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Russound, Colorado vNet headed in ‘Right Direction’
New Russound TS3 touchscreen will replace TS2 for accessing music and video.
The manufacturer of multiroom audio systems has spent the past couple of years dealing with standby power requirements for Energy using Products (EuP) in Europe, where Russound has a large presence.
“Our CAV used to consume 36 watts when it was turned off,” says Porritt. “Starting in 2011, it can only consume 1 watt.”
Beyond that, Russound has been busy perfecting its new DMS 3.1 media aggregation and streaming device.
The unit “replaces all of our old source material,” says Porritt. “It replaces six SKUs.”
Russound is continuing to innovate on A-Bus technology, which delivers audio over Cat 5. Possibly the largest vendor of A-Bus products, Russound is coming out with a new subzone option that doesn’t “take up a whole zone and use an expensive keypad,” Porritt says.
Speaking of keypads, Russound is updating its TS2 touchscreen to a new version, called TS3, for controlling audio and video.
Porritt is bullish on Colorado vNet, the lighting control/multiroom AV company that Russound acquired last year. He says vNet is now represented across the country with CE pro-oriented manufacturers’ reps.
And any issues with vNet’s RF lighting control products are fixed, Porritt says. Instead of just shipping replacement products for existing customers, vNet lighting is “back,” so dealers should feel comfortable selling complete wireless lighting control systems.
At CEDIA Expo, don’t expect Russound and vNet to dwell on the past. “We’re going to focus on new products,” Porritt says.
That means you won’t see the Russound Collage powerline-based multiroom audio/communications/camera system at the show. Porritt says that Russound continues to develop for that product line and will soon introduce support for Radiotime internet radio.
In other Russound news, the company “will see more substantial presence” in Magnolia and Crutchfield, Porritt says (see press release, next page).
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Article Topics
News · Product News · Audio · Distributed Audio · Home Automation and Control · Lighting · Colorado Vnet · Russound ·About the Author
4 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
oh, I thought I was going to hear how they are going to screw us (dealers) again..and charge me for support, or go out of business, wait I left them awhile ago, and theyll never see me again! I put up with that bull shi@ 3 times now.
Control4 = A++++ since I’ve made the move.
Headed in the right direction? I guess right direction in this industry means, “We jumped into bed with BestBuy”. Surely they’ll be able to save us. No they won’t.
Charlie, BestBuy won’t save you. You’ve got 78 SKU’s on their site and you don’t have 1 review. Knock, knock who’s there? Ugly Keypads, Ugly Keypads who? Russound that’s who.
How do you expect a CI to sell your product when it looks like it was designed by a 12 yr old in 1983?
It’s really kind of sad. I remember when I was a much younger man, I’d stare at the Russound systems at my local distributor and dream of the days when I could install something like that.
But now I just look at them and think, who would want that horrible looking keypad on their wall?
Here’s some advice Charlie. Start innovating. Stop trying to play catch up. You’re so far behind at this point, you need to scrap the whole thing and start over.
Here’s what you need to do.
Start distributing HD through your systems, but don’t use HDMI. Use HDBaseT and make it work well.
Fire the jamoke who has been designing your keypads, hire a 20 yr old wiz kid who has his pulse on what’s hot in the market.
We need streaming capabilities too. I’m not talking about Pandora and Netflix. I mean everything. Get Google on the horn, tell them you want to put GoogleTV in all of your systems. Give us the ability to get any app we want.
I don’t want to have to buy a $600 piece of equipment to control your system with my phone. So you’re just gonna have to eat the cost of the app. Build it in.
How about throw some lighting control in the mix? And I’m not talking about an add on. Build it in.
Now, have a group of people sitting in a dark room somewhere. All they do is comb the internet looking for the next big thing. For example, Spotify. When they find it. It needs to automatically update into all existing systems.
Bring that to market and you might be headed in the right direction. Until then, you’re just trying to sell your product in a big store. That’s not really a direction is it? That’s more of a Hail Mary.
Start innovating or get off the train.
Russound hasn’t been a good value for some time now. They do not make their own product (much like Sencore); it is made for them. This causes the price to be higher. Didn’t use to be a problem for them but now it clearly shows - their products are too expensive compared to everything else on the market.
I agree with everyone also that whoever is designing their systems, is an idiot. Horrible keypads, interface, features, etc….
The company itself has always been terrible: backstabbers, liars, etc… (OMG the lies they tell). I find it fitting to finally watch them go down the tubes.
Wowee. vnet=fail sphere=fail zibee remote=fail closing independent dist=fail collage=superduperfail…If one dwelled on past working for russound, one would vommit in corner then find new job. Add this move to the list. I wonder how their rep firms are taking this. Any reps care to speak up?