Replacing a Control4 system: keep your speakers, lose the complexity
In most homes, the expensive part of a Control4 music system, the speakers in your ceilings and the wire behind them, can stay. We replace only the Control4 audio equipment, so music plays straight from Spotify, Apple Music and AirPlay, with no dealer programming and no subscription.
By HUM · Denver, Colorado · Updated
Can I replace Control4 and keep my speakers?
Yes, almost always. Control4 in-ceiling and in-wall speakers, including Triad, Control4's own speaker brand, are ordinary passive speakers joined by ordinary speaker wire. Nothing about them is locked to Control4. What makes a Control4 music system feel complicated is the equipment and software between your phone and those speakers.
What stays
- In-ceiling and in-wall speakers, which are standard passive speakers
- The speaker wire already run through your walls
- Outdoor and landscape speakers
- Your TVs, and anything Control4 still runs that you're happy with
What we replace
- The Control4 audio amplifiers and matrix in the equipment closet
- The Control4 app as the way you play music
- Remotes and touchscreens you only kept for music
How music works afterwards
You play music the way you already do on your phone. Open Spotify or Apple Music, press play, and pick the rooms: kitchen, living room, patio. Anything that supports AirPlay works the same way, including podcasts and radio apps.
On most Control4 systems in Denver homes today, music runs through the Control4 app, remote or touchscreen, with menus built for lighting and security too. Control4's newest software adds AirPlay, but only on current equipment, and upgrading requires a Connect subscription. We build it the other way around. The speakers work quietly in the background, and a simple app handles only what the music apps can't, like which rooms are on.
Signs it's time to replace your Control4 music system
Your dealer is slow, expensive, or gone
Only a dealer can change how a Control4 system is programmed. If yours no longer answers, every small change turns into a problem.
Your equipment has stopped getting updates
The HC-800 controller's last supported software was released in 2022. T3 touchscreens and first- and second-generation Control4 lighting can't move past the X4.0 release.
Staying current now costs a yearly subscription
Upgrading to the newest Control4 software requires a Connect subscription, listed at $249 a year. Remote access and voice control also sit behind it.
The family avoids using it
When guests, grandchildren, or you yourself pick up a phone and play music through a small Bluetooth speaker instead, the system isn't serving you.
When you should keep Control4
If your dealer is responsive, your equipment is current, and Control4 runs lighting, shades and security you rely on, it may serve you well. There's no reason to replace a system that works for you.
If your only problem is a dealer who has disappeared, Control4 has an official process for a new dealer to take over your system. Their line for finding one is 866-424-4489.
Weighing your options? See our honest comparison of Sonos vs Control4 vs Savant.
We only do audio. If Control4 runs your lighting and shades, those stay exactly as they are, and we replace just the music.
Have a Savant system instead? See replacing a Savant music system.
What it costs
The price depends mostly on how many rooms play music and whether your existing speakers are worth keeping (they usually are). Because we reuse the speakers and the wiring in your walls, you aren't paying to open ceilings, run new wire, or patch and paint afterwards.
After a free visit you receive a written plan with a fixed price. There are no hourly programming charges and no subscription.
How the switch works
1. We look at what you have
At a free visit we note every speaker's model and rating and open up the equipment closet. Most speakers are worth keeping; we'll tell you honestly if one isn't.
2. A written plan and fixed price
Which rooms, which equipment, what stays, what goes. The price is on paper before any work begins.
3. A tidy swap
The work happens in the equipment closet, not your ceilings. Your speakers stay where they are.
4. We teach you at the kitchen table
Play something from the app you already use, choose the rooms, done. Then we come back whenever you need us, at no cost.
Free in-home support, for as long as you own your system.
If something isn't working, or you'd simply like a refresher on the app, call us. We'll come to your home and help — no service fees, no trip charges, no time limit. It's how we stand behind our work, and it's simply the right thing to do.
Questions from Control4 owners
Almost always. In-ceiling and in-wall speakers, including Triad (Control4's own speaker brand), are standard passive speakers connected by ordinary speaker wire. Any suitable amplifier can drive them. We check each speaker's model and impedance at the visit so the new amplifiers are matched to them correctly.
From the apps you already know. Open Spotify, Apple Music, or anything that uses AirPlay, press play, and choose the rooms. There's no separate music app to learn. A simple app handles the few things those apps can't, like turning rooms on and off.
No. Control4 has an official process for a new dealer to take over your system, and a line to help you find one: 866-424-4489. If you'd rather keep Control4 for everything, that's a sound option. If you'd rather be free of dealer programming for your music, that's where we come in.
Yes. We only do audio, so we replace the music side and leave lighting, shades and security as they are. Removing the old audio equipment from the Control4 programming may need a Control4 dealer; we'll tell you up front if it does.
Not for music. Your new audio system has no subscription from us or from Control4. If Control4 still runs other things in your home, whether to keep its subscription depends on the features you use there.
It depends mostly on how many rooms play music and whether your existing speakers are worth keeping, which they usually are. Because the speakers and wiring stay, you aren't paying to open ceilings or run new wire. After the free visit you get a fixed written price.