Why Smart Lighting is a Must for Every Man Cave

Unique lighting options with enhanced functionality to help root on your favorite team in this year’s NCAA bracket

With the NCAA March Madness tournaments underway, you may be wondering, “how do you light a man cave?” Read on to learn some simple tips and tricks for getting your sports space ready just in time for the men’s Final Four at the Superdome in New Orleans and the women’s games hosted in Minneapolis, Minn.

Madness Through the Years: New Orleans has hosted the men’s Final Four five other times, most recently in 2012 when the Anthony Davis-led Kentucky Wildcats won the tournament.

Does lighting even matter?

It’s a fair question. Afterall, when you think man cave, you’re likely imagining multiple TVs, comfortable seating, a well-stocked bar and maybe a pool table or video games. However, lighting is a key element to take your space to the next level. Also, keep in mind, man caves are often found located in the basement of many homes and don’t benefit from natural lighting via windows. 

So, yes, lighting does matter. And what better way to impress your friends than by adding smart lighting. It offers a ton of great features and functionality, like voice-control, app-control, schedules, and various colors and brightness options.

Color Is Key

One of the features of smart lighting is the ability to fine-tune colors and brightness. For instance, with Sengled multicolor lighting, your options are nearly endless. Simply open the mobile app and choose between 16 million colors. You can also adjust the brightness between zero to 100 percent.

Precision like this puts you in complete control of the color of your man cave. So, no matter what school you’re rooting for, you can dial in their colors. This is really helpful for multi-sport homes. If your NCAA team is different from your NFL, NBA, or whatever sport you’re a fan of, you can easily switch colors to show where your loyalty lies. Also, you don’t even have to get out of the recliner between games. If you are set up with voice-control you can easily switch the color with a simple prompt.

 

TV Lighting – Enhance Your Entertainment

If you’ve never seen TV lighting, you’ll really like this. Sengled offers two options here: TV light strips and TV light bars, both with audio-sync.

The TV light strips, which connect via Wi-Fi, take sports entertainment to a whole new level. They come as segments of varying lengths that connect to one another and mount to the back of your TV or monitor. The built-in microphone syncs the lighting to the audio, in real-time, for a dynamic experience. Installation is a breeze with 3M peel-and-stick adhesive that’s easy to use and remove.

As mentioned above, when using the app you can customize the experience based on colors and many other options. TV size shouldn’t be a problem, as the light strips fit screens up to 72 inches. Note: later this year Sengled will be releasing TV light strips that sync with the on-screen video. Similar to audio-sync, but when the right side of what’s on TV turns from blue to orange, the lights will do the same. Read more here.

The light bars offer similar functionality with built-in audio-sync and multicolor options, and can either be mounted to the back of a TV or placed on nearly any surface to provide back lighting or accent color. They are a versatile option for any man cave.

Get Creative with Placement

Using smart lights behind a TV is a must-have, but don’t overlook these areas or options either.

• Lamps and ceiling bulbs – Whether a traditional A19 bulb or BR30 (often found in recessed can lighting), if they’re smart, you’ll still get all the great features and convenience.
• Under bars, cabinets, and even couches – Light strips are versatile. You can place them almost anywhere, including along walls and ceilings. However, when mounted under overhangs or above edges (bars, cabinets, couches), they provide a unique illumination that creates a great lighting experience.

Madness Through the Years: ESPN’s Brent Musburger is credited with first uttering the phrase “March Madness” in connection with the tournament back in 1982. It turned out the Illinois high school basketball championship had been using the moniker since 1939, but a 1996 court decision allowed both groups a dual trademark.