[Articles] HAI releasing Hi-Fi 2 Multi-Room Audio

[CT Droid]

HAI quietly announced that their Hi-Fi 2 whole house audio system can now be pre-ordered, and will start shipping in October.  It will retail for $2,518.  The Hi-Fi 2 system is a major upgrade from their original Hi-Fi product, offering top of the line features in a very compact layout.  Some of the major changes are:

• The primary unit now supports up to 8 zones instead of 4 and 8 sources instead of 6, while the expansion module adds another 8 zones (used to be 4) with ease.
• It no longer requires external power supplies.
• Output has been changed from 40W RMS per zone @ 4 Ohms to 50W RMS per one @ 8 Ohms, allowing for longer speaker wire runs.
• The VSC interface (Volume Source Control, part # 95A03-1) has been replaced with unit which sports a nice OLED screen, the knob has been replaced with 4 buttons. It's a very modern look.
• There are now 2 local inputs on the main board.

While you can reuse the same wiring you ran for the original Hi-Fi system (it's Cat5 for the controls anyways, while regular speaker wiring for the speakers), components such as the RIM (Remote Input Module, part # 95A04-1) and VSC, are not interchangeable.

Support for other languages will be added once the system is available.

The system can be controlled by any HAI touchscreen, and since it has a serial/ethernet port, HAI might open up the protocol for this unit so other home automation software packages/controllers can interface with this device.  See below for some renderings of the hardware.

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