Most people that follow me know by now I’ve been building and finally moved into a new house in Greeneville, TN. Something I researched and decided on early on in the process was installing a whole home audio setup throughout many of the rooms. I looked at two options with NuVo and Sonos, and ultimately decided on the NuVo P-Series network based system for a few reasons. I have to say I LOVE this system and I’m already considering working with the local builder to install them in other custom homes using mine as a demo installation. So what makes it co cool?
With NuVo You Chose Your Speakers
The biggest reason I went with a wired system was I wanted the option of what speakers I installed. I decided on RBH Sound MC Series 8″ in the ceilings of most of the rooms. I also used the MC-Series in wall speakers in the family room as the initial 7.1 home theater setup. Their speakers sound awesome for the money and I simply love the in-wall dual 8″ subwoofer. We painted all the grills to match the walls to there is nothing that stands out about the walls.
Once I chose the speakers and decided on locations the electrician ran speaker wire to a single location in the basement where the NuVo units would reside. So I had to decide then on the various options for the players themselves.
Which NuVo P-Series Amplifier?
Being someone who does not do anything small I read the specifications on the P100/P200 as well as the P3100/3500 options. What drove my decision was the initial number of “Zones”. I designed a total of 9 zones with one zone split to 4 speakers using a switch box to maintain the resistance to the amp for the outdoor speakers. Since these are used the least it did not make sense to burn an entire zone on them. Based on the total number of zones I knew I was going to be into the P3100 or the P3500 since they are 3-Zone units in a 1U rack mount, also what I wanted. The P100/P200 are single zone units. The only difference is the output of the various units.
- P100 = 40 Watts total
- P200 = 150 Watts Total
- P3100 = 200 Watts total (split to 3 Zones)
- P3500 = 680 Watts total (split to 3 Zones)
Since I decided on the higher end RBH MC-Series I elected to go with three P3500 units. I could have mixed and matched, but frankly it was easier to get all the same ceiling speakers and all the same amplifier units. I’ve since decided to add a P100 for the master bedroom connected to a pair of Cambridge SoundWorks M50 Bookshelf speakers. We do not use the zone much but when I get to the features of the system….you will see why I wanted to add it.
The Cool Features of the NuVo P-Series
So now that I designed the system, chose the speakers, had the cables run, I can explain the awesome features of the system. First and foremost it has built-in music services for streaming. They include FOUR services right into the system.
- Pandora
- SiriusXM
- Rhapsody
- TuneIn
You do need to have accounts for the ones you want to use which was not a problem for me. Why this is so nice is there is no need to send streams from a phone or other device, it’s 100% integrated into the players. Each zone also supports a Line In option so you can connect other items. I’ve run connections for a couple of Airplay devices so I can also have the option of using other music services and sending it through AirPlay to the input. This makes it VERY flexible a player system for source audio.
Finally the entire system works together. You connect all players to your network via ethernet on the P3x00 series, BUT you can chain them together so the whole stack only burns one network port. Your P100/P200 can use a hardwire or a wireless gateway but once they are on the same network, they find each other and present a single configuration which you control from your iOS or Android Device.
The device control is not LOCAL to a device either the zone names, what’s playing where, etc is updated on any device running the application so there is no locally store information. Lastly, you can create any combination of input/output zones. You can have one input playing on all zones, or have different inputs to various outputs. Again, this is MAJOR flexibility in the player system. The application is easy to use and understand and very intuitive. It also supports auto updates to the app and the players without user intervention.
The NuVo P-Series Rocks
So far everyone that has come to visit is more than impressed at the setup and the technology behind it. The RBH Sound speakers have a great range in them and combined with the power and flexibility of the NuVo P-Series, I’ve got to say I’ve become a fan boy. If you want to know more or have questions, let me know in the discussion and I can try to help you out.