SpeakerCraft Kills Nirv Multiroom AV/Control System
By Julie Jacobson
After four years, Nortek subsidiary SpeakerCraft drops Nirv home automation/multiroom AV system based on CobraNet. Layoffs ensue.

SpeakerCraft -- a subsidiary of Nortek, Inc (Nasdaq: NTK). -- has abandoned its Nirv multiroom audio, video and control system after spending four years on the project.

Nirv was to be a whole-house A/V system requiring only a single Cat 5 cable to deliver content and two-way control using CobraNet networking technology. While home automation was a key element of the original system, announced in 2009, SpeakerCraft backed off of that feature to focus on multiroom audio and video.



“Nortek is working very hard to better integrate all of its brands,” SpeakerCraft president Jeremy Burkhardt tells CE Pro. “We found that there was just too much overlap between Nirv and [sister company] Elan.”

Elan Home Systems, acquired by Nortek in 2003, has its roots in multiroom audio and video and is gaining traction with its latest home automation system, G!.

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