In our series of #CEDIAShares blogs, we’re talking with exhibitors about the hottest technologies and trends they’re looking to see at CEDIA Expo.
Q&A with Jason Sanders, VP of product management at Coastal Source.
Why exhibit at CEDIA Expo 2026?
CEDIA Expo is still the most important week of the year for our industry, and for Coastal Source it’s where everything comes together: our dealer relationships, our new product introductions, and our ability to show what’s possible in outdoor living at the highest level.
There’s no substitute for putting a product in front of someone in a real environment, and Destination Outdoors gives us an opportunity to approximate that at a trade show where dealers will step into an outdoor experience that reflects what we help build for their clients every day. Beyond our indoor booth, attendees can continue the experience at Destination Outdoors, where intelligent outdoor lighting and audio come to life in a real-world environment.
Experiencing the products the way they were intended to be seen and heard creates conversations you simply can’t have on a traditional trade show floor. That connection, between the product, the environment, and the people who install it, is what keeps us coming back every year.
What is the most exciting trend you expect to see at the show?
The conversation around indoor-outdoor integration continues to mature. It’s no longer about whether outdoor technology can perform at a high level. What we’re seeing now is a push toward true architectural continuity — outdoor lighting and audio that are native to the same control ecosystems, designed with the same aesthetic intention, and specified alongside the home rather than after it.
The collaboration between technology platforms, lighting control, audio, and smart home is getting tighter, and CEDIA 2026 will reflect how these ecosystems are becoming more unified than ever before.
What will you focus on at the show?
Our focus this year is on showing what a fully realized outdoor system looks like when all the pieces are working together.
VIA, our partnership with Lutron that was first previewed at CEDIA Expo 2025, is at the center of that story. The integration of Coastal Source outdoor lighting with Ketra and Rania extends Lutron’s intelligent lighting ecosystem outdoors, giving integrators something they haven’t had before. It represents a unified lighting platform that runs seamlessly from the interior to the exterior of a home, with the same color science, the same control experience, and the same level of design intention throughout.
We’re excited to bring that vision to life through an expanded lighting experience at Destination Outdoors — one that begins with Lutron lighting and shading before transitioning seamlessly into an outdoor landscape illuminated by VIA intelligent outdoor lighting. It’s designed to show how thoughtfully integrated lighting can create one continuous experience from the interior of the home to the landscape beyond.
Beyond VIA, we will also be highlighting our 1000 Series Bollard speakers, which have begun shipping since last year’s show, PowerSource, 8C16 Uni-Connect, Ovation in-ceiling speakers, and our new Design Studio platform. Destination Outdoors is the best opportunity for dealers to experience it all.
To learn more, check out Coastal Source in booth #2117 and Destination Outdoors at CEDIA Expo 2026, and visit coastalsource.com.
