[Anthony]

I have an IR Lutron dimmer in my theater, but have had many X10 products.

I went through two mid-grade dimmers in my HT. However, they could not take the power I was sending through them (500W on a 600W dimmer) and eventually blew out. The Lutron (non X10) can handle the load just fine.

That was the bad side of X10.

On the good side: my alarm system (GE Simon III) has an X10 power supply and can send commands. It turns on my outside light at 5:00 pm every evening and off again in the morning. It also turns on the living room lights whenever the front door is opened and all the lights (one on each floor) whenever a window is opened. These are also time-programmable so the lights only come on at night.

I also have some rope lighting that shows people the way to the stairs (and bathroom) from the theater. This is on an X10 module as well.

I have the IR543 (I think I have the number right), it's an IR receiver that can transmit. I also got several RF and IR remotes in a package deal, some key fobs (good for two units of control), and RF receiver, and several light/wall modules.

The worst is signal strength issue. I had to make sure all the boxes were on the same let of the house wiring or some did not the signal. They sell tie-in amplifiers that use your 220V appliance plugs (like a dryer or oven) to bridge the signal and amplify it. For me it was easier to move some of the plugs around.

All in all, I have spent less than $200 on X10 stuff and have 6 lights running of it.

However, there are a lot of new technologies that compete, replace, and are compatible with X10. Most are much more robust.

Good luck!