The Australian distributor of Denon products, QualiFi, has launched the company’s new wireless multi-room speaker system, and revealed that much of its development was actually undertaken in Australia.

The new system is called Heos by Denon and consists of three different speaker modules, an amplifier to use with your own speakers, a receiver pre-amp to use with your own audio system and a WiFi access point/extender for those whose home wireless network needs a boost.

Plus an app for Apple and Android smart devices. The app is needed to run the system.

From its release in September, the system will support music from the Apple/Android device itself, DLNA resources on your network (such as NAS drives) and four online services: TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora and Deezer. Over time such additional services as iHeartRadio, SiriusXM, beatsMUSIC, rdio and Songza will be added. Heos is working with these providers to integrate their content into its app.

In addition, the speakers, amp and receiver all feature both an analogue input and USB socket. This material can be streamed to any of the other speakers on the same network (up to 32 devices are supported on the one network). The amp and receiver pre-amp also feature optical digital inputs, allowing them to be useful TV amps. They also can share this content throughout the system.

The devices can be grouped together by means of the app using intuitive pinches on the control screen and volume levels can be adjusted individually or all together.

The wireless data flows work on standard home networks, with both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands supported, although proprietary technology is used to optimise performance. In particular the locally developed wireless network technology has improved synchronisation between the speakers by up to three orders of magnitude compared to some competing technologies. Heos says that this improves the clarity of sound when multiple speakers are in use, or when two of the speakers are paired as the left and right parts of a stereo system.

Most of the development of the system was in the D&M Innovation Centre in Sydney. Two other such centres are located overseas. D&M Holdings owns Denon, Marantz and Boston Acoustics. The technology originated in an Australian start-up called Avega Systems which combined advanced network expertise with extensive audio experience (some of the founders worked with Linn in Scotland). After its acquisition, Avega formed the basis of the Sydney D&M Innovation Centre.

Heos is stressing the ease of use of the system, along with the quality of the sound.

The three speaker models are priced at $449, $599 and $899, with greater audio capacity provided as the price scale is ascended. The $799 stereo amplifier offers greater connectivity and 100W per channel into 6Ω. The Heos Link preamp is priced at $549 and is best used as a source device for an existing audio system. The $159 WiFi access point/extender is not needed for the system, but is available in case purchasers’ in-home networks need upgrading or a greater range.

The app for iOS and Android is free and downloadable now. It can be used in ‘Demo’ mode to assess its look and feel. The system will work with the app installed on multiple devices. If sharing has been enabled on a device, its music can be browsed and played on the Heos system by any other device.