Virtual Matrix
It sounds like a great title for a movie. It’s also the term Shane Nevins uses to describe the type of whole-house audio and video system his company, C-IX, recently installed into a 14,000-square-foot residence in Pueblo, Colo. It’s the type of system, Nevins says, that’s ideal for people who don’t want to commit to a certain number of speakers and TVs.
In a home this large, it’s natural to feel the need to put in a slew of TVs and speakers. Just how many, though, and where, is the question. The owners of this house started out with 15 zones of video and 23 zones of audio, but it’s conceivable that they might eventually add a few more, says Nevins.
The NetStreams DigiLinX system was chosen because it won’t lock these tech-cautious homeowners into a set number of inputs and outputs, as do systems comprised of traditional matrix switches, Nevins explains.
A matrix switch might come preconfigured with eight inputs for source components such as Blu-ray players and media servers, and eight outputs to feed eight entertainment zones. It’s a great setup for homeowners who can accurately predict the types of source content they’ll ever want available to them, says Nevins.
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