Linksys wireless home audio system

[Dr Mordrid]

$300 and "way up"....

Link....

We knew that Cisco would be invading the home audio space in '09, but we didn't know it'd be so quickly (and under the Linksys name). Here at CES, the outfit has unveiled the admittedly complex Wireless Home Audio system, which utilizes Ethernet / 802.11n / DLNA in order to stream audio over multiple zones throughout the home. The kit is actually comprised of some very specific components, so let's not waste any time, eh? There's the Conductor DMC350 Wireless-N Digital Music Center, Director DMC250 Wireless-N Music Player with Integrated Amplifier, Player DMP100 Wireless-N Music Extender, Stereo Speaker Kit DSPK50, DMWR1000 Wireless-N Touchscreen Remote, iPod docking station and the DMRIR500 IR Remote. For details on the specific kits, which should go on sale this quarter for $300 and way up, give the read link a peek.

[az]

Except for the CD player and color screens on the devices, this looks very much like the Squeezebox stuff that can be had from slim devices/logitech for years now.

Who needs a color display on the main unit? The one on the controller should suffice. Nevertheless, good to see one more player trying, but until we know much more, I won't hold my breath.

[VJ]

I find it puzzling that there are so many audio alternatives, but virtually no video alternatives. The colour display is a nice touch, allthough I think it will be hard to match the readability of the Squeezebox displays.

Fujitsu Siemens has a system (central pc, simple clients) that can do it, allowing the clients to tune in to TV stations or stream video files from the pc, but it looks ugly.

http://fujitsu-siemens.com/home/products/entertainment/index.html

A setup requires a media center and one or more mediaplayers. Now why not improve on this?


Jörg