The biggest event of the year for ByDesign lands May 19 in Gardena, with a San Diego stop on May 21.
Every brand we carry, every link you need. Click a tile for the full brand profile, or tap the arrow to visit their site directly.
Samsung brings unmatched scale, brand recognition, and the CI channel's most complete display ecosystem — from the 115" Micro RGB flagship to the outdoor-rated Terrace. Every 2026 model includes 7-year Tizen OS updates, Vision AI processing, and IP/Serial/IR control integration.
115" RGB MicroLEDs 100× smaller than standard LED. 100% BT.2020. Wireless One Connect. Glare Free glass. The conversation-starter that changes every room.
Explore →MiniLED Full Array with up to 144Hz gaming, 4K HDR10+ Advanced, and Eclipsa Audio. The versatile answer for living rooms with light in them.
Explore →QD-OLED with Wireless One Connect, up to 165Hz, and OLED Glare Free 3.0 (new in 2026). The contrast and cinematic feel story for premium media rooms.
Explore →Matte display, 80+ museum art partnerships, customizable magnetic bezels, new 55" and 98" sizes in 2026. The answer when the client hates the idea of a black rectangle.
Explore →IP56-rated, HDBaseT input, 2,000 Nits (Full Sun) or 1,500 Nits (Partial Sun). The proper outdoor answer — not a workaround.
Explore →The DSS portal is where CI dealer work actually happens — 2026 model specs, install guides, IP/Serial/IR control documentation, and Samsung 5-Star Solutions support. Login-gated; contact Evan to confirm your ByDesign dealer access setup.
From our Gardena Experience Center to manufacturer HQs and CEDIA summits. Get face time with the brands, the gear, and the people who know it best.
The full brand profiles live in the line card. This is where the real work happens — product deep dives, dealer resources, MSRP reference, and training links organized the way you actually use them.
Three hard-use reads for dealers who are done treating lighting like trim rings, mystery dimming, and wishful thinking. Same attitude. Same utility. Far more margin if you use them right.
Design help, documentation you can reuse, and fewer hours sacrificed to the AV gods.
I've been in this industry long enough to know that I can't simply talk my way into being valuable and pretty.
Still trying.
While I like to say that I've worked with the most wildly colorful individuals and souls ever to grace this funkified business, there are admittedly many who might put me solidly among this list. I suppose I can live with either. ;)
I started faxing - FAXING - The Rapp Report as a weekly newsletter to my Klipsch dealers a long time ago. It has always existed because CI dealers need to know they're supported — and benefit from concepts that help them grow, even when they have no time for my long-winded explanations (which I still insist are the Crown Jewels of this industry): you want to know what the products actually do, and why they matter to your business.
Still, everyone knows I like to keep talking long after I've left the room, and this makes good on that. I want my dealers to have what they need and know I'm always the place to find out more — even when I need to do more research myself. I feel better when I bring more to the dance.
My career has covered a crazy lot of ground. Hi-fi and car audio back in the day — out east in Connecticut, NY, and Jersey — I was trying to become decent comic and had so much fun. Still trying. National rep work for Klipsch covering almost the entire East Coast. RSM roles at ClearOne and RTI. VP of Sales and Marketing at Zigen. Time in design and management at Creative Artists Agency that turned out to be some of the best relationship training I never anticipated. Also a lot of voiceover stuff. Life takes you places. I'm still wildly romantic about all of it — because you learn from all of it.
These days I'm happily and intensely at ByDesign Vision + Sound Marketing, helping with BD strategy across Ventura, Santa Barbara, Kern, and San Luis Obispo counties, and working to amplify the work of my crazy, wonderful teammates. We don't just carry a line card of ~25 brands across video, audio, control, infrastructure, and lighting. You should see us — we live every brand, every spec, every win, every honest failure, in every second. It's been like being in those first days in the business with these guys again.
I'm an AVIXA CTS, with Dantè and various other certs that have actually helped me to become pretty good at design. I try to know my shit and I try to make the moment enjoyable, even when we're in a firefight. I know most of these products not just from the spec sheet but from the field — the installs, the edge cases, the conversations with integrators at 4pm on a Friday when something's gone sideways. I even like the business for the way we get after it during rough moments.
Outside of work, I live in Ventura with my wonderful and beautiful wife Shelly, who is one of the most genuinely extraordinary humans I've ever met and who keeps me grounded in the ways that matter most. (She's also recently become a successful and inspiring children's author, which I'll have more to say about soon.) I am a crazy rabid Dodgers fan with an intense and failing fantasy baseball franchise, a pretty despotic Lakers fan, and always looking for a friendly argument — because I never know what I might say until it happens.
