I sit in my kitchen, brush my finger against a touchscreen mounted in the wall, and the DVD I just rented appears on my flat-panel TV. After 20 minutes, I realize it’s a stinker, but one more tap on the touchscreen salvages my evening with the local TV news. When the news is over I head for my lounge, where I encounter a tiny keypad next to the light switch. I flick the CD button on the keypad and the room comes alive with jazz classics. One cigar later, I head for bed, where I push a button on a handheld remote control to bring up a late-night radio talk show.

All this entertainment, yet no electronic component except for the TV is visible. And now my doorbell plays  Led Zeppelin’s “The Immigrant Song” through every speaker in the house.

The more I use Niles Audio’s ZR-8630AV multiroom audiovisual system, the more it seems like a magician’s bag of tricks. The ZR-8630AV produces surprise after surprise—video and audio for up to six rooms, all controlled from simple keypads or powerful touchscreens. It can flip through channels on your satellite receiver, skip ahead a few minutes on your TiVo, or retrieve MP3s from your music server. It can trigger lights or motorized screens. And it occupies not an entire equipment rack, but merely a 7-inch-high box. Want sound and video in more rooms? Just add one or two more ZR-8630AVs. (Click image to enlarge)

Here’s how the system works: Anything you want to listen to or watch—your CD player, DVD player, satellite TV receiver, etc.—plugs into the ZR-8630AV. (No need to connect an AM/FM tuner, since two are built in.) In each room where you want entertainment, you have two speakers and a TV.
To control the system, each room is equipped with a touchscreen or as many as three keypads, all discreetly flush-mounted into a wall. You can also control the system via a handheld remote; if you choose, you can dispense with the touchscreens and keypads and use just the handheld. Each room gets exactly the level of control you want—perhaps a touchscreen for your bedroom, two or three different keypads for your tech-savvy son, and a single, simplified keypad for your guest bedroom.

Truth be told, these capabilities have been available for years with a variety of multiroom entertainment systems. What distinguishes the Niles system is its single-box design (most of its competitors require at least two boxes) and the fact that you have so many ways to control it.

You will quickly forget that the ZR-8630AV exists; it humbly carries out its tasks in the obscurity of an equipment cabinet. Since the parts of the system you interact with are the touchscreens, keypads and remotes, let us look closer at these.

The Select keypad (far right in the photo) offers enough control to get the system running. The Transport (left) and Numeric (center) keypads give you more control over the source devices connected to the system. (Click image to enlarge)

The TS-1 touchscreen is a black-and-white LCD screen measuring nearly 4 inches diagonally.  Touch its face and it lights up, displaying a variety of on-screen buttons. On the right side of the screen, four buttons let you access your entertainment options. I arrange mine to display AM, FM, DVD and CD.  Touch the “More” button at the bottom of the screen, and additional options pop up—perhaps your satellite receiver, VCR, satellite radio or MP3 music server.  Touch the DVD button, and the DVD player starts immediately. Sound from the player emerges from your speakers, the picture appears on your TV, and the touchscreen fills with control buttons for the DVD player so you can skip ahead to your favorite part of a DVD or access the DVD’s on-screen menus through your TV screen.
The control screens are not customizable as they are with a high-end Crestron or AMX touchscreen system, but Niles’ interface is simple and capable enough to perform practically any function you need.

The touchscreen may prove intimidating at first. But if your family members can summon the courage to touch the screen, they will  quickly learn to love it. Tap the CD button and you hear a CD—what could be simpler than that?

Actually, Niles’ Select keypad is simpler. It presents eight buttons, which your installer can customize for you.  Typically, these buttons work just like the source buttons on the TS-1 touchscreen; for example, tap the “Sat” button and you get satellite TV.  Your installer can also set up these buttons to perform other tasks, such as dimming the lights or viewing images from a security camera. More buttons allow you to adjust volume, mute the audio and turn the system off.  This is as simple as home entertainment gets. If your guests cannot handle the Select keypad, suggest a good book instead.

If you want more control, your installer can augment a Select with the Transport and Numeric keypads, which let you perform additional tasks: skipping tracks on a CD, selecting a different radio station or changing channels on the satellite receiver, for example. Niles also offers the Solo keypad, which lets you select from only four sources instead of eight, but gives you a few controls to let you change channels, tracks, etc.

Of course, you do not want to rise from your chair just to change channels on the TV, so Niles supplies a generic remote control that performs all the functions of the keypads. Any programmable remote should also work with the ZR-8630AV.
I exaggerate slightly when I call this a one-box system. While the ZR-8630AV does, indeed, perform all the amazing feats described above, one of its most impressive tricks requires an accessory: the DBI-1 doorbell interface. This ingenious box turns the entire system into the most dazzling high-tech doorbell you have ever heard.

Whether the system is turned on or off, a touch of your doorbell plays your choice of four chimes—or a custom chime—through the speakers in any or all rooms.  The custom chime can be any sound—up to 12 seconds of audio recorded by the DBI-1 from a CD player or any other audio source. It might be your own voice. It might be a Chinese gong. It might be Maria Callas. Or if your tastes parallel mine, it might be the opening riff of “The Immigrant Song.”  This is one feature of the Niles system you should learn to program yourself. I try at least a dozen tunes before I settle (for this week) on Led Zeppelin. And I cannot wait to record custom chimes to suit my visitors—a snippet of John Coltrane for my jazz-loving friends, or perhaps a couple of lines from “There’s No Business Like Show Business” for my upcoming Oscars party.

The ZR-8630AV embodies so much of what we all seek in audiovisual electronics—convenience, flexibility and having our home entertainment wherever and however we want it. It genuinely makes your life happier.  And isn’t that why we have home entertainment in the first place?

DESCRIPTION
Multiroom audiovisual system. Provides audio and video for up to six zones/rooms, from as many as six source devices (DVD player, satellite TV receiver, etc.), plus dual AM/FM tuners with 20 programmable station presets each

AMPLIFIER POWER
Stereo amplification for six zones/rooms, 30 watts per channel into 8 ohms

CONNECTIONS
Audio: Stereo analog line-level audio inputs for six source devices, mono line-level input for paging/doorbell interface, stereo analog audio line-level outputs for six zones, stereo speaker outputs for six zones (using Niles no-strip connectors), two F-connector antenna inputs for FM tuners, two spring-clip antenna inputs for AM tuners

Video: Composite video inputs for six source devices, composite video outputs for six zones

Control: Eight RJ-45 connectors for keypads/touchscreens, two RJ-45 connectors for system expansion, seven 1¼8-inch jacks for sync input, seven 1¼8-inch jacks for IR (source device control) output, four 1¼8-inch jacks for 12-volt trigger output, one 1¼8-inch jack for IR input

DIMENSIONS
ZR-8630AV: 7.1 x 17 x 16 inches (hwd)
TS-1: 4.5 x 5.2 inches (hw)
Keypads: 2.6 x 1.3 inches (hw, fits Decora faceplate)

PRICE/CONTACT
PRICE: ZR-8630AV, $2,995 (includes remote control); TS-1, $550; Select keypad, $130; Solo keypad, $130; Numeric keypad, $70; Transport keypad, $130; DBI-1, $299

CONTACT: 800.BUY.HIFI; www.nilesaudio.com