Fallen Kell writes "From the anouncement, "Polk Audio LCi-IP Ultra High Performance In-Wall/ In-Ceiling Loudspeakers are the world's first active Internet Protocol-ready Loudspeakers. They were created for IP networked systems such as the ground-breaking NetStreams DigiLinx system but also provide vast convenience and performance benefits when used in analog systems. Integrated digital amplifiers eliminate remote amplifiers connected via hundreds of feet of lossy, performance-robbing speaker wires." I had the great pleasure of having a demo on September 16th, 2005 of these speakers. The ability of connect to a wired network for sending the audio stream is simply amazing and wonderful innovation in the audio world." TCP/IP Speakers Log in/Create an Account | Top | 199 comments | Search Discussion Display Options Threshold: -1: 199 comments 0: 193 comments 1: 152 comments 2: 100 comments 3: 31 comments 4: 19 comments 5: 12 comments Flat Nested No Comments Threaded Oldest First Newest First Highest Scores First Oldest First (Ignore Threads) Newest First (Ignore Threads) The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Audiophile pish (Score:5, Funny) by hedge_death_shootout (681628) <stalinNO@SPAMlinuxmail.org> on Sunday October 09, @10:28AM (#13750400) These speakers sound better when you use gold CAT5 cable. [ Reply to ThisSpeaker Hacking by wenck (Score:3)Sunday October 09, @10:31AM Re:Speaker Hacking (Score:5, Funny) by hedge_death_shootout (681628) <stalinNO@SPAMlinuxmail.org> on Sunday October 09, @10:33AM (#13750417) Hmm. Those bloody students downstairs playing their loud music at all hours... on YOUR stereo. [ Reply to This | Parent2 replies beneath your current threshold.Re:Speaker Hacking by seymansey (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @12:54PMRe:Speaker Hacking by jdeluise (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @03:25PM Re:Audiophile pish (Score:4, Funny) by kfg (145172) on Sunday October 09, @10:44AM (#13750462) Don't forget the little arrows on 'em to tell the bits which way to go.I'll also be offering my own propriatary technology which filters the datastream to make sure the 1s are all inline with the direction of travel. 1s going through crosswise is the leading cause of signal degradation.Rigourous highly subjective tests (remember, in Audio World objectivity is a Bad Thing) in my own lab allow me to say that I can say the improvement in all sorts of silly word parameters is astounding. Oh, and "Quantum Flux!"You can't leave out Quantum Flux Technology if you wish to be taken at all seriously. This High Tech Deep Juju(tm) after all.I'm working on a series of Internet Ready acoustic treatments for your listening room too, stay tuned to this channel. Oh sure, you thought Digital Ready should cover it. Silly boy. How would I be able to afford a villa in the Cayman Islands if that were the case?KFG [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Audiophile pish by ettlz (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:24AMRe:Audiophile pish by Jeff DeMaagd (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:25AMRe:Audiophile pish by BushCheney08 (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:28AMRe:Audiophile pish by Jeremy Erwin (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @02:59PM Re:Audiophile pish (Score:5, Funny) by Waffle Iron (339739) on Sunday October 09, @11:07AM (#13750561) The other thing to consider is that you'll need a relatively large tower case and a beefy PS in your system in order to accommodate the vacuum tube-based NICs. Those things are big and hot, and most use two or three PCI slots. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Audiophile pish by Davin811a (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:44AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.1 reply beneath your current threshold. Re:Audiophile pish (Score:4, Funny) by Junior J. Junior III (192702) on Sunday October 09, @12:08PM (#13750833) (http://jjjiii.livejournal.com/) I always wondered what a ping sounds like. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Audiophile pish by scotch (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @02:48PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Audiophile pish by Mr.Progressive (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @01:34PMRe:Audiophile pish by muggz1250 (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @02:09PM3 replies beneath your current threshold. Caveats (Score:5, Insightful) by dada21 (163177) * <{dada} {at} {dnginc.com}> on Sunday October 09, @10:28AM (#13750401) I couldn't load TFA from my PDA, so take with that knowledge:Remote digital speakers are a great solution for lowfi and mid i systems, but true audiophiles will not accept them.Integrated amplifiers greatly reduce customizing, additional ADCs and DACs reduce resolution, increase the noise floor and change the sound.Also, IP isn't my favored priority stream transport. I'd recommend a separate network for sound and I'd be weary of any delays incorporated in the IP transport. Think ping times! Also, encoding with the ADC does not include encapsulation into an IP packet, which can lead to worse lip-sync problems. Even 20ms delay makes me crazy (~1 frame). Of course, if its digital all-the-way, things can look brighter.But a start is a start. Here's to hoping it continues to improve. Polk has a decent hifi range and a great R&D team. If anyone can find a better solution, its them. [ Reply to ThisRe:Caveats by laptop006 (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @10:34AM Re:Caveats (Score:5, Insightful) by dada21 (163177) * <{dada} {at} {dnginc.com}> on Sunday October 09, @10:47AM (#13750476) My brother owns a recording studio, and mastering suites vary greatly in quality. Nowadays, mastering isn't about source transparency but about sounding good across every playback system. Mastering suites are optimized to give an accurate rendition but with walkman and car stereo and home audio output considered.I have had a few "audiophile" systems in my life, but the lack of quality source material mastered for neutrality made it a wasted venture. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Caveats by laptop006 (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:45AMRe:Caveats by kklein (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @02:18PMRe:Caveats by dada21 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @03:24PMRe:Caveats by Rosco P. Coltrane (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @10:36AMRe:Caveats by NormalVisual (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:49AMRe:Caveats by AuMatar (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @02:40PMRe:Caveats by dada21 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @03:20PMRe:Caveats by JesseL (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @02:51PM Re:Caveats (Score:4, Funny) by jcr (53032) <jcr@NoSpAm.idiom.com> on Sunday October 09, @10:45AM (#13750467) (Last Journal: Saturday September 03, @10:27PM) true audiophiles will not accept them.Do you mean true audiophiles, or the clowns who buy power cables for a grand?-jcr [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Caveats by Halfbaked Plan (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:33AMRe:Caveats by arose (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @02:35PMRe:Caveats by AK Marc (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @03:25PMRe:Caveats by legirons (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @03:25PM Re:Caveats-accessories. (Score:5, Funny) by ettlz (639203) on Sunday October 09, @11:16AM (#13750596) (Last Journal: Thursday July 28, @09:57AM) They also had integrated filters as well. A fact that for the sake of a cheap joke, gets left off.I better tell the experimentalists in the lab below using plain old kettle leads for their instruments that they're doing it all wrong, because some dude on Slashdot reckons there are people out there who can hear mains noise in the playback of their Jethro Tull LPs.You bought those cables, didn't you? [ Reply to This | Parent1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Caveats by sribe (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @10:46AMRe:Caveats by starman97 (Score:3)Sunday October 09, @11:13AM Nothing special (Score:5, Interesting) by commanderfoxtrot (115784) on Sunday October 09, @10:49AM (#13750490) (http://www.grcm.net/) I built a networked DAC a few years ago at university. Not too hard- the complex bit is making the timing and sync accurate, with the limitations of tiny chip controllers and rather unaccurate ethernet chip documentation!Due to TCP/IP delays e.g. switching, you need some sort of buffering, which ends up meaning expensive memory on small chips. Once you have buffering e.g. 0.2 seconds, you should be fine. I ended up using a couple of little Burr-Brown PCM54 DACs, but the system was designed to feed digital into a decent professional DAC.Disneyland Japan has had audio over ethernet for years as well; the setup there is huge, with hundreds of speakers over a large area. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Nothing special by cgenman (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @01:00PMRe:Nothing special by dougmc (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @01:23PMRe:Caveats by Anonymous Coward (Score:3)Sunday October 09, @10:49AMRe:Caveats by jupiter909 (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @10:50AMRe:Caveats by dada21 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @10:57AMRe:Caveats by Directrix1 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:45AMRe:Caveats by wik (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @10:59AMRe:Caveats by Reverberant (Score:3)Sunday October 09, @11:04AMMaGIC by Rescate (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:09AM Re:Caveats (Score:5, Insightful) by hackstraw (262471) * on Sunday October 09, @11:23AM (#13750626) (Last Journal: Saturday December 18, @05:33PM) Even 20ms delay makes me crazy (~1 frame).To put it another way. 20ms is about the same as moving a speaker about 20 feet. That should be pretty clear to anybody how significant that is. [ Reply to This | ParentBullhonkey by An Onerous Coward (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @12:58PMRe:Bullhonkey by Anonymous Coward (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @01:34PMRe:Bullhonkey by dada21 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @03:05PMRe:Bullhonkey by clifyt (Score:3)Sunday October 09, @03:16PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Bullhonkey by statusbar (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @01:39PMRe:Bullhonkey by danila (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @02:07PMRe:Bullhonkey by dada21 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @02:51PMRe:Bullhonkey by dada21 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @02:57PMRe:Caveats by rxmd (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @02:34PMRe:Caveats by dnoyeb (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:32AMBeen there, done that... by Anonymous Coward (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:37AMRe:Caveats by hyc (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:42AMRe:Caveats by Trinn (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @01:13PMRe:Caveats by jafac (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @02:04PMRe:Caveats by AwaxSlashdot (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @02:32PMRe:Caveats by ArbitraryConstant (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @02:37PMRe:Caveats by alienw (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @03:03PMRe:Caveats by Doppler00 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @02:39PMRe:Caveats by dada21 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @03:09PMRe:Caveats by Jeremy Erwin (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @03:11PM5 replies beneath your current threshold. Apple Airport Express (Score:4, Informative) by mysqlrocks (783488) on Sunday October 09, @10:31AM (#13750411) (http://www.gtalkprofile.com/profile/2.html | Last Journal: Thursday September 15, @09:54AM) Although not quite the same thing, I use an Apple Airport Express to stream music from my computer to my stereo system. It works pretty well and the sound quality is great. I'm not a hi-fi freak or anything, so I'm sure these speakers would be a lot better quality. However, for me the $120 for the Airport Express (which can also be used as a router, wireless access point, and USB print server) is a pretty good deal. [ Reply to ThisRe:Apple Airport Express by mysqlrocks (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @10:45AMRe:Apple Airport Express by warb (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @10:45AMRe:Apple Airport Express by mysqlrocks (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @10:58AMRe:Apple Airport Express by warb (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @12:22PMRe:Apple Airport Express by Anonymous Coward (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @10:50AMRe:Apple Airport Express by blah509 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:29AMRe:Apple Airport Express by Doc Ruby (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:39AM Woot! (Score:1) by TooMuchEspressoGuy (763203) on Sunday October 09, @10:33AM (#13750419) Now when the guy three doors down blasts bad hip-hop that can be heard throughout the entire floor, he can do it more clearly! [ Reply to ThisRe:Woot! by geekboy642 (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @02:44PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. what the??? (Score:2, Interesting) by maskedavenger (674027) on Sunday October 09, @10:36AM (#13750431) What's the difference between running a heavy guage wire and cat5 to the speaker? Did anyone catch that not only do you have to buy the NIC separate, but also the power adapter (which MSRP is $800). This seems a bit of a novelty. And now I'm sure we're going to get hacking jokes, so insert them now! [ Reply to ThisRe:what the??? by gr84b8 (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @10:49AMRe:what the??? by rcw-home (Score:3)Sunday October 09, @11:17AMRe:what the??? by HappyClown (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @10:50AMRe:what the??? by poopdeville (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:30AMRe:what the??? by Halfbaked Plan (Score:3)Sunday October 09, @11:43AMRe:what the??? by poopdeville (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @12:03PMRe:what the??? by dana340 (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:27AM DRM (Score:5, Insightful) by fiver (9307) on Sunday October 09, @10:38AM (#13750438) An interesting development and one that brings us closer to the time when even your speakers can check if you have a license for content.... [ Reply to ThisShould have a scary mod tag. by jeffbruce (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:33AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:DRM by Halfbaked Plan (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:39AMAnalog hole by bobbuck (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @01:26PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.1 reply beneath your current threshold. IP will give these no advantage at all. (Score:5, Interesting) by fishnuts (414425) <fishnuts@arpa.org> on Sunday October 09, @10:41AM (#13750448) (http://arpa.org/) They'll be heavier than non-powered speakers because they'll need to contain an integrated power supply, an amplifier, and a microcontroller to do the interfacing. It's completely useless to bring up the "lossy speaker cable" argument, because if you were going to spend the extra money and waste an extra power cable for powered speakers, you might as well just use standard analog speakers with XLR cables (which have been VERY well established as nearly noiseless and lossless for point to point audio distribution). You can reliably have a couple double-shielded XLR cables ran from your pre-amp to your self-powered speakers for less than having speakers that speak IP.having multiple IP speakers on a network in the same room may also introduce phase offsets, since there's ALWAYS an inherent delay between receiving the network packets, decoding them, and sending the data off to DACs before the signal gets to the amplifier. Even a 2ms difference difference in delay/phase between two speakers in the same room is noticeable, and WILL screw up accurate stereo imaging. 2ms is not uncommon as a delay on an ethernet network.Of course, mixing analog and IP speakers in the same room is right out.Want the best audio quality, distance, noise-resistance for your speakers? fiber optic digital audio paths. end of story. [ Reply to ThisRe:IP will give these no advantage at all. by Che*pB*st*rd (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @10:52AMRe:IP will give these no advantage at all. by jacks0n (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:47AMRe:IP will give these no advantage at all. by GoRK (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @12:51PMRe:IP will give these no advantage at all. by really? (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @03:06PMRe:IP will give these no advantage at all. by Anonymous Coward (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @10:53AMRe:IP will give these no advantage at all. by alienw (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @03:06PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:IP will give these no advantage at all. by carlislematthew (Score:3)Sunday October 09, @11:05AMRe:IP will give these no advantage at all. by fatboy (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:09AMRe:IP will give these no advantage at all. by Jeff DeMaagd (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:23AMRe:IP will give these no advantage at all. by hackstraw (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:15AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:IP will give these no advantage at all. by poopdeville (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:36AMRe:IP will give these no advantage at all. by Varun Soundararajan (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:37AMRe:IP will give these no advantage at all. by Viceice (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @12:47PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Wired Home by cgenman (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @01:19PMRe:Wired Home by Martix (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @03:15PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Live Streaming (Score:1) by AtomicSnarl (549626) on Sunday October 09, @10:41AM (#13750449) So, what does this mean when I try to listen to the live stream from the next Zimbabwean Music Festival [zimfest.org]?Are the TCP/IP speakers on my 5-channel stereo surround system all going to have different pings? Bleah! [ Reply to ThisRe:Live Streaming by ichigo 2.0 (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @12:07PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Latency? (Score:4, Interesting) by jcr (53032) <jcr@NoSpAm.idiom.com> on Sunday October 09, @10:42AM (#13750455) (Last Journal: Saturday September 03, @10:27PM) Umm.... shouldn't audio be down at the Ethernet level?-jcr [ Reply to This Re:Latency? (Score:4, Interesting) by theonetruekeebler (60888) on Sunday October 09, @11:34AM (#13750681) (http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Monday September 12, @09:15AM) Ethernet-level would have better latency than an IP stack, sure, but ties to back a platform-dependent transmission medium---you may as well use a speaker wire. And you have to write your own underlying network layer. If each speaker is running the same stack, it's going to have pretty much the same latency anyway---the worst problems arise combining digital and analog speakers.The advantage of TCP/UDP/Music-Transport-Protocol is that the medium suddenly becomes less relevant. Take wireless, for example. Imagine being able to cart your Big Speakers outside for a patio party without running a single audio wire. Or just to install speakers on the other side of your house (or in your shed) without having to grovel through the attic or crawlspace.Imagine how useful this could be for concerts: the sound board now has one wire running to it---the power line. Likewise with your front, middle and back stacks, and your monitors.Another plus is that we have a nice bidirectional protocol, as well as a chance for side-channel data: speakers can report their health back to the control panel, or to other speakers in the same stack. And since each speaker is doing its own DSP anyway, getting the equalization right for a given speaker is a matter of sending it a message.You know what? Forget the speaker---sell compact, portable, one-speaker wireless-enabled amplifiers and let people convert their existing speakers into packet-switched audio devices. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Latency? by user32.ExitWindowsEx (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @12:07PMRe:Latency? by Viceice (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @12:59PMRe:Latency? by The Salamander (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @02:39PMRe:Latency? by grumling (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @01:03PM WiFi (Score:3, Insightful) by HappyClown (668699) on Sunday October 09, @10:43AM (#13750458) Shame they didn't go one step further and make them wireless. It would be quite nice to move speakers between rooms on occasion without having to fight with the speaker cable (or coax in this case). [ Reply to ThisRe:WiFi by SilverspurG (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @10:49AMRe:WiFi by HappyClown (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @10:53AMRe:WiFi by SilverspurG (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:03AMRe:WiFi by RobertLTux (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @12:48PM Re:WiFi (Score:4, Funny) by JediTrainer (314273) on Sunday October 09, @11:05AM (#13750555) Shame they didn't go one step further and make them wireless. I heard of this great new technology, something about Frequency Modulation or whatever. Apparently some genius figured out how to transmit sound *wirelessly* (no shit!) for miles, even without line of sight! I'm sure we'll read about that in Slashdot sooner or later. If you don't catch the first article, you'll be sure to see the dupe. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:WiFi by carlislematthew (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:09AMRe:WiFi by eht (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @11:20AMRe:WiFi by carlislematthew (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:26AMRe:WiFi by mh101 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @12:29PMRe:WiFi by mh101 (Score:2)Sunday October 09, @12:31PM End point Digital (Score:3, Insightful) by nurb432 (527695) on Sunday October 09, @10:45AM (#13750473) (http://slashdot.org/~nurb432/ | Last Journal: Friday August 27, @04:24PM) The dream of the RIAA/MPAA.. So they can restrict what you can hear. [ Reply to ThisRe:End point Digital by Srdjant (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:19AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.1 reply beneath your current threshold. I dont really understand (Score:1) by sebol (112743) on Sunday October 09, @10:46AM (#13750474) (http://ikhlas.com/) After reading at polk audio website, I stil dont understand how it work.It seem require input from ethernet or rca.how about input?if i have CD Player, how do i convert the output of CD player to IP packets? [ Reply to ThisRe:I dont really understand by Comen (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @12:54PM what about h4x0rz? (Score:5, Funny) by catdevnull (531283) on Sunday October 09, @10:51AM (#13750499) (Last Journal: Wednesday May 25, @12:11PM) ....when you're 0wn3d: all your bass are belong to us! [ Reply to This3 replies beneath your current threshold. Poor college student's version: (Score:1) by noidentity (188756) on Sunday October 09, @10:51AM (#13750504) Connect the speakers directly to ethernet. On the upside, you can hear problems with the network. On the downside, all you hear is buzzing. [ Reply to ThisRe:Poor college student's version: by The Lerneaen Hydra (Score:1)Sunday October 09, @11:02AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Tried to set one up the other day... (Score:2) by Qzukk (229616) on Sunday October 09, @10:53AM (#13750513) but the only IP address it would let me use was the broadcast address!Thank you, thank you, and be sure to try the veal. [ Reply to This We already have digital, don't we? (Score:1)