AVA was co-founded by Raphael Oberholzer, currently the company's CEO, a designer, inventor and investor who is passionate about creating thoughtfully designed products and user experiences. In 2014, he founded NEEO, a remote control and home automation company, where he worked with AVA’s future Chief Operating Officer Patrick Domenig. In 2019, NEEO was acquired by Control4, and Raphael became Senior Director, Products, for the global smart home and automation provider. There, Raphael met Ted Haeger, now AVA’s Chief Customer Officer.
Patrick Domenig has held Senior Management roles at Control4 and NEEO where he managed complete hardware and software engineering projects. Patrick originally started his career at Stryker, one of the world’s leading medical technology companies, where he held Quality Engineer and Quality Management Control positions, ensuring quality standards. He was later working as an Automotive Test Engineer and leading different Product Security related projects, resulting in a deep understanding of product safety and compliance.
Ted Haeger, the other Co-Founder and Chief Customer Officer (CCO) at AVA, was the Vice President of Product Management, Entertainment & Control4 Platform at SnapAV, where he launched $45M in new home automation hardware products and drove $165M in new initiatives. Prior to that, Ted was a Vice President at Control4 where he oversaw the support and education departments worldwide.
"AVA is on a mission to put true stereo back into people’s homes, while providing all the advantages of todays most popular connected speakers. Not only is this how music is recorded, but it is also the best way to reproduce the experience intended by the artist and the sound engineers. Anything less does not do their work justice and is a huge miss when it comes to the actual and emotional listening experience," says AVA CEO and co-founder Raphael Oberholzer. "We’re tremendously proud of what we have created and we cannot wait to share AVA with the rest of the world."
The new AVA Streaming Audio System was developed in collaboration with legendary Swiss audio company, Revox, and is intended as a true-stereo 2.1 channel system, consisting of two AVA Speakers and one AVA Bass Module. The AVA A1 Speaker combines a custom full-range driver, Wi-Fi streaming, premium DAC and DSP, and two 20W digital stereo amplifiers, all contained within an ultra-compact enclosure. The AVA B1 Bass Module connects to the A1 via KleerNet wireless audio protocol with very low latency (<20ms). It's been a while since we've seen a new KleerNet product launch..., and the last time we checked (2015), KleerNet was able to operate in 2.4 GHz, 5.2 GHz, and 5.8 GHz, with audio streaming limited to 16-bit/44.1 KHz. Since Microchip acquired SCMC in 2011, which had previously acquired Kleer Technologies, we never received any news of updates of the original Microchip DARR84 Wireless Audio Processor, so those specifications should still remain valid. But to connect a subwoofer, this works fine.
According to AVA, the intent for the AVA Streaming Audio System is to maintain the simplicity and versatility of connected speakers. The AVA Speaker is available as an active model or passive version, leveraging the same full-range driver for identical acoustic performance. The real-time DSP within the A1 speaker ensures the same audio performance is maintained regardless of source.
The AVA B1 Bass Module is a unique, and critical part of the full AVA system. Within the AVA 2.1 Streaming Audio System, all controls such as gain, phase, and the frequency crossover point are handled dynamically. The DSP controls which audio frequencies are sent to the connected components within the system and adjusts playback in real time, depending on what is called for by the source audio.
The AVA A1 Speaker includes a built-in rechargeable battery further ensuring uninterrupted audio playback up to 8 hours. Additionally, the AVA A1 Speaker features an integrated Touch UI that enables quick access to important controls, including instant-play of up to five preset favorites directly from the speaker. In terms of connectivity, the AVA Streaming Audio System supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, as well as Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, and UPNP.
Given the company's founders background, the solution also includes a unique remote control solution, the AVA Remote. Powered by a quad-core, 2GHz processor, and built using an aluminum alloy and scratch resistant glass, the AVA Remote is a premium Android-based touchscreen device and the world’s first "Google Certified" remote control. This certification confirms that the remote is basically an Android smartphone platform without the "phone" part, but still allowing users to access the Google Play Store and download native Android Apps for smart home and device control directly from the AVA Remote.
"The AVA Remote is one of the most powerful handheld Android-based devices available in the industry and easily handles Control4, Savant, Crestron, Sonos, Lutron, you name it. A high-density touchscreen provides smooth and rapid response for actions and the AVA Remote includes an integrated speaker and microphone supporting voice control via Google Assistant or intercom use. The AVA Remote also features Bluetooth, NFC, an accelerometer, an integrated rear-panel fingerprint sensor, and GPS," the company details.
It's also important to highlight that AVA focuses exclusively on the professional installer channel, which means that end-users don't have to deal with the risks of choosing and downloading malware infested Android apps from the Google Play Store. The security of the whole solution is supervised directly by integration professionals, which will provide a plug-and-play system approach.
The AVA 2.1 Streaming Audio System is shipping with a US MSRP of $3,200, and the AVA Remote adds $1,299 USD. AVA is also building its dealer and integration network worldwide.
www.ava.com
