NICT's ethernet speakers
by Gareth Edwards 
posted Jul 1st 2005 at 1:15PM
For reasons best known to themselves, the Japanese government's National Institute of Communications Technology has seen fit to invent some speakers that you can plug into a network via an Ethernet cable, from which they also suck up power. Apparently it's possible to beam sound to them wirelessly, though the ITmedia report doesn't go into any more detail. They come with Windows drivers and some audio routing software, but we're just gonna assume this is a little more of a "we did it because we could" kind of thing.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
FrankH @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
Why do you guys think this is not a good idea? This means no more speaker wires and speakers in every room - at least in new houses that have ethernet builtin from scratch...
Adam @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
its actually a fantastic thing - 100% digital audio all the way to the speaker means no loss due to distance - check out A-BUS and Colorado vNet...
for a networked home it means countless options for speaker placement.
Adam @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
its actually a fantastic thing - 100% digital audio all the way to the speaker means no loss due to distance - check out A-BUS and Colorado vNet...
for a networked home it means countless options for speaker placement.
sr @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
Dumb idea, they could have used power lines for the same thing. All they are getting from the ethernet connection is just power, and not enough to get any decent sound out of it. The audio signal can be sent wirelessly or via the ethernet cable. A power line could have been used for both power and data or just power with wireless data.
Eban @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
How can you not see the use in Wireless networked speakers???!!! With a large amount of homes now having wireless networks, it makes sense to have speakers that fit right in to what people allready have. And if I could get rid of all my speaker cables running around I would gladly open my wallet.
Eban @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
How can you not see the use in Wireless networked speakers???!!! With a large amount of homes now having wireless networks, it makes sense to have speakers that fit right in to what people allready have. And if I could get rid of all my speaker cables running around I would gladly open my wallet.
Adam @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
wireless is always going to be problematic - QoS, reliability, security. as is going over the power lines. many power over ethernet audio solutions can attain 30-35 watts per channel. the signal is amped at the speaker, and the only potential letdown is the quality of the speaker itself (audiophyle class systems aside)
Seth A @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
Actually a lot of high end speaker installations now use ethernet to get speaker signals from sound consoles to the speakers instead of running speaker wires. The info is stransported to the amps via ethernet then distributed from there to the speakers in the array. This is not very different from what could be done in home sound. All controlled from one place but having the equiptment all right next to the speaker or built in and just having one wire. Still looks like it's only practical in multiple room setups though.
robert @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
I think this is great. We have been looking for a way to spread speakers across our retail store to play music from our PC and this just may be the ticket!. Can't Wait!
Seth A @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
#6 I agree. In addition to accidentally picking up crosstalk which would not be fun.
Question Answerer @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
#4 is correct, since the ethernet is only used for power in this scenario this is dumb. If you are using ethernet anyway what's the point in sending the audio wirelessly, use the ethernet for the audio, duh.
Talbot @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
This concept follows the same basis as a wireless sound bridge... Except going the other way... The system has potential, depending on A:The quality of the speaker... and B: the security options (as not to have hackers getting into your sound system and start talking to you..) this might turn into a way for people to have audio all over their house, without the trouble of drilling holes, and running wire. Hopefully it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to install.
Hitesh Sawlani @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
Its actually very useful, right now in my bedroom I have a laptop and a desktop, both are on the same network, one on ethernet and the other wifi. I use an airport express to stream music through either computer to my "good" speakers, but the limitations of the airport express are that it can only be used to stream music, if i could use these shared speakers for any application such as movies it would make it even more useful which these ethernet speakers seem to be able to do! What would be even more useful would be to include some kind of device that would convert the ethernet to speaker so that the user can use their own set of speakers since i doubt the quality of these will be that great.
Nicholas Paredes @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
why, oh why, can't somebody make a decent set of powered speakers with wireless capabilities? being able to connect straight from itunes to speakers would be great! they simply need power and speaker wire between them...
Seth A @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
Nicholas, I don't think there is a high enough demand for that yet. If there was WiFi built into regular stereo receivers I'm sure you'd see them in a second. Making good audiophile wireless powered speakers is not the thing most PC users are looking for. Not even in studios do they want them because the wireless can cause sound degredation. Speakers companies do not tender to the PC market, just one of those things.
Pertheusual @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
I think they are very cool and a great idea, but I definitely agree with a few of you. Since ethernet can can be sent over power lines, why not just make speakers that plug into the wall and get power and signal from that? All in all, I think that makes more sense.
anonymous @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
no use
CoRDS @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
i think you guys misread part of this thing, it runs off the ethernet which is ALSO where it gets its power, they are Not wireless speakers, but they also do a wireless model (that would use batteries and not the eth for power)
ehternet for power and transport is really handy, maybe not for most homes, but imagine how easy stores and do music systems for instore music, and stuff. i for one would love to have a few of these in every room in my house
Don @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
Stylish junk.
TK @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
Sonos system may be what some of you may be looking for. I'm saving up to equip my place with that.
Nathan @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
Do you people have no idea what http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/ is used for?
mike @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
This is a great idea with only some small tweaks to make it perfect. I'll save the tweaks for my product when I roll with it soon. In the meantime, has anyone looked at sonos.com. It's just about the same thing with added software and wireless controller. I think they did it right (except for the price tag).
Bill @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
It looks like the Japanese came second!
There is an Ethernet Speaker project at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA that has been producing devices based on open-source systems and have been distributing their code as open-source.
http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~vp/EthernetSpeaker/
The important things to consider with networked speakers are:
a) sync: if all the speakers are playing from the same source, do we hear the same audio? or does each speaker play slightly off?
b) control: how do I turn off the speaker in the bathroom from my bedroom. Do you really want to have to go around the house adjusting these things?
Petro @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
NetStreams has solved the synchronization & Control issues with audio over TCP/IP. Check out their DigiLinX products. (www.netstreams.com)
Petro @ Dec 19th 2005 2:23AM
Synchronization and control issues? Netstreams has already solved those. check out www.netstreams.com and look at their digilinx product line.