On February 8, 2010 at 15:39, suttonNJ said...
If price is not a factor, what is the better system? One guy commented that cost should not be a concern in a 8000 sq ft home. Cost is always a concern - risk/reward is important. I am not an audiophile so not really looking to spend a lot on my system but want something that is good, intuitive and will serve my family's needs ( 3 young children, all with IPODs).
If Niles is clearly a better system,I will pay up for that. If they are comparable or if Nuvo is better and 30% less, that seems like the obvious choice.
I'm sorry it just doesn't add up. Nuvo Concerto vs Niles ZR6 - the Nuvo system has a higher MSRP. That is fact.
So there HAS to be other factors that are being missed. That could be quality of speakers, racks, type of wire being used, a number of things. But just hardware vs hardware, the Concerto is a more expensive system.
They both offer the same amount of feedback, where Nuvo has an edge is that it they have other devices that can provide feedback to the keypads, if you ever choose to invest in them. Those include AM/FM (niles already has built in), IPod dock (niles again built in, but with nuvo you can have more than one) plus music server options ($$$$).
When talking about a system like this, saying that you aren't an audiophile has very little relevance to the topic. You are talking about CONTROL here, not sound quality. If you were concerned with sound quality, you would NEVER settle for 20 watt per channels amps and dinky In-wall/ceiling speakers.
The fact is that the average person can easily spend $500 on some inceiling speakers and be happy with them AND hear the difference between those and some $200 In-ceiling speakers. How much have you allocated to speakers?
Back to the topic, the thing that matters most is that you can USE the system, regardless of how good (or bad) it sounds, if you can't use it its a waste. Both the Niles and Nuvo system are on par with one another. It still does NOT make sense to me that the Niles system is more unless you are getting better speakers (which I always say go for b/c speakers DO make a huge difference in the overall listening pleasure).
For more money I would go for an RTI, Crestron or AMX system. RTI could probably be done for the least. This way you can have an actual control system that can be customized and upgraded if you chose. You could easily integrate lighting control, home theater rooms, distributed video....the list goes on and on.
With a system like this, the system gets designed for you and your family, not packaged in a box and it is what it is and when its time to expand or upgrade you have to REPLACE (take out what you are buying now) the old with the new.
