OTHER TECH

Audio Design Associates might be unfamiliar to Sound & Vision readers, but this 30-year-old, New York-based company has a well-earned reputation as a top player in the custom market. In fact, it pioneered bidirectional control in 1989. And ADA's president, Albert Langella, is the first-ever recipient of CEDIA's Lifetime Achievement Award.

So my expectations were high when I heard that the company was launching SWAN, short for Structured Wiring Audio Network, a new distributed-audio system whose components install inside of structured wiring panels. Not only does this approach make for a slick install, but it also meets guidelines for inclusion in a Fannie Mae home mortgage, meaning that great audio can be had for pennies a day. But I wondered: Would this SWAN be beautiful, or just another ugly duckling?

Setup When half of a product's name is "Structured Wiring," it's easy to guess what the first part of the setup will be. All SWAN system wiring is homerun to the structured panel location, using standard 2-conductor speaker wiring pulled to each speaker and RG6 cabling pulled for an antenna. All other devices in the system - keypads, subwoofers, external amplifiers, and sources - connect via Cat5 cabling.

Key system components include the ZCI-8 Control and Input Module and the ZCA-4 four-zone integrated amp. Up to eight audio sources connect to the ZCI-8, while the ZCA-4 powers up to four keypads and four zones of speakers. The ZCA-4 also features four subwoofer outputs for adding low-end fill via a powered sub. Together, these create the eight-source, four-zone backbone of the SWAN system, which can be expanded to 48 zones by adding additional ZCA-4s. And these modules dock into each other; no interconnect cabling is required.

My review system also included two of ADA's latest source components. First is the SWAN Dual-Tuner Module (SDTM) that counts as two inputs on the system. The SDTM comes in a variety of configurations, from dual AM/FM/Weather ($1,416) to AM/FM/Weather plus one "premium" tuner ($1,616), which adds Sirius or XM satellite radio or HD Radio. I received the flagship Dual-Premium model ($1,816) configured to receive Sirius and HD Radio.

ADA also sent along its iBase and iBase eXtender kit for iPod integration. The iBase sits in a convenient docking location, while the eXtender mounts into the wiring panel. In addition to charging your iPod, the dock features composite- and S-video outputs for sending photos or videos to a monitor. Multi-Pod families will love that SWAN can support up to eight iBases.