It all started a long time ago when customers said “I’m very pleased with the hi-fi system I bought from you but can I add some speakers so I can listen to it in the kitchen as well? And could I control the volume in the kitchen independently from the main system? And, by the way, could you hide the wires?" The answer, of course, was yes we can do that.

And then the systems expanded: “I’m delighted with the speakers and volume control you installed for me but now I would like them in the dining room, master bedroom, family room and what about the patio? And, would it be possible to select different source components and control them from each room as well?” The answer was yes again. But this took a little more thought, planning, organisation and a few specialist components and skills. It developed into what we now know as Multi-Room Audio.

The early switching boxes have given way to touch pads in each room, usually built into the wall like a light switch. They give you control over volume and source selection while the more sophisticated provide feed back such as radio station name, CD title, artist and track information. They provide the convenience of selecting what you want to listen to from wherever you are in the house and they avoid clashes of interest: you can listen to your new CD in the lounge while your partner listens to a favourite track in the kitchen.

There are many storage and distribution systems available that enable you to store and quickly access the contents of hundreds of CDs on a hard disk. They’ll pipe different music to different rooms simultaneously and will catalogue your music collection by accessing music databases on the internet. This means that you can choose music to play automatically according to your chosen criteria or mood: just ask for, say, ‘Classical’ or ‘Sinatra’ and the system does the rest. These systems can also access internet radio giving you the opportunity to listen not only to your usual programmes but also to stations around the world.