Tweeter will offer Control4’s whole home control products a well as provide system design services and professional installation and configuration. Control4 CEO Will West says Tweeter tested out the automation services in a few region markets and that the full rollout demonstrates the commitment to the category.

“It’s an enormous effort to roll out a line of automation products,” he says. “I think their objective is to see some sort of control or automation to every customer.”

Control4 home automation products were introduced at Tweeter’s first “Consumer Electronic Playground” concept store in as Vegas in January 2005. The concept store, designed to display a room-by-room application of custom electronics and stress Tweeter’s installation services, has become a standard model for the company’s latest store openings.

West says Tweeter’s unique position as a successful hybrid retailer perfectly suits Control4’s goals of reaching a mass market.

“The real key is that Tweeter has been the sort of poster child for a broad-based approach to the custom integration channel—they’re like a CEDIA dealer on some form of growth hormone.” They have 150 to 160 stores, but don’t look like a big-box store; they looked more like a showroom for high-quality CEDIA dealer,” West says. “They have the people and resources internally to scale real serious automation efforts and, in many respects, it’s kind of what we teach our dealers to become; they need to learn to be larger, bigger, better over time because the market is changing, big players are getting involved, and [working with] Tweeter is exciting because they understand the opportunity.”

West says he embraces the fact that Tweeter sells Crestron automation as well, but thinks that the store exposure as a primary partner will help Control4 reach the “sweet spot of where consumers want to spend money.” Dave Malin, Tweeter VP and general merchandise manager, echoes the sentiments of automation’s greater scope.

“Tweeter’s partnership with Control4 continues to reinforce our position as a leading provider of innovative solutions that blend technology and broad consumer needs,” Tweeter VP and general merchandise manager Dave Malin. “Rolling out Control4’s products nationwide is the next logical step for our relationship and for technology whose time has come.”