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Multi-room A/V Gets New Brands, Capabilities

Atlanta – Electronics Systems
contractors (ESCs) will find new brands entering the multi-room A/V system market
and other brands adding systems-integration capabilities to their multi-room
systems.

URC and Emotive, for instance,
plan to show their first multi-room audio systems, and Aton and Legrand are
integrating control of other home systems into multi-room-audio systems.

Installers will also find multi-room
electronics from Russound and others.

Here’s a sampling of the new
products:

Aton:

The Elan-marketed Aton brand
will launch its first out-of-the-box multi-room audio electronics system, which
packages in-wall keypads with its first multi-zone AM/FM receiver/controller.
The controller is preprogrammed out of the box to control an iPort-branded iPod
dock and Lutron’s RadioRA2 lighting-control system.

The AH66T-KT Multi-Source/Zone
Controller Kit, shipping in October at a suggested $3,599, includes a six-zone,
six-source 12×30-watt RDS-equipped AM/FM receiver/controller packaged with six in-wall
capacitive touchpads with full-color OLED displays. The touchpad’s are the
company’s first capacitive touchpads with OLED display. The controller and touchpads
are also available separately at $1,599 and $610.

The double-gang touchpads feature
2.1-inch display and 15-function hard-button layout under a film overlay. The
display features six lines of metadata from two-way sources, including an optional
Sirius satellite radio. Interchangeable faceplates are available in white,
ivory and almond

The receiver/controller comes
with two-way RS232 code set for control from third-party integrated-system
keypads and touchscreens.

Autonomic
Controls:

The
music-server supplier is launching a software upgrade to add Internet radio
access to its Mirage Media Server, equipped with 1TB hard drive to store music.
The upgrade accesses the RadioTime service, which aggregates thousands of
Internet radio stations. The server already accessed Pandora and Sirius
Internet Radio as well as streamed music from a networked PC’s iTunes and
Windows Media Player.

The 1TB $3,995 server also backs
up music in the cloud for remote access from smartphones, PCs and game consoles
through the

MP3tunes

music locker service. The 1TB server, which features five independent audio
outputs, is designed for integration with installed multi-room-audio systems
and home-control systems.

Separately,
the company will release an app that lets an iPhone or iPod Touch control the
server as well as remote control of a PC’s iTunes or Windows Media Player
applications for streaming through the server.

Emotiva:

The
direct-to-consumer manufacturer of high-performance amps, processors and speakers
is launching a home-component line for sale exclusively through custom
installers.

At the
Control4 booth, the company will display its eight-SKU Emotiva Professional
Systems line, which includes Emotiva PS HDMI 1.4
surround-sound preamp-processor and Emotiva PS HDMI 1.4 A/V receiver, both with
Control4 technology enabling them to control Control4 home systems. The Emotiva
PS HDMI 1.3 processor and Emotiva PS HDMI 1.4 receiver lack Control4
capability. Two home theater amps are the Emotiva PS 7×200-watt amp and PS
7×350-watt amp. Two multi-room-audio amps are the PS 12×45-watt amp and a 6×45
amp.

HDI
Dune:

Three
media centers equipped with Blu-ray disc player, hard-drive media storage,
high-end audio DACs and surround processing incorporate control of IP- and
Z-Wave-enabled home systems from an on-screen TV interface.

Qsonix:

The company is
showing the first new series of music servers under its technology and
marketing alliance with high-end component-audio supplier Wadia, whose audio
technologies appear in Qsonix’s new Q2 series. Prices range from $6,950 to
$8,450

Legrand:

The company has added Internet
radio streaming and control of its RF lighting-control system to the On-Q Unity
Home System, which features four zones of multi-room audio, intercom
capability, and security-camera viewing. The system is expandable to eight audio
zones and 32 rooms of intercom capability. The system features an in-wall
keypad with LCD screen, stereo speakers, and microphones.

Russound:

Two-channel amps, outdoor rock
speakers, a touchscreen controller and a new C-series multizone controller are
on tap from the company.

URC:

The company will
go CEDIA Expo to further expand its presence in the home-control market with
the launch of its first IP-controlled multizone-audio system, IP surveillance
cameras and rack-mountable MRX-10 home-system controller.

The MRX-10 controller receives
commands via Ethernet and Wi-Fi to control the new multi-room-audio system,
surveillance cameras, components in a connected home entertainment system, and
other-brand thermostats.

Xantech:

The brand is launching a stereo
Bluetooth receiver that can be integrated into multi-room-audio systems
including systems based on the brand’s MX88/MRC88 controller. More than one
Bluetooth receiver can be connected at a time to a multi-room system to allow
for simultaneous playback of multiple stereo Bluetooth sources, such as
cellphones, at one time.

ZAGGbox:

The $3,000-suggested ZAGGbox Pro
media server, available only to custom channels, integrates the control of
connected home video sources via IR blaster and included remote, features
built-in Z-Wave to control home systems, stores music and movies on its hard
drive, and features Wi-Fi and Ethernet port to stream content to other TVs
equipped with a ZAGGBox Pro in the house and in remote locations. It optionally
streams stored content to mobile devices, including cellphones equipped with
ZAGGbox apps, as well as to PCs in other locations.

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