News

Marantz Announces WEAVE Home entertainment system featuring PLC technology (10/7/2006)

Real 'plug and play' magic from Marantz delivers music all around the home Leading hi-fi and home cinema manufacturer Marantz has unveiled a major innovation, as ingenious as it is simple to use. The company's remarkable new WEAVE (Wired Entertainment Accessible via Electricity) products means music can now be played around the home taking advantage of the one network every house already has pre-installed - the mains. PLC (Power Line Communication) is the technology behind it. Simply plug WEAVE equipment into the mains socket and listen to music anywhere.

Key to the system is the local unit ZC4001. This device accesses your main home entertainment setup via the mains as soon as it is plugged in, allowing you to listen to radio stations, CD players and anything else connected.

Simply plug the portable, compact and stylish ZC4001, with its light silver fascia with elegant dark brown trim, into the mains. It fills the room with CD-quality sound from your main set-up via its two high-performance speakers and built-in amplifier. In effect, Marantz has cloned all the features of your full-size hi-fi system and crammed them into this elegant design the size of a portable radio.

And don't worry if someone else is using the main set-up, as the ZC4001 can be operated independently. Up to six '4001s can be plugged in at any one time around the home. This wonderfully easy solution means you can play music in every room without the need for complex Wi-Fi networks or hugely expensive 'multi-zone' custom installations.

In order for the system to work the main set-up must incorporate a WEAVE amplifier or receiver, in this case the ZR6001 A/V receiver. The ZR6001 not only acts as the centrepiece of the main home entertainment set-up, but also transmits audio signals to every room in the house just by being plugged in. The ZR6001 is the first of a number of Marantz WEAVE products that will feature PLC technology.

The compact Marantz ZC4001 is an all-in-one solution for enjoying streamed CD-quality audio anywhere in the home. The stylishly designed device has everything needed for great room filling sound, including two high quality loudspeakers and a built-in amplifier. Other features include RDS text display, clock, sleep and wake up timer.

Because it is lightweight and portable, users can simply move it from room to room and enjoy audio transmission from the ZR6001 receiver. Or they can add up five more units in whichever room they like.

WEAVE Wired Entertainment Accessible via Electricity is a method of bi-directional signal communication using AC power lines as a transmission channel, superimposing high frequency signals over the AC power line. Multi-room communication between audio Marantz WEAVE components begins the moment they are plugged into any electrical outlet, offering simple plug-and-play audio networking. The new ZR6001 and ZC4001 have been specially designed for transmitting audio streaming data, providing real-time streaming of full CD-quality (44.1kHz/16-bit) audio. Because the system works via existing AC power lines, there is no possibility of interference from other wireless systems such as WiFi, Bluetooth, or even a microwave oven.

www.marantz.com