Benefits of MRA

Guys,
Im currently renovating my house.
I originally had some apple airport express units to stream music to different areas in the house.
Everything works pretty well, great sound with the convenience of iTunes at my finger tips.
What are the cons and pros of the MRA.
Is it overkill for my requirements?

 

Bit sad no one has posted on this already..

In my opinion the cbus mra offer is really quite good but overpriced for its feature set.. The main pro is the ability to control the systems functions from any cbus switch or touchscreen easily... Unlike 3rd party audio gear which you would need to integrate some how into cbus control..

From an audio quality perspective the system is good and more than suffice for most people..

Being a scalable system is quite beneficial as you can do a single zone system with 1 input upto a 24 zones system with 6 or so input sources..

I have recently even had a couple who went with cbus audio, but not lighting control, for the ability to have eDLTs in saturn finish on the walls for control.. Then they used 240v saturn switches n gpos through out the house... Came out looking **** hot...

Hopefully that helps you out..

 

IMHO, the Clipsal MRA system is a real gem in the rough.

If you/your client wants a clean, very modern looking (wall control) and well engineered MRA solution for a home with C-Bus, not much else can compete with Clipsal MRA using eDLTs for room audio controllers.

Clipsal MRA has one (or many if you want) point of control per room/zone, with that most likely being the smart looking (in fact - an Australian design award winner) new Clipsal eDLT switch. The same switch that will probably also control the blinds, the lighting, the air conditioning, the shutters, the pool etc in that room. The advantage being that every house user, not just the iPhone/iDevice/Android owner can easily use the audio system like its a true 'service' of the home. Kids can turn the radio on in their rooms or set it to stream from their favourite iDevice with appropriate Airplay/BlueTooth/Roku etc media player as front ends to the system. No remote controls or iPhones actually required.

If comparing with a competitive product such as Sonos, the only Clipsal cons in my opinion are that the GUI is not quite as flash as the Sonos, (but the new Wiser 2 GUI - shown at Integrate2013 is) and that it is only hard wired, so somewhat more difficult though retrofit situations.

Fairly obviously, the Sonos or other MRAs like Nuvo, Russound etc don't integrate near as neatly/easily with your C-Bus systems as Clipsal MRA, which was designed to be part of the system. The others usually require an iPhone/Android, or separate specific wall mount controller, handheld remote or third party software etc to control them, and usually end up being installed in an 'old world' configuration with long run, lossy, analogue speakers cables back to amps in a central hub area. Most usually require power sockets in the room or ceiling space if they can support remote amps and these amps have often not really been designed to go into ceiling spaces (from from a temp/control/finish perspective) being more in-room devices.

Clipsal MRA amps are designed to either mimic the same old world 'central build' strategy if you want with neat rack mounting hardware, or conversely the amps can be moved into the ceiling space of the individual rooms/zones with the amps being properly temperature rated for that sometimes high temp environment under a roof, only requiring a C-Bus cable and the digital audio Cat5 cable to work (that being the stereo 10w remote amps, the 25w amp uses either a normal or high temp. rated local power supply). Your sound quality is improved over the central build system as the signal remains digital till it's right near the speakers without the frequency dis-colouration and power loss you get from a long line speaker run.

Because it integrates so seamlessly with the other C-Bus products, you can do things like incorporating audio into your home scenes easily, so 'welcome home' can easily start a favourite music choice when you walk in the door, you can hit a wall button for instant background music selection, wake up to your favourite music or radio station, or it can even double as the doorbell, emergency broadcast system (fire, burglar etc) or call to dinner gong.

But in my mind, the main point is the significant neatness of the one single control point on your wall, also being the 'light switch' in every room of your house, so the system 'users' can easily be anyone, not just the person with the phone in their pocket or the MRA remote control. Music as an inbuilt service, just like lighting.

Instant music availability on a light switch with simple non-advanced third party integration, or control it with your iPhone via Wiser or using your colour touch screen or Homegate panel PC. Try to do that with the competitive products and it will likely cost you far more in integrator labour and be a less feature rich solution.

In short a reliable, robust and building integrated audio service that doesn't rely on the sometimes flaky/congested WiFi bands for its comms. Considering many new buildings these days are constructed wholely in blockwork or concrete, or have concrete slabs between floors, the Clipsal MRA's building integrated fully cabled solution is a far more reliable option IMHO.

The single control for all your building room functions being the new eDLT, makes this the cleanest, most minimalist but good looking single point of control available. So Sonos may possibly be classed as an easier retrofit solution, but in my personal opinion Clipsal MRA is a better home builders product choice, being more neatly integrated as a home service.

Good Luck in your choice.

Brad


(All this is IMHO of course - please seek your own alternate advice). a few snaps below.

 

Anyone doing/thinking about this with a 3rd part audio/video matrix? With relevant sources attached.

Pretty tidy interface for most common selections of volume/source/channel. Maybe zone selection too if you have multiple in a large room.

Not too fussed about controlling fader/bass/treble from a wall switch.

 

Thanks for the inputs guys. Just what I needed