Gary Lewis, director at CEDIA member company Cornflake, looks at challenges and opportunities within today’s whole-room audio system sector.

Multi-room audio has become a ‘must have’ – rather than a ‘would like’ – feature for many clients.

The first generation of internet babies is coming through strongly now and building homes that are completely different to their parent’s generation. They expect cinema-grade surround sound and wireless access to their digital music and streaming services… and they want it at any time, in every room, without any connection complications.

The major challenge is that these clients are often confused about wireless technology. They fail to appreciate the system doesn’t run on fresh air; or that the equipment still needs power from somewhere. It’s an easy mistake given all the wireless hype, but once clients appreciate the pitfalls of trying to do everything wirelessly, especially with multiple, demanding, wireless devices in their households, they quickly value the advantages of wired systems.

Modern families might have one router with everything connected to it, including their TVs, video game consoles, printer, mobile devices and a multitude of teen’s/guest’s laptops and gaming equipment too. But many routers supplied as standard by internet service providers (ISPs) often can’t handle that amount of traffic, which causes complications with some wireless music systems. If the audio system is hardwired, with a wireless connection, it is much more stable.

Usually, our clients are familiar with — and enjoy using — a record player or a hi-fi system, but now parts of that system, such as the CD and/or the tuner are required to be distributed throughout the house, often through a multi-room system.

Generally, people love instant online music services; making life much easier for electricians and integrators as we
can simply count all the music zones, and scale projects accordingly. Multi-room systems used to have limitations of perhaps four, six or eight zones, which incorporated the amplification of these zones. Now, the new multi-room solutions are highly modular, and everything is addressed by IP, which is far quicker and simpler for the installer.

New entrants to the home technology market may be surprised to learn that installing multi-room audio systems is
not as lucrative as they might assume. The streaming services we all access are now well commoditised, and several multi-room systems are easily available through high street and online retailers, plus there are a growing number of DIY options.

It’s a familiar marketing cycle. As soon as a new technology goes mainstream, the distribution channels increase and specialist electricians lose margins. This is just natural progression and, as ‘early adopters’, it’s important for electricians to add value to our client’s lives by staying abreast of what’s coming next and offering professional advice to help them future-proof their investment. Good system design, qualified installation and appropriately-chosen speakers are all important elements of a professional whole home audio solution, with customers willing to pay for quality and expertise in these areas.

There have always been people who love high-end hi-fi . Many of the clients who pioneered multi-room audio – long
before the quality was as great as it is today — are now on their second or third homes. Testimony to the success of their early systems, these customers continue to want integrated audio in their new properties but are now demanding that it sounds far better and are willing to spend much more money on higher quality speakers to achieve their higher expectations. The top-end of the market will always be pushing for excellence, which is great for electricians and for the mass market as the new technology will inevitably trickle down the supply chain.

That’s why high resolution audio, distributed either wirelessly or wired, is the next big thing. But clients will, of course, need more robust broadband infrastructures able to support this better quality audio and 4K video. For instance, Netflix needs at least 6Mbps per device. As a comparison, hi-resolution music requires only about a sixth of that capacity and radio needs about an eighth. If the client’s broadband infrastructure has the proper capacity, then the quality threshold will duly increase.

Many electricians will have to refocus their business models to provide a far greater premium experience for ever more sophisticated and discerning customers. That is what custom installation is all about and what makes it so exciting.