Custom-designed Coastal Source rugged outdoor systems enhance historic building’s facade and outside living with light and sound that’s unmatched for performance and reliability
MOORESTOWN, NEW JERSEY, August 22, 2024 – When the landscape-design-build experts at Ledden Palimeno were tasked with delivering discrete lighting and audio for the compact, walled garden of an historic nineteenth century residential townhouse, they knew that Coastal Source’s attractive, high performance outdoor speakers and light fixtures were the ideal choice for a solution that would Defy the Elements™ for years to come.
“This was a tricky project due to the long and narrow nature of the outside space,” said Joe Palimeno, owner and principal landscape designer at Ledden Palimeno Landscape Co. “It’s a small space, so it was the wide variety of fixtures available from Coastal Source that really allowed us to customize this design.”
Ledden Palimeno worked closely with Coastal Source on the design of layout of the installation, with the property’s owner bringing his own landscape design skills to bear on the planting and water features – the latter of which Joe contributed towards. Keen to enhance and extend his outdoor experiences with Coastal Source, and to realize the full potential of his historic property, the owner also separately commissioned custom-made window boxes, urns, a fountain and archway, repeating the arch motif from inside the house.
“The house was built in 1837,” continued Palimeno. “Due to the nature of the original foundations and build layout, there’s just a tiny space in the ground to run conduits, lighting wire, audio wire, irrigation, networking, etc. “We produced the initial layout, then we sent it over to the guys at Coastal Source and they mapped it out. They did a really nice plan with the cabling, because of the amount of speakers that we’d specified – a lot of thought went into exactly how they would connect back to the amp. We had a lot of conduits, and had to come up with a conduit plan, in order that it was exactly how we wanted it.”
The design and build needed to be incredibly discrete: lighting and loudspeaker units placed behind plants and pots, with Well Light units even integrated seamlessly into the timber trellis. The intention was that subtle lighting effects enhanced the plantings and beauty of the near-200-year building, without dominating it. It was also important that the lighting and sound systems were robust enough to defy the elements – which isn’t an issue with Coastal Source, as the company’s products are laboratory-proven and real-world tested.
Images of the property show how the lighting and loudspeaker fixtures – including Coastal Source’s innovative 8.0 Mini Ellipse Bollard, 10.0 Bollard Subwoofer, Flex Double Tiered Path Light and the aforementioned Well Lights, to name but a few (see below for full product spec list) – are located discreetly in order to preserve the natural outdoor setting and the historic building’s facade. Even when visible, their innovative, subtle yet sleek designs complement the outdoor living area and the nineteenth century brickwork.
“The client wanted to light up the facade,” Palimeno emphasized. “They’d put a great deal of work into the historic renovation of this house, and they really wanted to showcase that, with discrete, subtle lighting. They were blown away that we could offer indirect lighting and that the space wasn’t just flooded with light.”
The owner was keen that the outside space – his “small backyard” – be functional for daily family life, and for the visits of friends. It was previously heavily planted, and it needed to be opened up for entertaining, with paving, seating and more functional plantings. Ledden Palimeno was part of a sizable team of trades brought in to deliver on the owners’ exacting requirements.
When it came to the audio, Joe Palimeno was keen to maintain the Coastal Source product line for the project, due to the company’s unique innovations in design, construction, and integration, although he admitted that although he’s an expert in design and build landscaping, he’s no audiophile.
“I know my limits,” he said. “Landscape, lighting – I can light it out. But when it comes to the audio, I’m not an expert – Coastal Source is the expert, and I prefer to bring them in as the specialists. For every lighting job we have sold with audio, we’ve had an audio demo from Coastal Source, and this project was no different.”
The home owner knew exactly what wanted for the sound system – ”he’s got a pretty good ear for that,” according to Palimeno. He had outdoor audio previously, but hadn’t been particularly happy with it. But it was only after speaking with friends that his thoughts turned to the team at Coastal Source – who ultimately suggested Ledden Palimeno to deliver on the project.
“I’ve always had audio outside because I spend so much time there,” commented the owner. “I like to work outdoors on my laptop with music on, and I also like to relax at the end of the day with a cigar. I always have music on. We have friends in Society Hill who had Coastal Source do the lighting in their garden, and they said that we should really check them out. At that point I didn’t even know that Coastal Source did audio – I just thought they’d deliver the lighting part of the project.”
Once Palimeno was onboard, and suggested that Coastal Source should also be considered for the audio component of the project, he commissioned an audio demo for the client. It didn’t take much for Coastal Source’s demo team to convince him that the audio was ideal for the space, and once it was specified and installed, only a small post-installation tweak was required.
“The client didn’t want it to be too bassy, but he wanted it to have a real low end,” he said. “It was really cool working with him, but after we had installed the system, a couple of weeks went by and he wasn’t 100% happy with how it sounded. Coastal Source visited the site and made some adjustments to the setting on the amplifier, slightly reducing the amount of bass. The client could clearly hear the difference and said, ‘that’s it!’”.
He explained that the support Coastal Source offers – to him as a preferred dealer, and also to the client – is key to why he continues to use the brand for his landscaping projects.
“Demo, followup, design – and fine-tuning of the audio,” he added. “Support is so important; we’re not buying on price, we’re buying on added value. Coastal Source does a great job and we’ve been a dealer for almost seven years!”
The client is certainly happy with the project, and with the choice of Coastal Source – particularly the impressive variety of lighting fixtures that the company is able to offer, and their discrete nature.
“I don’t have any complaints,” he said. Joe was one of the few contractors – and I can’t tell you how many contractors were involved in this space! – who didn’t say ‘we can’t do that’, or ‘I don’t think that is gonna work’. I think the combination of the variety of fixtures that Coastal Source offers is impressive – you can have architectural uplights; directional task lighting; path lighting; tree uplighting. You can mix and match the fixtures to the desired effect. It worked out really well. Everything is very discrete and when the plants fill out even more it’ll be more so.”
And Palimeno is similarly impressed with his work, and the space in general, citing the “tiny details” that make it particularly special, and the “great products” he was able to work with in order to help make the project a reality.
“From an installation standpoint it couldn’t have been easier,” he enthused. “Plug ’n play: Coastal Source products go in so fast! No splicing in the field – this is the difference with the company’s competitors.”
The Coastal Source Plug+Play™ System is a patented cable technology and end to end systemization that is not only fast and reliable, but also simplifies and creates more accessible set up, with easy integration into existing systems, all while producing high performance results.
“And here, with the architecture, it was easy for the lighting to shine. Sometimes you’re looking at a house wondering what features to highlight, so you tend to uplight the shrubbery. Here, it was more about the house and how we would bring its features to life. Lighting brings space to life,” he concluded.
About Ledden Palimeno
Designing and Building interesting and challenging landscapes and working with appreciative and trusting clients is what drives owner and landscape designer Joe Palimeno, keeping him passionate about his work. Over the years, Joe has refined his skills to the Design Build residential market specializing in building functional and usable outdoor living spaces. Joe is a multiple award winner at the Philadelphia International Flower Show and the Singapore Garden Festival. His achievements include Best of Show honors at both events, the Governor’s Award in Philadelphia and Gold and Silver Awards in Singapore. Joe has also been recognized by NALP (Formerly PLANET) and has received the Grand Award as well as awards of Distinction and Merit for many of his design-build projects. To learn more, visit www.leddenpalimeno.com
About Coastal Source
Coastal Source outdoor audio and lighting products are built with integrity, using innovative design to solve real-world problems and endure intense environmental testing to yield the industry’s most reliable high-performance outdoor audio and lighting system available today. With more than 60 years of hands- on industry experience, Coastal Source pioneers solutions that help families share fun, memorable moments in their own great outdoors. To learn more, visit www.coastalsource.com
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