Multi room audio or “zoned” audio allows the kids to sit in the theatre and enjoy a movie while the parents enjoy some background music (and a glass of wine) in the alfresco, listen to the radio or a CD in the kitchen while a partner listens to their choice of program material in the study, the possibilities are limited only by imagination and of course budget. Multi room audio can be adapted to any room or “zone” including areas such as bathrooms, pool side and workshops, areas often overlooked when building.
The average zoned solution is limited to the alfresco and possibly backyard due to the nature of products previously available to the consumer, now with IP (Internet Protocol) based systems we are able to offer solutions of 1 – 15 individual zones, if additional areas are required the additional zones can be linked to existing zones in a party mode, sharing the same program source.
The explosion of IP based of products into the market has seen a number of multi room audio systems become available to the consumer. The multi room solutions on the market vary greatly in quality of playback and user interface, Rio has chosen a select number of solutions that offer high quality playback, lossless audio support and a very user friendly interface.
Dedicated multi room audio solutions run off their own networks (wired or wireless) to avoid congestion on the main network, a standalone media centre or NAS Drive connected to the system is recommended as a media source holding all your digital music files.
With almost infinite storage available and most consumers moving towards digital archives of their existing collections and purchasing digital copies through services such as iTunes, there has never being a better time to explore the options of distributed zone media. Options include wired or wireless, audio or audio/visual playback and storage medium, Rio’s preference is to hardwire a system into the residence although this is not always possible.
Please contact us or drop past the one of our showrooms to view Yamaha’s renowned MusicCAST system in operation, or alternatively to discuss the best solution for your multi room needs.
