Five well known audio companies have banded together and produced a new platform that according to them will revolutionize whole house audio. Digi 5 is the product of Elan, Linear, Niles, SpeakerCraft and Xantech. All companies plan to develop products based on the platform with no regard to competition among themselves.
Like other Cat5 based multi-room audio systems on the market, Digi5 delivers audio and power from a central hub to amplified keypads via Cat5 cable with a return path for control. The amplified keypads power the speakers in the traditional manner through speaker wire connection. The difference between available Cat5 and Digi5 is the digital architecture of Digi5. According to Bob Farinelli, one of the lead developers, "The technology's digital end-to-end capability ensures the audio is accurate regardless of wire run length with no analog frequency response issues, drive limitations and noise pick up." One feature that sets Digi5 apart from the pack is the ability to taylor the sound based on the type of speakers used, room acoustics and listening preference. This is because DSP is built into every individual keypad with access to a broad spectrum of adjustments. Another plus, Digi5 offers more power than conventional keypad amps, 30 watts per channel RMS at 8 Ohms, this is achieved according Farinelli by using digital amps, which boast 85% efficiency and Digi5 uses four wires for power and ground versus the conventional Cat5 set-up that uses two wires for power and ground. This according to Farinelli, "Provides four times the power of a conventional product with more total SPL, tighter sounding bass and more headroom before clipping."
Digi5 accommodates four zones expandable to 28 and supports four sources. There are three basic products: a rackmaster hub, source input plate and three types of keypads. The first of the five partners to have product on the street will be Elan (through Aton), the DH44 Digital Audio Router, DHTP1 Digital Amplified Touchpads and Digi5 accessories (zone expander and and source input wallplate) should be released Q4 with an expected msrp of $1,500.00 for a four zone system.
The cabal of partners said they're not interested in a monopoly but will license Digi5 to third parties in order to make the technology the dominant Cat5 solution to multi-zone audio
