Niles IntelliControl whole-house audio system

Niles Audio has taken out the prestigeous Electronic House Magazine’s 2006 Product of the Year Award for its IntelliControl ICS whole-house distributed audio system. IntelliControl accommodates all audio sources including Sirius and XM satellite radio, MP3 players, CD players, media servers and AM/FM radio, delivering detailed information to and from its keypads, touchscreens and wireless remote controls. The system allows simultaneous listening and control of a variety of music or programs to different rooms or zones throughout a house. It comes with a choice of four system control devices, including a unique wireless remote control dubbed the iRemote, which supplies all of the “metadata” (song title, artist, album, etc.) to users’ fingertips, allowing them to scan, select and play content from their ICS system just as if they were standing in front of a CD rack, satellite receiver or holding an iPod in their hands.

“This is a remarkable honor for Niles,” said Frank Sterns, president of Niles. “Receiving this prestigious award confirms that we achieved our goal of creating a superior product that enables designers/installers to integrate all the popular sources into their whole-house audio distribution systems with unparalleled ease, while giving consumers complete ‘freedom of choice’ so they can enjoy a variety of music programming simultaneously from anywhere in their homes.”

At the heart of the system is the GXR2 Modular Multizone Receiver, the first receiver to use interchangeable source card modules. IntelliControl ICS features "plug and play" configuration, allowing simultaneous listening and control of a variety of music or programs to different rooms or zones throughout the house. The receiver accommodates any combination of up to six modules, and with additional GXR2s, the system is expandable to up to 30 zones, each with fully independent choice of source and control.

IntelliControl ICS comes with a choice of four system control devices, including a unique wireless remote control dubbed the iRemote, which supplies all of the “metadata” (song title, artist, album, etc.) to users’ fingertips, allowing them to scan, select and play content from their ICS system just as if they were standing in front of a CD rack, satellite receiver or holding an iPod in their hands.

Other ICS system controllers include a color touchscreen display and wall-mountable keypads, available with or without LCD displays. All control devices provide real-time user feedback in the form of metadata menus for intuitive source navigation and operation. Quick and easy access to an entire library is now beautifully simple.

Winning products were selected by Electronic House editors based on reviews released throughout the year, product demos, installer feedback, innovative features and overall value.