OTHER TECH

In Good Company As you'll see in the special section that follows, and in the related columns and test reports, these manufacturers are approaching the connected house from a surprising number of directions. For instance, in "Room Service" (click here to read article), Jim Willcox looks at Sony's and Philips's radically different solutions for sending music to multiple rooms. Sony's CAV-M1000ES is a traditional wired multiroom audio/video system, but it takes many of the features once found only in high-end custom installations and makes them affordable for a much greater number of people. Meanwhile, Philips's Wireless Music Center follows in the footsteps of Yamaha's MusicCAST system (click here to read the original review), eschewing wires altogether for Wi-Fi technology that sends music from a central component to satellites placed throughout the house.

Even more innovative are the cutting-edge approaches taken by speaker stalwarts Polk and B&W. As John Sciacca relates in "The Custom Installer" (page 27 in the June 2005 issue), Polk's LCi-p line of speakers have digital amplifiers and signal processing built in, making them self-powered and able to compensate for acoustical problems in the room. They're also IP (Internet protocol) addressable, so they can be easily integrated into a home network and adjusted or serviced from any computer anywhere.

IP technology also lies at the heart of B&W's iCommand system. Instead of relying on a central controller, iCommand creates a distributed network via iPod-size nodes attached to your system's components. Each node has a microprocessor and a network address, allowing for two-way communication between all of the components, the wall keypads, and a wireless touchscreen controller. And like the Polk speakers, the iCommand nodes can be operated and serviced from any computer that can access the network.

Klipsch, meanwhile, distributes Oxmoor's Z?n Digital Whole House Audio System (click here to read the review from January 2005) as a complement to its extensive line of in-wall speakers. The Z?n system uses in-wall controllers with built-in digital amplification and EQ, along with traditional keypad functions, to minimize the number of components in each room.

While their primary responsibility is still to power and control your home theater, A/V receivers are beginning to evolve into multiroom controllers. Even some inexpensive models offer a tremendous amount of control over second zones, and expensive flagship receivers are starting to take on the duties of sophisticated whole-house controllers. Consider Onkyo's TX-NR1000 (reviewed on page 40 on the June 2005 issue), which can be customized using PC-like plug-in boards. Adding Ethernet and Net-Tune modules, for instance, lets you use the receiver to route music from the components in your main system to a home network.

Sonance and SpeakerCraft were among the first companies to offer in-wall speakers and multiroom audio systems. Now they're among the first to find ways to integrate the ubiquitous iPod into whole-house entertainment. As Ken Pohlmann shows in "iPod Comes Home" (click here to read), Apple's portable music player already has everything necessary to be a home music server. It just needed somebody to figure out how to get other components to treat it as one of the family. SpeakerCraft's naviPod system uses a receiver attached to the iPod to accept commands from its MZC-66 six-zone controller, while Sonance's iPort is an in-wall docking station that can send music - and pictures from an iPod photo - through a multiroom system.

Today's Tomorrow As interesting - and sometimes revolutionary - as all of these efforts are, keep in mind that they're just the beginning. As wireless technology continues to improve, we'll be able to reliably send more information - including high-bandwidth high-def TV signals - throughout the house without having to run cables. This could lead to completely wireless surround sound systems that can send stable, high-fidelity signals to every speaker.

You can also expect to see the software behind multiroom setups become more sophisticated, increasing the system's flexibility and ease of use and minimizing the amount - and cost - of post-installation programming. This could lead to systems able to handle audio, video, lighting, and climate control that you can set up (apologies to John Sciacca) without the help of an installer.

We haven't yet reached the point where you can pick up a Whole-House System in a Box in the checkout line at the local Wal-Mart, but as crazy as it sounds, those days might not be far off. It's not too big of a leap to imagine an all-wireless four-zone system with a 250-gigabyte music server, self-amplified speakers, and touchscreen remotes that sells for less than $1,000 and that you can set up in less than a half hour. Once we reach that point in a few years, the Home of the Future will have officially become the Home of Today.