauty of the technology is that it is very adaptable and offers the flexibility to allow each member of a family to use their iPod throughout the house, whether it is for relaxation, enjoyment or educational purposes,” added Gallagher.

“Since we installed this system in the show house at the Paddocks at Adamstown we have been inundated with queries from builders, developers and individual home builders keen to have the technology as part of their development,” said Gallagher.

“The target market for the Smarthomes in-home technology system is almost exclusively builders and developers in the new build segment of the residential sector. There is huge potential in the Irish market when you consider that more than 80,000 new units were completed in 2005 and where projected growth is 500,000 units over the next ten years,” Gallagher concluded.

Gallagher set up Smarthomes in September 2002 along with Derek Roddy. The company employs 45 staff in a new 30,000 sq ft facility in Dundalk.

By John Kennedy