This relatively recent method is revolutionizing home entertainment systems, and can send audio and even video throughout your house with a minimum of fuss, wiring and labor.  If you’re considering a distributed audio system for your home, you’ll want to check into this exciting new technology.

IP stands for Internet Protocols, but that doesn’t mean your home music system is now on the Internet (though it can communicate with it easily).  Simply put, Internet Protocols are a way of looking at data and the devices that send and receive it.  A specific identifying number — called an address — is assigned to each device on the network, which in this case the same home network that carries your broadband, Wi-Fi and other common computing technologies.  When data — digital or analog audio — is sent through the network to these devices, it’s broken down into byte-sized (ouch) “packets” of digital information, which are lighter, more manageable and more versatile than full analog audio or video signals.

Why Go For An IP-Based System?

There are numerous advantages to IP-based entertainment distribution systems.  For one thing, the wiring in your home gets a lot simpler.  A single conventional Ethernet cable can carry stereo or multichannel audio all throughout the house, without the need to run separate speaker and amplification wiring to and from each room where you want music.  Conventional distributed audio systems use separate dedicated wires (often more than one) for each device in the system.  When you start adding up components and speakers throughout a typical whole-house, you’re talking about an awful lot of wiring and drilling through walls and floors.  More wires means more things to go wrong.

The fewer-wires approach of IP-based audio systems aren’t just about removing installation hassles, they’re about getting better, more reliable sound too.  Old-school analog audio signals are inherently fragile, and as they travel throughout distances in your home, they lose integrity and attract interference, both of which affect the sound quality, sometimes severely.  In conventional (analog) distributed audio installations, specialized components like buffer amplifiers and heavily shielded cables are needed to keep these signals intact as they get moved from room to room.  With IP-based systems, the audio is broken down into digital data before being distributed, and arrives at the playback components in the exact same shape as they were when they were sent.

Another great advantage to an IP-based system is the possibility of remote access to the system.  If something goes wrong on a conventional distributed audio system, a repairman needs to come to your home to diagnose and solve the problem.  Since an IP-based system is addressable via anywhere the Internet (with security passwords, of course), this opens up the possibility of remote diagnostics and troubleshooting from your installer.

Emerging Players

So what are the downsides to IP-based audio?  From a technological standpoint there aren’t many, and IP is seen as the logical direction that all in-home distributed entertainment will eventually take.  For now though, the major downside is choice.  There aren’t nearly as many IP-based distributed audio manufacturers as there are making conventional distributed audio systems. Yet.

In the coming months and years there will be many more players in the IP-based distributed audio arena, because the technology makes so much sense.  Given that your entire home network — computers, routers, tablets, DVRs and the like — already run off Internet Protocols, there are good reasons why audio and video components can be treated the same way, with the same flexibility.  If you’re looking into a whole-home entertainment system, IP is a new option worth considering.

Can you remember what songs you and your friends were listening to in high school? Can you remember what song was playing when you got married or had your first child? We all can! Just like photographs, we mark special moments in our life by the music of the times or the songs we liked. Why is all this important? The answer is simple: dedicating the space and budget necessary to create a high quality two channel experience in your home is an investment that will give you years of enjoyment.

We suggest finding speakers that perform to your taste and are right for your room. The speakers are arguably the most critical element in a stereo and since each person hears differently, it is a good idea to start by finding speakers that you love. Here’s a tip: Speakers that sound good with music will also sound good with theater, but the opposite is rarely true. Theater speakers can deliver the dynamics and impact of music, but often fall short when it comes to warmth and finesse. Additionally, the cabinet plays a very important role in the loudspeakers’ ability to faithfully recreate sound. It is for this reason that most really good two channel stereos do not incorporate in-wall type loudspeakers. One last important note: just as the cabinet has a significant impact on the sound of the speaker, so does the room influence how that speaker will sound. If there is a lot of glass in the room, you probably want to temper your desire for metal dome tweeters, as the resulting sound could potentially be “bright and shrilly” sounding.

The next step is to choose the right amplification. This will usually be in the form of an integrated amp or a separate power amp and pre-amp combination. You will need to consider several strategic factors: Will it match well sonically with my loudspeaker? Does it have the power and speed to adequately drive my loudspeakers? Does it image (recreate the position of the instruments on the stage) well enough for the speakers to mentally disappear. Tube amplifiers are growing again as a category, because they tend to provide a certain emotional connection that is not generally associated with solid state designs. Try to incorporate separate components.

The third step will be to determine what sources of music you and your family will be listening to. You may have CDs, SACDs, HD Radio, XM, digital media and more. There are affordable and high performance choices available for all these formats. Maybe you remember records? Turntable sales were up 37% in 2009. Also in 2009 record sales jumped a whopping 33% to 2.5 million copies. 2008 boasted 1.8 million copies sold and 990,000 vinyl albums were sold in 2007. Records are coming back and why, because many music experts believe they sound better.

There are even more things to be considered such as the cables and interconnects you will need, stands for the speakers (if necessary), furniture to house the electronics and possibly even room treatments or control technology. The really fabulous news is, once you have ventured down this road, you will feel like a kid again! You will want to listen to YOUR music again and you may even want to buy some new music again! Stereo / two channel audio systems are infectious and will impact how you spend your time at home.