Newmarket, N.H. – Russound hired a marketing director, rolled out Spotify to its music-streaming products, and unveiled a gateway enabling integration of its installed multiroom-audio systems with KNX-standard home-control systems.
Later this year, the company will expand its selection within existing speaker categories, enter new speaker categories, offer more light-commercial multiroom-audio products, and expand its selection of streaming-media services, which include Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, TuneIn, and vTuner, executives said.
Before leaving for the Integrated Systems Expo show in Amsterdam, the executives announced the KNX-RIO-1 gateway, which lets KNX-based home-control systems control a network-connected Russound whole-house audio system with up to two controllers and 16 zones. “We continue to expand who we integrate [our] products with,” said CEO Charlie Porritt.
The gateway is designed for the company’s MCA-series multiroom-audio controllers.
KNX-based automation systems, used mainly in Europe, have begun to appear in the U.S., Porritt noted. KNX uses a two-wire bus for two-way communications in a home-automation system.
In personnel matters, the company hired Joshua Cooper as marketing director. He returns after 12 years as a full-time employee after having been a consultant to the company for a time as partner in the OAC Group. In his previous stint as a Russound employee, he was creative director.
Cooper will work with product marketing manager Colin Clark and will focus on all aspects of brand and product marketing, including digital campaigns, advertising and industrial design.
Separately, the company rolled out Spotify Connect streaming to the XStream X5 controller/streamer and DMS-3.1 digital media streamer. Spotify will also be incorporated in the MCA-88X streaming multizone controller/amplifier when it ships in the second quarter.
Also new is a next-generation iOS and Android app to control Russound’s C series and X5 controllers. The new app, now free, presents a unified UI and look on each OS. It also adds ability to launch streaming services from the app and create and edit up to 32 system favorites.
The announcements follow a CEDIA Expo in which the company launched more new products than it had in years, including three new multizone controller/amplifiers, eight new custom-install speakers, new amplifiers, and two accessories.
