What We Learned at the Industry’s Biggest Home Tech Show

Takeaways from CEDIA Expo 2026 on lighting, outdoor living, and more

Will the lighting and speakers you choose today still feel current in five years? Homeowners and designers ask us that often, and the answer depends on how closely your integrator watches what’s coming. A good integrator advises you as new products come along, helping you decide which ones would be useful to bring to your home.

To keep up, the Wipliance team spends a few days each year at CEDIA Expo, the home technology industry’s biggest annual show, where manufacturers preview their newest work. This year, Lutron’s new Orluna fixtures drew a lot of attention, along with Native by Design lighting that extends your control outdoors. Origin Acoustics also showed speakers designed to sound great in the kitchen, the bedroom, and everywhere in between.

Here’s what stood out, and what it means for our clients.

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Orluna Fixtures Preview Where Lutron Lighting Is Headed

Lutron previewed a new fixture line at the show, and it caught our attention right away. Orluna makes architectural lighting that nearly disappears into the ceiling, so what you notice is the light and not the hardware. The fixtures dim smoothly down to a faint glow, and they warm to the soft amber tone of an incandescent bulb as the evening goes on. They follow the daylight by shifting their color temperature through the day. Lutron brought Orluna into its family last year, but the show was the first chance to see it on this side of the Atlantic.

Orluna isn’t ready to ship yet. We’ll let you know when it is. In the meantime, you can see other premier Lutron lighting fixtures, like Ketra, in our showrooms.

Native by Design Keeps Expanding Indoors and Out

Native by Design is Lutron’s program for partner products built to work natively with its lighting and shading technology. Wipliance hosted a Native by Design day for architects and designers this summer, so it was good to see the program widen at the show.

On the outdoor side, Coastal Source and Lutron showed VIA, a fixture line with Lutron’s Ketra and Rania lighting engines built in. Lutron also introduced new decorative and sculptural partners, including Ted Bradley.

For us, Native by Design means more tools to work with. We can choose from a wider range of lighting, from sculptural pendants to outdoor path lights, to craft the perfect illumination for your space. All the while, you retain one intuitive experience, whether the light is over the dining table or along the garden path. It’s a bigger toolbox for building spaces that look beautiful and feel simple to use.

Origin Acoustics Shows Sound in Real Rooms

Origin Acoustics stood out for how it presented its speakers. The company set out to show them in spaces that look like real homes, including a kitchen and a bedroom, and the team came away impressed by the booth design and presentation.

It’s a cool approach because a speaker that sounds great on a bare wall can sound different above your kitchen island or in a bedroom with soft furnishings. Sound also behaves differently outdoors, so a patio setup gives you a way to hear how a speaker handles open air.

The Wipliance showrooms are built on the same idea. They’re working demo spaces, so you can hear and see a system before you decide. Origin Acoustics is one of the speaker brands we install, and we’d love to let you hear it for yourself.

Come See What’s Next in Person

Good advice comes from paying attention. This year that meant long days on the show floor, including expanding our Crestron knowledge, because the tools worth recommending are the ones we understand well.

So what does your smart home have in store for the next five years? Choose with the future in mind, and choose alongside people who go looking for what’s next. Come in, look around, and tell us about your home. Contact our team here or start a live chat below to set up a visit.