Quite honestly setting up a multiroom audio system can be a pain in the RCA, but Philips' new Izzy multiroom system is offering a one-touch solution that will do all the work for you.
Yes, the name is going to take a little getting used to, but the idea is sound. Teehee. With multiple Izzy speakers you only need connect to one of them via Bluetooth and it will automatically find the others within a wide range.
Press the 'Izzylink' button and all the Izzy speakers will start spitting out your phat beats from whatever music app you want to play from.
You can though always take individual Bluetooth control of separate speakers if you want to have different music playing from other devices around the home.
There are a pair of devices in the range - the €129 Philips Izzy BM5 and the €279 Izzy BM50 - and you can pair up to four different Izzy speakers together.
100m LoS
The higher-end BM50 offers USB playback as well as larger driver units. They both also offer 100m line-of-sight range too, with an LED indicator to show the signal strength between the speakers to help you arrange them around your home.
"The new Philips Izzy range is a real breakthrough for people that want an easy-to-use multi-room music system in their home", said Benjamin Ngo, Audio Business Leader, Gibson Innovations. "This is the first range to offer a multiroom plug-and-play solution without the need of a wireless router or app. Simply press a button and the speakers connect."
Philips is hoping this ease-of-use will set the Sonos-looking speakers ahead of its rivals. It does though have a lot of work to do to catch up to the existing brand.
Whether the Philips and Gibson audio heritage is enough to give the Izzy speakers the edge remains to be seen, but if it's a war of numbers Sonos will point to the larger 3.5-inch drivers in its Play 1 speakers.
Even the top-end Izzy BM50s only have 2.75-inch drivers with the BM5 speakers sporting 2.5-inch versions.
