NuVo Sets Price On PLC-Based Audio System
By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 9/10/2009
ATLANTA — NuVo released pricing on all of the components in its first multi-room-audio system to use powerline carrier (PLC) technology.
The long-awaited Renovia system, targeted to the retrofit market, distributes audio, control signals and metadata over a home's existing electrical wires. System components will be available to installers in the fall and backed by a planned consumer-focused advertising, marketing and public relations campaign to build consumer awareness.
NuVo designed Renovia to expand the multi-room-audio market beyond new homes during the construction phase to the larger installed base of existing homes. Renovia and other powerline-based multi-room-audio systems accomplish this goal by eliminating home runs of speaker cable and control wires from a stack of central audio components to in-wall speakers and to in-wall controllers in multiple rooms.
Renovia systems, which use HomePlug-standard technology as its powerline carrier, start with the $1,999 six-source 12-zone NV-RVM source hub. The hub connects to audio sources and plugs into an AC outlet to send audio and data over powerlines to $499-each NV-RVZA50S in-wall zone amplifiers, which fit inside dual-gang boxes that can be placed low on a wall to tap into a nearby power outlet. The 2x25-watt zone amps protrude about an inch from the wall but can be hidden behind furniture. From each zone amp, installers can run speaker wire to in-room speakers or to in-wall and in-ceiling speakers.
To control the hub and connected music sources from remote rooms, consumers use NuVo's existing in-wall Grand Concerto or Essentia E6G OLED control panels, the in-wall NV-CTP36 color touchscreen, or a portable wireless control pad.
Sources that can be connected to the multizone Hub include music servers, including NuVo's Music Port audio server, NuVo and other-brand terrestrial and satellite-radio tuners, multi-disc CD changers and NuVo's iPod docks, including a new $249-each PLC-equipped NV-RVIPD Renovia iPod dock.
NuVo will also make two four-zone Renovia packages available. They are the $4,999 NV-RVMS4-E6, which consists of one source hub, four zone amplifiers, four NuVo Essentia E6G OLED control pads and one Renovia iPod dock. The other package is the $5,499 NV-RVMS4-I8, which consists of one source hub, four zone amplifiers, four NuVo Grand Concerto OLED control pads and one iPod dock.
To go with the launch, NuVo will offer test equipment to ensure that audio and data signals will arrive reliably to an intended destination without a loss of signal strength or interference from electrical noise on a home's circuits. The test equipment includes a device that plugs into a wall outlet to transmit simulated data and music signals over a home's powerlines, the company said.
Another device plugs into a wall outlet near the location of a planned zone amp to evaluate expected reception. NuVo will offer HomePlug filters to isolate noise generated by an electrical device or appliance plugged into an outlet that in turn connects to a nearby zone amp.
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