I first met the guys from Sydney, based venture-capital startup Avega Systems on a Qantas jet bound for the CES Exp in Las Vegas where they were exposing for the first time a Oyster series of wirelessly networked, amplified hi-fi speakers, including a wireless surround-sound speaker system that incorporates decoding, amplification and wireless transceivers within the speaker enclosures. All technology was developed in Australia.
The surround system is promoted as the first distributed wireless, networked and universal plug-and-play-enabled surround sound system in the world. It and the stereo speakers are targeted to the high end and are due in March 2006. A spokesman for the Company said that the models exposed at the CES will be slightly re designed before they are launched. Avega was formed in 2004 to focus on networked home entertainment devices. Three of the company's founders have headed design groups at prestigious high-end U.K. audio companies, Avega said. All have extensive experience in high-performance consumer electronics. The company can be reached at www.avegasystems.com.
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Oysters work like this: Music stored on a PC or media server stream wirelessly via built-in IEEE 802.11a/b/g to multiple Oyster speakers scattered throughout a house. Consumers lacking a PC or media server can connect a CD or DVD player via digital optical cable, or an MP3 player via a USB port, to distribute music wirelessly throughout the house. Avega's mission is to reduce cable and hardware clutter by making it unnecessary to stack outboard amplifiers, outboard surround processors or add-on Wi-Fi adapters. They're also intended to simplify stereo and surround-system setup by eliminating speaker-wire runs around a room. They're touted by product VP Peter Celinski as offering better quality than many high-end hi-fi speakers. Avega engineers overcame "significant engineering challenges inherent in distribution of audio via 802.11 and TCP/IP, including network bandwidth variability and synchronisation," he said.
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