Yamaha MusicCast + EXPAND Series

Yamaha MusicCast & Multi-Room Audio Distribution

Freedom of choice is a wonderful thing and so gone are the days where content is limited. We enjoy different genres, we all want the freedom to take our music with us and consume when it suits us? Wireless access to content via our smart phones and tablets make possible simple playback solutions within our home and work spaces. Audio distribution and streaming have become common place in today’s technology arena and with so many options on the market, how do you choose the right option for you? Enter the world of Yamaha’s Multi-Room, Multi-Content Audio Distribution. Open the MusicCast app, select your speaker, choose your source and play your music. It’s that easy with Yamaha MusicCast.

In this article I focused on product integration and ease of use for three applications; Home, Office and small retail shopfronts. I also listed a bunch of commercial audio examples the new MusicCast EXPAND series compliments. Each application has different problems and parameters to consider. When considering an audio solution, in particular a wireless solution, ease of use and troubleshooting are imperative. Yamaha’s MusicCast accommodates and conforms to these applications in an open and intuitive way.

Home

Think of your residence and the many different musical tastes within the household. We love our distinctiveness and enjoy personal control of our content. MusicCast embodies these wants and needs by promoting multi-content multi-room distribution. With a single app everyone in a household can push their content or grab an online stream and play it back on their MusicCast compatible hardware. MusicCast does not bind you to spending a fortune on a complete system. You can add as you go and as you need. Start with a Sound Bar or Home Theatre receiver in the lounge room and then add more devices around the house. Place a speaker in the bedroom, kitchen and study or outdoors on the deck. The possibilities are endless. You can build a modular system with ease and there’s no limit on how many devices and speakers within the system.

Office

MusicCast allows an office the freedom to place any wireless speaker within their work spaces. You can one to one Bluetooth from phone to speaker then distribute that content via the WiFi network. Set up is easy with Bluetooth whether you’re sending content into a speaker or grabbing it out of a speaker to send elsewhere. But the easiest and best use is to utilize a WiFi connection.  Just connect the units to WiFi, take a picture of their corresponding space and label them up all within the app. Create party mode or separate each speaker to each space. As workspaces evolve and with the emergence of open architecture design and aesthetics and the fact that desks are becoming obsolete; Yamaha enables you to keep up with the changes.

Retail

Shopfronts and small retail applications are where MusiccCast really shines. With the emergence of MusicCast EXPAND you can now take all the features of wireless streaming and incorporate that into commercial applications. Use your smart device and APP to connect to the network and push content to the EXPAND range. The EXPAND range enables cost effective digital to analogue conversion and vise versa. Now you stream content through an existing audio rack with the addition of one product. MusicCast EXPAND enables you access to Pandora, Spotify and internet radio into any s new or pre-existing setup.

Start your design with Yamaha MusicCast. Stay within MusicCast speakers or branch out into other brands and existing commercial applications. The possibilities are endless. Utilise the app and create simple and/or complex audio signal chains on a budget. See below some examples.

 

Examples

Home – Family of many musical tastes want multi room content distribution and streaming access.

Solution –

1. MusicCast App on the all residence’s smart devices talks to all MusicCast Products via the home’s Wi-Fi
2. App enables access to Spotify, Pandora, Internet Radio, Local Storage and NAS storage to be freely allocated to speakers around the house.
3. Create groups of speakers for the one source or give every speaker a separate source.

 

Office – Employers/Employees require access to musical content.

Solution –

1. Similar to a home, create groups of rooms with the MusicCast App and/or individualize an office space.
2. Use a WXA-50 amplifier to power in-ceiling speakers or Bluetooth direct to a small Yamaha MusicCast Speaker.

 

Commercial Audio Applications

Retail – Small Shopfront wants a simple Bluetooth single speaker.

Solution –

1. Start with MusicCast APP and a single speaker to directly Bluetooth content and/or connect the Speaker to the Store Wi-Fi.
2. Once you add 1x MusicCast speaker you can add as many as necessary in future.

Retail – Large Shopfront requires multi zone commercial audio solution with wireless connectivity.

Solution –

1. MusicCast App sends content to a WXC-50 pre amp via Wi-Fi.
2. WXC-50 preamp converts content from digital to analogue.
3. Now the content is analogue you can send it to a commercial matrix such as the Yamaha MTX3 DSP or the MA2120 / PA2120 range.
4. Add as many WXC-50 in the rack for multiple source matrixes.
5. Use the MusicCast app to change content and volume throughout the premises.

Dance studio – Dance instructor wants to control music with their phone wirelessly.

Solution-

1. Dance Instructor’s MusicCast App on phone talks to the WXC-50 via Wi-Fi.
2. Similar to the large shopfront solution, the WXC-50 pre-outs via RCA to an existing PA system.

 

Pub/Tavern – Large Pub/Tavern requires internet radio into their existing matrix system.

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Solution –

1. Similar to the Large Shopfront, grab internet streams and push them through an existing PA/Audio System.

Limited by your imagination

Yamaha MusicCast and EXPAND gave us the tools to design audio systems with complete openness. To have the freedom to distribute the content we want when we want it, is a game changer. The possibilities are endless and you are only limited by your imagination.

For any information regarding AV products, trouble shooting or system solutions please contact me below.

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