PLC technology might be the future of multiroom audio systems. If you’re lucky enough to own a home pre-wired for audio, video, cable and network communications, you’re ready for a whole house music system. If you don’t own a networked home, and have no plans to retrofit your home with network wiring, PLC technology may be for you. PLC enables the distribution of music and control signals throughout your home via your home’s existing electrical wiring. PLC makes it easy to setup a multiroom audio system without installing any new wiring in your home.
PLC is based on Powerline Carrier technology that piggybacks audio and control signals over the alternating current or AC electrical wiring that almost all homes have. HomePlug is the name of the industry group whose mission is to promote PLC technology and adopt product standards.
Although most HomePlug certified products are currently used for computer networking, Russound recently introduced its Avenue line of products for distribution of multiroom audio. Avenue consists of two pieces, the Avenue Hub and Avenue Point. The Avenue Hub distributes audio via PLC to as many as six zones or rooms and includes a return control signal for touchscreens or keypads to control the system from the remote zones. Each zone has an Avenue Point, which contains a 20-watt amplifier to power speakers in that room. Currently the Avenue system only works with Russound’s CAV 6.6 audio/video distribution system, a central unit to which all sources are connected, such as a CD player, tuner, DVD player, etc. Prices have not been announced and Russound says the system will be available in early 2008. Stay tuned; PLC could be a real development in multiroom sound.
