While I'm not an audiophile, I love my Outlaw gear. No frills, it does what it is supposed to and does it well.

Now I'm rehabbing a house, and I'm trying to determine what multi-room system to use. Audio Server? A-Bus? What company? Russound?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. If Outlaw came out with a system, I would be ecstatic!

Sounds like a fun project, and one that I've never attempted before so I can't offer much insight. Are you thinking about two in-wall/in-ceiling speakers per room? Any thoughts on how many rooms you'll be including in the system or what sources you are thinking about running through the system?

It is going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 rooms with 2 speakers per room. Mostly I play music sourced through Airport Express (iTunes from my computer), but it will also need radio and DirecTV.

A friend of mine just installed the Russound RNET solution ( http://www.russound.com/rnet.htm ) with seemingly great success -- but the A-BUS system seems like a better design approach ( http://www.russound.com/abus.htm ). I'm having a hard time finding any decent reviews/suggestions on the various vendors/technology available.

The russound stuff looks intriguing from an ease-of-installation standpoint, but I can't imagine it sounding that good. It looks like it uses some sort of ethernet-type protocol for signal distribution and to intereact with the source control and then uses some tiny outboard "amplifier pads" mounted like light switches in individual rooms to get the juice to the actual speakers. Nifty design, but those little class D amps mounted in the space of a light switch probably don't sound so hot.

From an installation standpoint the A-Bus system sounds sweet! I'd be interested to hear opinions on the sound of this system. Jim

In most cases speakers mounted in the ceiling are used for ambient background noise and not critical listening. I would be more concerend about clarity of sound more than anything. Jim

If that's the case, the russound gear seems like a slam dunk in terms of ease-of-integration. I wonder how much it all costs?

Cheers,

I listend once to a little bit with the Yamaha Musiccast line of products. They feature a little in-wall amplifier that sounds very similiar to the A-bus amplifier. I heard it powering a pair of bookshelf NHT's and it sounded pretty good for something so small. I remember them costing around $400 per amp.

As for audio over ethernet, I just worked on a concert that featured all audio tie lines sent via Cat-5 cable via an Aviom network. It worked perfectly and sounded great. Of course, the Aviom spec may be different but it shows what advances have been made in the area.

To get install gear prices, you usually have to work with a store. That store will probably first refer you to one of their installers. I would go around to the authorized Russound dealers in your area and see what they recommend.

Hope that helps.