Pioneer launches multi-room audio system that plays music through the power lines

21 September 2006 15:02 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Some days all the news seems to be on one topic, and today’s theme is definitely audio. Pioneer has introduced a rather unique sound system that transmits music through your household power lines instead of conventional speaker wires or a WLAN.

Although this is not a new concept, Pioneer have upped the ante by adding useful features like a motion detector on the small speaker to activate it when someone walks into a room.

The MT-01 Power Line Sound System provides support for up to six speakers, although it comes with one big 2 x 25W Network Speaker, and one small 5W Network Speaker. The Sound Station is the hub, and contains five input sockets: two USB A and B terminals, one front audio input and two analogue inputs.

The system is sophisticated enough to support multi-room playback from two different sources, so you can stream music from your iPod into one room, and music from, say, your existing hifi CD player into another.

The bundle also includes a tiny remote control that can control playback through connection with one of the large Network Speakers.