We’ve all been there: your PC, iPod or home entertainment system is in one room of the house, but you’re entertaining or working in another. Suddenly you’re left playing air guitar or humming some crazy tune like the Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood theme song. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a turnkey system by which to play music in any room in the house? IOGEAR at CES is showing off one such tool.
The Powerline Audio System comes with an audio docking station and an adapter for musical devices such as an iPod or MP3 player and multimedia devices like a Slingbox or DVR. The docking station can connect to three different sources simultaneously, which users can then access from any room in the house by connecting an amplified speaker to the adapter. You see, these adapters can be plugged into any electrical outlet in any room and still pick up the audio or video signal.
This functionality is available because the Powerline Audio System transmits the signal through the electrical wiring inside the home, thus moving the signal from the devices to the adapter and speaker via the electrical outlets. This means you can network audio and video to multiple rooms without ever needing extra wires to create the network.
IOGEAR’s Powerline Audio System is backward compliant with HomePlug Powerline Specifications 1.0, and its transmission range is up to 990 feet (300 meters) through powerlines.
The docking station comes with an iPod connection, a 3.5mm input jack and a set of RCA Left and Right channel inputs. Users can also use a remote control to play/pause/forward/backward their iPod on the docking station from other locations in the house.