What is multi-room a/v?

How often have you wanted your music or video to follow you around the house? Most people have their music on CD or their computer and are forced to listen to it either at their desk or in the living room. The more savvy might have added a network media player (a device to send music and video from your computer to your Hi-Fi or TV) but this still means you're limited to two rooms. What about sending video? Or different music sources playing in different rooms simultaneosly? Multi-room a/v lets you send media from any source to any room, and the better systems let you send different sources to different rooms at the same time.

 How does it work?

There are three main ways in which these systems work. First, there are wireless systems. These are easy to install but are generally much more expensive then wired systems (on a per room basis). They also mean taking up desk space with receiver boxes in each room you want your content. They are also often software based (apart from really high end ones from the likes of Yamaha and B&O, but if you want one of those you probably shouldn't be reading this) so they often aren't Mac friendly and are picky about what computer sources they support. Music purchased from iTunes for example will almost definately not play on these. Ripped CDs or other unprotected music is fine, even on iTunes. Video is usually out of the question.

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Next up are systems which communicate as part of a computer network. These tend to be expensive (more than wireless) but have a lot to offer. They are not DIY, and we suggest using them only if you're doing a major home makeover, or are prepared for some building work. They often have touch screens to control everything from heating to HDTV and online radio. A leading supplier in this is Crestron. You can only get a hold of these through professional installers.

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There is a half-way between these two solutions, which won't take a bite out of your wallet (installed systems like those from Crestron will cost around £5000 minimum if you want the touch panels and control of every room). These systems rely on dedicated cabling and are fairly DIY-able. They won't offer home automation (heating/lighting control etc.), but do include both audio and video and will handle multiple rooms at the same time. For a home with 4 rooms where the system needs to be installed, a typical cost might be about £1000. There will be some trouble with wiring, and some carpet lifting will be required. In-wall installations turn out better if done by an installer but a lot of people do it themselves. An excellent example is the Cambridge-Audio Incognito system pictured below.

They work by placing "the brain box" near your a/v source. This then sends data and power (so one cable does it all) to each room you want. It can handle 4 rooms, with 4 duplicates, listening or watching different sources. The sub-zones (duplicate rooms) are ideal for en-suite bathrooms or patios. Each room can have a local input to overide the signal coming from the main box. It has in-wall controls and a remote to control your sources from anywhere in the house.  In our experience, instead of using the local inputs, you might want to send content to the main box using a network media player, as it can then be sent anywhere in the house.

Contact Us ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) if you wish to find out something more specific, even if you just need some help with your own system.