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This message was edited by avfan on 04/16/05 09:18 ET.

This is WAYYY out of context...
To say that Speakercraft was on the leading edge of multi-room multi-zone in the 80s is laughable.

They were an OE manufacturer that got started in this biz by making speakers for Sonance in the 80s and early 90s based on what Scott and Geoff had previously made out of old fast food countertops that they bought during restaraunt remodels.

'Craft decided to launch their own brand of speakers in the mid 90s, and then made copycat speakers, switchers, VCs, and IR products and built a very solid dealer base on great pricing and great service. They are a great company, but they really didn't blaze any trails...

a/d/s was a top player in high end home audio and car audio in the 80s, and their inwalls were among the best of the early products. They acquired a few car brands, and then they were acquired... they showed a promising home line a few years ago, but they are strictly 12V now I believe and just another formerly proud brand that has been folded into DEI.

B&O is still involved in the high end multi-room market. They are still working the high style, industrial design niche they have always embraced, and they are the same boutique line they were back then.

ADA isn't Sony big, but they are still a solid player and have very loyal top tier integration firms that use their products almost exclusively in some of the biggest projects in the World.

Frox was the early 90s, and they were a flash in the pan.

Soundstream was also in the early-mid 90s, and they were bought and sold a few times by opportunistic capitalist types, the dealers dumped the line en mass because of QC and service inconsistency.

RTI has never made an audio system of any size, but they do make the most versatile remotes available, IMHO.

Who knows what will ever become of Carver... They were one of the most recognizable brands in hi-fi in the 80s, and then Bob sold the company... and then he founded Sunfire while the people who owned Carver drove that brand into the ground.... Now Sunfire bought Carver brand, and Bob Carver owns the Carver brand again.

BTW, what manufacturer do you work for Norton??

2nd Rick,

Thanks for the follow-up. I'll tune it up and re-summarize in a day or so. It's helpful to me, and it seems interesting to others. I'm very new to this, so I appreciate the patience while I sort it out.

My company isn't public or shipping yet... send me a private email and I'll keep you posted.

Norton

1970's-There was a company named Boulton, on Madison Ave in Manhattan that had multiroom multi source audio that selected records using a rotary telephone dial. I've actually run into two of them.

Early 90s-Audio Access PX-6S

How did Nutone, M&S and Bogen not make it to this list? Granted, none were high fidelity, but they still deserve honorable mention.

Prior to the mid to late 80's if you wanted a whole house audio system, what you bought was an intercom.

Actually, many of the first distributed audio systems were in LA for the stars who did not fall from the sky and were based on relays. Some of those supposedly go back to the 20s. I have heard tell but never set eyes or hands on one. Perhaps Ernie may have and could enlighten.

Audio Command, ADA and Audio Access had the first distributed audio systems I ever saw, most kludges based upon relays and contact closure to IR interfaces and ribbon connectors. You had to modify the equipment to control it which voided the warantee immediately.

I would say that one needs far fewer skills now then one did then. Then you definitely needed to have a deft hand with a solder gun. Now you crimp or use a electronics screw driver.

Alan

I also on occasion run across some constant voltage whole-house systems with the old dust filled rheostats that date back to the late 60's.

I can't believe no one mentioned Sony DST. Probably an intentionally repressed memory, I know, but I started this career in '93 and that's all we did before we took in Elan.

I'll give them this - they weren't all that flexible, but they held up. I know of at least 10 systems still out there today working fine, probably due to the fact that we did not modulate them onto the house cable system.

Or does '93 not count as "early days"?

- Doug @ HomeWorks

Every day I beat the drum for Netstreams. Small start up out of Texas making incredible IP based whole house audio systems. Love it.

I forgot about that early Sony system (circa 1990 or 91?). Probably on purpose. Sony screwed me in the early 90's and I purged my entire showrom and personal life of anything Sony after that.

Everything was sent down a single RG59 coax right? (processor to the in wall keypads).

Remember Vaux? I still see them around CEDIA every once in a while. Like a rash, they keep hanging in there. Does anyone here use their stuff? I had heard sometime ago, that it wasn't to bad.

Ahem,

I've been wondering about this, too. If I recall, Nutone, General Electric and Westinghouse are the brands I saw during the 60's and 70's. I read recently that M&S is marketing current technology which installs into the old Nutone infrastructure as an upgrade. I don't know Bogen yet.

In addition to fidelity, is it accurate to say that single source versus multi-source differentiates intercoms from whole-house audio systems?

Norton

Absolutely! As a kid in the late 60's, I enjoyed the benefits of a whole house intercom, complete with FM and a fold down turntable.

My primary use for it was to play my trumpet in the family room so the dog on the back porch would hear and begin to howl. Then I flipped the lever switch to "listen" so I could hear the howling in the family room. Definitely a useful device.

They are best known for the commercial music systems with paging functions...
"Smith party of four, your table is ready" then back to the 80s soft rock channel on DMX.


Intercoms are ugly plastic boxes that should only be used for paging the entrance of a home or announcing that dinner is done.
Music from an intercom system is an afterthought, low-fi and usually mono.

Intercoms stopped being high tech when cars stopped coming with fins and chrome bumpers.

Thanks to Elan, Channel Vision and Crestron for including paging and door station functions on real systems so i never have to look at another intercom again.

We actually pulled a yellow pages ad because all we got were people looking for someone to service their intercoms.
"your ad says 'whole house audio' and ours is broken, can you fix it??"

Go out, and then realize it's a bad Nutone or M&S intercom...
aww man...
Replace it with more crappy M&S or Nutone parts for peanuts, and then be tied to it for life, or just walk away.

I actually do a fair amount of business replacing those old junky intercoms!