Surround Sounds

Distributed audio systems for the home have been going digital, and integrators say that the convergence of technology and audio systems has opened doors to new markets, incremental business and high-profit product and services sales.

For distributed audio system providers, the advent of digital technologies has brought a greater awareness of what the homeowner can do, and whole-house audio is becoming a more popular option in both new and existing homes. Integrators can create different zones within a home controlled by a central unit that gives listeners the ability to play different music in different sections of the house, and customers are taking them up on it.

"It seems like everybody wants whole-house audio, especially with the advent of the iPod and other portable digital music things. Everybody likes to have background music," said Jeff Galea, owner of Boca Theater & Automation in Boca Raton, Fla. "Music seems to be the given, right up there next to smoke detectors, security systems and networking."

Boca Theater & Automation is a quintessential example of the trend. It is capable of providing "pretty much everything that takes a battery or needs a wire in a house," said Galea, from structured writing and networking to pool alarm systems to central vacuum systems. Boca also provides broadband Internet access to its new-construction customers.

The options for customers and the products available are expanding, and integrators have more ways than ever to generate revenue in the digital home. Vendors are also stepping up to meet demand and have released a wide variety of new products that cater to both the analog audiophile and the digital guru, giving integrators the tools to make each customer's solution one that matches their expectations.

"We've come sort of at a convergence period," said Adam Zolot, owner of Entertaining Spaces, a San Francisco-based integrator founded almost five years ago. "We basically started our business at the infancy of the digital era, and have sort of evolved with the digital era. We're not beholden to the old-school mentality of distributed audio, which I think works to our advantage."

As technology evolves, so has Zolot's business.

"We started off using the analog systems but immediately realized the potential of the digital stuff," he said. "The analog mentality creates a camp that believes that the quality and reliability of analog devices is better, but the rewards of the digital system are so far greater than these possible negatives that it's a slam dunk for a business like mine."

Frank Sterns, president and COO of Niles Audio, said his company has evolved from one mainly focused on the analog and passive distributed audio market to release its own digital media server. The Niles IntelliControl ICS media server was developed over three years, and the company is banking on its success. "We could pretty much see that if we didn't have a digital system, we faced decline," Sterns said.

Leading audio vendors like Russound, Elan, Niles and Crestron have been joined by relative newcomers like Control4 and AMX, which are expanding their lines of remote and touch-screen controls, and Sonos, whose wireless digital music system is gaining traction in urban markets like London and Manhattan, where customers are more likely to rent than to own their homes and tearing down walls to install wiring is not an option.

Sonos, Santa Barbara, Calif., recently released the ZonePlayer 80 bundle, combining two of the product's wireless music units and a controller. In its first few weeks, the product sold out.