EHX Long Beach 2004 Distributed Audio Awards

Part 1: The Distributed Audio Awards and Winners from Selected Categories

The Electronic House Expo is held in Long Beach, California every November and in Orlando, Florida in February. Aligned with both CEDIA and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) this west coast Expo hosted several ongoing CEDIA and manufacturer focused training sessions along with several hundred manufacturers in the huge Long Beach convention Center complex. A highlight of the Expo is the 18-category Distributed Audio Awards for which I was asked to be one of the five judges.

We gathered on the morning of November 15 and began to listen to 15-minute product presentations throughout the day to determine the winners of the respective categories. By 7PM that night we were hungry and tired and had heard over 40 presentations from the hopefuls. So it was surprising once we all sat down to discuss the contestants and their entries how strongly impressive the individual winners' products had remained in our minds. Here are a few of the categories and products which we though would be of most interest to our Audioholics readers:

Boston Acoustics took the honors in three separate categories! This New England based company has fielded outstanding speaker solutions for over thirty years so grabbing so many brass rings in a crowded field is a tribute to their problem solving and speaker design chops. The Boston Acoustics DSi495, ($500 SRP each) is an 8-inch 3-way in-ceiling design. This speaker one of the most cleverly engineered packages one is likely to see.

Part of the speaker engineers' task with DSi495 was the request to "bring the sound down from the (easily localizable) ceiling location and into the room" - a very tall order indeed. From the looks of their design approach though I'd say Boston has a good chance of pulling it off. Note how large the midrange driver is next to the tweeter. Now check out the barely visible lower edge of the 8-inch woofer mounted and precisely angled behind midrange and tweeter. The midrange crossover point is brought all the way down to 300Hz. This is low enough to allow the 8-incher to remain a true woofer while at the same time allowing the excellent dispersion characteristics of the large midrange to work most effectively into the room.

It was difficult in the non-optimized (and not ceiling mounted) demo boxes to judge whether or not the Bostons could "move the sound down three feet into the room" as claimed. We may have to await a full Audioholics test to determine if this psychoacoustic feat has been realized. What was not difficult to immediately recognize though was the Boston's sound. It was music. Clean, seemingly accurate with great octave-to-octave spectral balance, all made for an enjoyable listen. This is why in the category of "In-Ceiling Speakers, $1000 or More Per Pair", these Boston Acoustics DSi495's were a slam dunk winner. www.bostonacoustics.com

Amplifiers, Controllers and Receivers
In the category of "Amplifiers, Controllers and Receivers" the Audio Design Associates HTR-2400 ($9,999 SRP) took top honors. The HTR-2400 offers homeowners the ability to supply their home with an 8 zone/8-source whole house A/V system and a 7.1 home theater system that will interface via RS-232 with popular big name control systems such as Crestron. This monster receiver is designed, engineered and built "the old fashioned way" in the U.S. This extremely well thought out and executed design directs an eye toward easy upgrades via plug-in cards for such new requested services such as XM or Sirius radio; plus, through its many side panels and ease-of-access rear panel modules, servicing in-home becomes a breeze. That means no disconnecting your entire house and home theater system ever, for either upgrade or repair. The 100 W RMS class A/B amplifiers are dedicated to home theater use while the remainder of the whole house system utilizes digital amplification. www.ada-usa.com

All-Inclusive Distributed Audio System: Less than $1000 per Room
Perhaps the most target-specific category within the Distributed Audio Awards was for "All-Inclusive Distributed Audio System: Less than $1000 per Room". Sonance's DAB1 ($2500 SRP) was an easy winner in this category. The DAB1 includes an AM-FM tuner that can be disabled to allow for a fourth source component to be added to the system. The unit provides homeowners with 12 channels of amplification that's driven by a class A/B amplification rated to deliver 30 watts per channel, and each zone offers users individual volume settings or a party-mode which allows each of the zones to be controlled simultaneously.

I must apologize for not having the presence of mind to take a shot of this unit's innards. Beautifully constructed of high quality mil-spec circuit boards, the layout is straightforward and the parts quality excellent. I would expect the DAB1 to offer years and years of high quality sound, even tucked away in some closet with nary a hint of problems. Impressive… www.sonance.com

Outdoor Speakers
A real surprise to us judges in the "Outdoor Speakers" category was Niles Audio's RS8Si Weatherproof Rock Loudspeaker ($450 SRP). A rock speaker that sounded really good! The RS8Si is able to be set up as either mono or stereo with its two tweeters and single dual voice coil woofer. By using a high quality soft dome tweeter and an obviously well-designed crossover and 8" woofer combination this rock speaker delivers a full range sound even at low levels which would seem ideal for truly blending into the garden environment. Florida-based residents will also like the very close replica of coral rock offered as one of the three variants in Niles' line. www.nilesaudio.com

Wireless/No-New-Wires Transmission Media/Technology
Back to the electronics under "Wireless/No-New-Wires Transmission Media/Technology". (Don't you just love these categories? This was tough judging.) Philips Consumer Electronics almost walked off with the overall grand prize with their SL400i Wireless Multimedia Link ($499 SRP). In rack component-style horizontal configuration this little unit took the "why didn't a lot of people think of this" award for being able to stream audio wirelessly from your computer's hard drive to a whole house system. No loading or swapping files from this system to that. Just keep your music on your laptop or home computer and link up to your whole house system hassle-free. Also in contention in the category was a second Philips model, the SL300i ($299 SRP) which came in a vertical configuration to sit next to your computer workstation. I voted for this model based on price and space-efficiency but most of my fellow judges were seasoned installers who liked the rack'em-and-stack'em SL400i for it's install-ability within a total system. In any case both of these products offer excellent performance/value. www.philips.com

Multiroom Audio Media Servers
The category was "Multiroom Audio Media Servers". The grand prize winner picked from all 18 categories was Meda Systems, Inc Bravo Digital Media Server. "The Meda Systems' is a complete multi-source/multi-zone whole-house audio system that includes wireless touchscreen control, multiple inputs and the company's "Follow Me" mode that follows a homeowner by providing music as the person moves from room-to-room throughout the house. The Bravo system is available in 1,4,8,12,16 and 24-zone configurations, and each model incorporates the company's Digital Entertainment Operation System (DEOS). The DEOS operating system features Meda's MZSync, which automatically syncs sources to provide homeowners with instant file or source access. Each server also includes an internal hard drive and Web compatibility that enables a variety of products to control and access the server."

There's more. In speaking with Meda President and designer Steve Raschke I found out that all the system's audio capabilities are also available for video. And Steve has partnered with Microsoft to aid in addressing the legal issues still remaining with moving video about so seamlessly. The system has been Beta tested for over two years around Meda's Emeryville, California headquarters area so the system is virtually bug-free. And lastly, the Bravo Digital Media Server is about one third the cost of its closest competitor. This is one amazing black box! www.medainc.com

Here are the Complete Distributed Audio Award Winners

• All-Inclusive Distributed Audio System: $1,000 or more per room
  > Winner: Xantech, MRC88
• All-Inclusive Distributed Audio System: Less than $1,000 per room
  > Winner: Sonance, Sonance DAB1
• Amplifiers, Controllers, & Receivers
  > Winner: ADA HTR-2400 Home & Theater AV Receiver
• Connectivity Products
  > Winner: On-Q Home, Entertainment Connection Center
• In-Ceiling Speakers: $1,000 or more per pair
  > Winner: Boston Acoustics, DSi495
• In-Ceiling Speakers: Less than $1,000 per pair
  > Winner: TRUAudio DV-6 Dual Voice Coil In-Ceiling Loudspeaker
• Installation Aids and Accessories
  > Winner: Sencore Electronics, SP295C SoundPro Audio Analyzer
• In-Wall Speakers: $1,000 or more per pair
  > Winner: Polk Audio, LC265i with ENC265
• In-Wall Speakers: Less than $1,000 per pair
  > Winner: Boston Acoustics, DSi460T2
• In-Wall/In-Ceiling Subwoofers: $1,000 or more
  > Winner: Boston Acoustics, VRiSub85
• Multiroom Audio Media Servers
  > Winner: Meda Systems, Inc., Bravo(TM) Digital Media Server
• Multiroom Audio Source Components
  > Winner: Bose Lifestyle BUILT-INvisible AV-18 Media Center
• On-Wall Speakers: $1,000 or more per pair
  > Winner: Boston Acoustics, P400
• On-Wall Speakers: Less than $1,000 per pair
  > Winner: Klipsch Audio Technologies, Klipsch Reference Series RVX-42
• Outdoor Speakers
  > Winner: Niles Audio Corporation, RS8Si Weatherproof Rock Loudspeaker
• Racks, Mounts, & Enclosures
  > Winner: Middle Atlantic Products, ASR Adjustable Shelving Rack
• User Interfaces/Keypads
  > Winner: Remote Technologies Inc (RTI), T2+ Universal System Controller
• Wireless/No-New-Wires Transmission Media/Technology
  > Winner: Philips Consumer Electronics, Philips SL400i

Note: While we participated as 1 of 5 judges in handing out the Distributed Audio Awards, be aware that the actual winners may not reflect our particular vote in each category. We congratulate everyone on some excellent products!

Now let's take a walk around the EHX Show floor . There were some great new products debuted for the first time.