News

NetStreams Expands the Musica Product Line (11/3/2004)

Enhanced, whole-house audio distribution system puts the power in the room and the controls at the user's fingertips

NetStreams, America's leading Networked Audio solutions provider, announced the addition of three new products to its Musica line. The easy-to-install audio distribution system is notable for superlative sound, highly interactive keypads and simple operation. Its advanced design places the amplifiers in the individual rooms, rather than in one central location, improving sound quality and simplifying installation.

"Musica has been an immense hit in the audio distribution marketplace," stated Herman Cardenas, founder and chief executive officer of NetStreams. "In 4Q - 2003 we added some new products, and now we are introducing the MU4602 series of Musica keypads and Audio Distribution Center, which incorporate some exciting features."

The new Musica MU4602 series will start shipping the beginning of April. The new series offers all of the same great features of the MU4601 series, but with some few additions. These features include:

Larger buttons on the keypad/amplifiers

50/channel Digital amplifier in every room

MU4602KP keypad with built-in FM tuner

Continuing to focus on simplicity and ease of use, Musica's recent product additions included:

MU290-The new Musica MU290 room amplifier is a high quality power amplifier designed for applications where there are multiple sets of speakers or inefficient ones that require a lot more watts per channel than the Musica keypad internal amplifiers offer.

R2E Interface-A web server device that provides control of the system wirelessly via a Pocket PC or any computing device with a web browser.

The MU290 is a high quality, fully complementary, Class A/B amplifier. This powerful yet compact amplifier utilizes Darlington pairs for linear operation and offers 90 watts per channel or 200 watts bridged into a 4-ohm load. The MU290's sound is more musical and more 'tube like' than most amplifiers. This amplifier is designed to be either rack-mounted, flat-back mounted or set on a shelf.

NetStreams' Musica R2E connects on one side to the RS-232 in the back of the Audio Distribution Center and connects on the other side to an Ethernet connection. Musica control software is built into the device and no other peripheral software is needed. Maintaining the simplicity of Musica, users can access and control any room from a PDA.

The new Musica NS-MU4602 System is an easy-to-install and easy-to-operate audio distribution system capable of playing up to four different sources independently and distributing them to as many as six rooms (expandable to 18). In addition, you can distribute up to 6 separate local sources (XM, CD player, Cassette tape player, tuner, auxiliary input, etc.) to all six rooms. Users can listen to different sources at the same time in each room. Compensating gain adjustments at the inputs insure that all sources are distributed at equal levels.

Each room is controlled from a simple yet elegant keypad that sports a mini-wide-screen LCD graphic display that clearly depicts the status of the system. The LCD provides the means to monitor the sources as they apply to that room and if so desired the other rooms in the system as well. An IR remote may also be used to control the system.

One of the distinguishing differences about the Musica system design is that the amplifiers for each room are located within that room as an integral part of the wall mounted keypad. Most other systems have the amplification for all the rooms located in one place near the source equipment. This generates unwanted heat near delicate source components and requires extremely long wire runs between the amplifiers and the speakers that can substantially degrade audio quality.

There are several benefits to the Musica approach:

Better sound quality thanks to shorter wire runs from amplifier to speaker

Sophisticated control over the sound in each room

Greater system flexibility

Simple integration with other systems

And Now.... an FM tuner for each room

Musica has many features that help it stand out from the crowd. Including:

The Interactive In-Wall Keypad-The mini-wide-screen LCD in the Musica keypad provides an intuitive window into the operation of the system. The human interface has been designed with a "Look-and-Follow" window-style menu. With the most esthetically advanced keypad available, Musica users may opt for either a green or amber hue and control the brightness and backlighting of the display as well. The keypad even features an IR sensor that receives the systems own remote control as well as those of the audio source components.

FM tuner option - Now you can put an FM tuner in every room by selecting the MU4602-FM keypad. The presets are programmed for quick and easy selection of your customers' favorite stations.

Expansion Interface Modules-Optional in-wall-mounted Audio In/Out Modules make it easy to use additional sources, like a CD or MP3 player in the local room for use with the Musica system in that room. It's as simple as plugging in the desired source. In addition, Musica also allows you to play back any source from the main system on an existing audio system (like a favorite stereo system) that resides in that particular room.

Simplified Programming-The Musica system saves programming time. Simply program the sources one time from any room and they are automatically stored centrally on the Musica system. This eliminates the tedious task of programming each keypad with the same information over and over again saving precious installation time.

Intelligent Power Control-When all rooms are switched off, the main system goes automatically into a power saving mode and Musica also manages the various sources whose power is connected to the main unit.

Intelligent Muting-Musica can be set up to detect external signals like doorbells, intercom, telephone, etc. When these signals are detected, the main system enters into a mute mode automatically.

System Flexibility-The professionally designed, simple-to-use menus provide a means to control the sources and any functions for the current room or any other rooms in the system. Musica provides the controls for fine adjustments for bass, treble, balance, loudness and volume that can be adjusted in each room individually.

NetStreams supports the Musica program with availability of Almond, Ivory and Black screwless wallplates, Expansion Interface Modules, optional rack-mount kit, handheld IR remote control, infrared emitters and an optional expansion kit to add up to 12 additional rooms.

www.netstreams.com