Digital Drivers: Oxmoor Bringing Distributed Audio Home

Lynn McCroskey wants to bring digital distributed audio systems to a home near you, and he hopes to leverage the work of digital integrators to do so.

McCroskey's roots are in the film industry, and his company, Oxmoor, was responsible for installing the first digital audio system in a movie theater back in 1984. Oxmoor also created the first digital audio system for IMAX theaters. More recently, the founder, chairman and CEO of Oxmoor has turned his attention to more intimate settings.

In 2002, Oxmoor launched the Zon (pronounced 'zone') Audio line for consumers. The Birmingham, Ala.-based components company is looking to expand its reach into the whole-house audio market, and McCroskey thinks digital integrators are the way to make that happen. The key is crafting a simple message. "If you can't describe it in a very few words and have everybody in the room understand it, people are hard-pressed to articulate why they want it," McCroskey says.

Zon audio controllers -- the ZAC-60, ZAC-30 and the ZAC-30jr --with their integrated jog wheels and illuminated displays emphasize the idea of simplicity and elegant functionality. The controllers connect to the audio system and router with a single CAT-5e or CAT-6 cable. The controllers and ZIM-4 input module connect to Zon routers. Zon's ZR-98 router connects to multiple units and can handle nine sources dispersed around four zones and four sub-zones.

Russ Towers, owner of Media Right SAS, a digital integrator in Bedford, N.H., and a Zon partner, says the system's scalability is one of its greatest assets. "It's a very simplistic product from a consumer standpoint," he says. "The user interface is very simple, and it has very good quality soundwise. We think it's a well-designed, thought-out system."

Media Right sold about $200,000 worth of Zon products in 2005, and Towers says he expects that number to grow this year. "If you tried five or 10 years ago to push distributed audio on people, it would never have happened," Towers says.

Zon controllers now allow Media Right to take a simple plasma television and turn it into a full home theater solution, complete with whole-house audio and controllable lighting. "Our aim is to go in and do a full integration job," Towers says, adding that the fully-integrated solution helps close sales. The company targets customers who are building additions on houses or upgrading systems in existing homes.

That desire for streamlined, integrated systems is a primary market driver for the products Zon creates. "More and more the difference between lighting control, security, TV, content and music is becoming seamless," McCroskey says. "It's clear that consumers want it to be seamless. What they want to do is to walk over to a convenient panel and control everything in their house and do so with simplicity and without a tremendous learning curve. There is no reason for there to be a separation of things into systems."

Michael Voll, vice president of operations at J&J Security, a Deltona, Fla.-based digital integrator, agrees. "It's been interesting to watch audio and integration as a whole growing over the years," he says. "There was a while when everyone was really hyped up about it, but the products were new."

That was then. But today, as technologies mature, customers are becoming more apt to want whole-house audio systems and controlled lighting. "I see it integrating more into people's lifestyles and everyday life without them even thinking about it," Voll says. "It's being introduced more into the everyday market, and people aren't realizing that it's making such an impact on their lives."

Vendors in general could help installers be more successful by making sure potential customers are aware of their products and how they can improve lifestyles, integrators say. Zon is helping spread the word by ramping up its training programs to help educate integrators on all levels, whether they approach digital integration from the standpoint of a general contractor, a home theater contractor or a security contractor. Zon sells its products exclusively through the distribution arm of Klipsch Audio Technologies. Zon provides its integrator partners with marketing materials and demonstration kits.

"One of the things we find is that some contractors are plenty over-qualified to put in our stuff and some are under-qualified," McCroskey says. "The consumer has a right to expect a level of competence equal to that they expect from the other trades in their house.

"Most of the contractors work across the spectrum of things. I think it is only a matter of time until those who are not digital are forced by practicality, circumstances, finances and everything else to be digital," he adds. "Our product is only as good as how it's installed in the house. I think that's all about training, education and qualification. We will have a very qualified dealer base that will be well-trained on product. I think that's the way all of the good manufacturers are going to have to go."

Expanding into more accessible markets is another way McCloskey hopes to grow Zon and the digital integrator market.

"We've been coming out with systems that are trying to deliver the same levels of quality and performance to a much lower price point. This marketplace is primarily in [homes] $500,000 and up," McCroskey says. "There's a huge space below that where most of the consumers are. I think there's a big reward for finding the right solution for that level of consumer."