pioneer music tap: home audio system cuts the cords

February 28th, 2007 comments stumble it! digg it! by: technabob

Pioneer Japan is showing off this new music system that can send audio signals to remote speakers around your house. Rather than using more modern wireless technologies like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, Pioneer opted to use power line signal transmission, to reduce the likelihood of over-the-air interference, and to simplify configuration.

Pioneer Music Tap Powerline Audio

The Pioneer Music Tap system starts with a central base station that can accept inputs from analog audio devices, or a USB-connected PC or hard drive containing WMA, MP3 or AAC format audio files. Remote speakers can be placed around the house, and feature a slick motion sensing capability that can automatically turn on the sound when you enter a room. The system also offers the ability to play back audio from two different sources at the same time, and pipe them to different rooms.

The base system (model XW-PSS01), includes a pair of speakers and will set you back around $600 USD when it starts shipping this Spring. Additional speakers come in two sizes, costing appx. $170 and $230 USD respectively. An optional iPod dock add-on is also available for about $120 USD (yikes!)

[via gearfuse]

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filed under: home entertainment