Juke-6 | 6 Zone Audio Amplifier | Wirelessly Controlled Multi-Room Audio System | Compatible with Airplay 2, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth, DLNA

I am a electronics installation technician and I have a broad range of experience installing these systems. I have been certified by a dozen industry groups (ESPA, CEDIA for example) and I have installed Crestron and Niles systems in high end houses to give you another example. This unit by far is the best and has been exactly what I have been looking for. I have spent years installing and then reinstalling or removing or upgrading systems because the units either failed expectations, were too complicated to use, or were just plain bad in terms of software and build qualities. This unit just skips that by leaving the software to the actual software houses and builds a simple zoned audio unit that just acts as a bridge for you to use your favorite app-lication to play music to your speakers in your house. Fantastic! You don't need to download any horribly designed app that tries to piggyback another app into their app and limits their function or doesn't even have the availability to be used in their software. This just works. Easy to install, easy to setup (even for an untrained individual), no proprietary anything to make it difficult. Easy. I can't say it enough. I had a Niles system in my home, an old GXR2, and if you wanted to make a change I had to pull out a confusing software suite and make a connection and then pull out my hair when it took a half dozen attempts to get it to work right. NO MORE! I'll run down the cons and pros below to help you make a decision about this music player you might want to add to your home.Cons;1: Ultimately the most important one I came across is that it is a bit under powered for me. 20W per channel nominal isn't a whole lot. But I'm also used to installing units that weigh 50lbs. and will push 80W per channel. Never thought about it until I got this one. It was so light and small but there was a compromise. Not a deal breaker. Good for bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms. You may want some extra power for larger areas but in a normal house an average person lives in I think you will be OK. I just like my music player blasting in my rec room. Hey Juke, if you're listening, may be a 40W per channel unit? Just a suggestion. I'll test it for you. In those situations when you need more power I added an extra amp for the zone with more wattage. It's just something to consider.2. Minor disconnection issues with the unit to my phone. Just seems to happen with my phone and not my pad. I'm in the Apple product suite if you are wondering. Drops out after some undisclosed time, 20 to 25 minutes, and I have to restart my music again. Not a deal breaker, just a strange problem. But I haven't had a problem with my tablet. Something to look into and it happens randomly and then after I turn it back on it doesn't happen again.3. Minor website refinements for the user interface on the tablet side. You barely look at it, and only use it to turn on zones and that's it, but it would be nice if the text was formatted correctly.4. That's it really. Which is amazing!Pros1. Small/compact and light. It almost feels tiny but the feel and construction is quality and it feels tough and ready to go.2. Easy to install. No proprietary software or hardware. Anybody can do it. Even you.3. The overall sound quality was good and although I didn't run any tests on that, it was clear - loud when I maxed it out and overall it should satisfy anyone looking for some back ground music to cook or clean to or house party to.4. Easy to use. Make the homepage your favorite through the browser you use and then you can access the zones. Turn the zone you want on and then start your player (Pandora, Spotify, YouTube) and cast your player to an available Juke input. Adjust volume on phone. Done. Almost too easy.5. Inexpensive. By far the cheapest one I've used and yet it seems like it's expensive. And it's actually useful and easy to access.6. 8 Zones! My Niles was 6 and I installed a Legrand for twice the price as a Juke and it was only 3 zones. You can get 8 on one unit! Enough for a 1-kitchen, 2-bedroom, 3-bedroom, 4-bathroom, 5-office, 6-rec room, 7-patio, and you still have 8-for whatever you want. Configure any way you want.Overall I am very happy with the unit and because of the ease of use I actually use it regularly and am eager to add speakers all over my house to use those zones up! You should too! I hope this helps you in your quest to find a zoned audio player.

This device has been designed by somebody committed to the KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) principle, and this device proves the value of that approach. We bought a house three years ago with in-wall, wired speakers in many of the rooms terminating in a storage space in the lowest floor. The prior residents left the speaker wires relatively well labeled, but of course took their expensive Control4 whole home system with them.I dilly-dallied getting something else installed b/c I wasn't sure of the value of the high-end Crestron and Control4 systems, which require professional installation and, from what I understand, are a bit finicky and hard to update. They also cost 10x the cost of the Juke!Granted, the high-end systems are really whole-home automation systems and can do other A/V tricks like pipe TV audio through the speakers and distribute video from centralized sources. But with the proliferation of soundbars and inexpensive streaming devices that tuck into ports behind your TV, some of that centralization seems like a dated concept. (I do have a 4.1 speaker TV system in our family room with the biggest screen, so I understand that traditional speaker setups will sound better than soundbars with wireless subwoofers--I just don't think you need them everywhere in the house you have a TV).The Juke is easy to install, easy to use, sounds greats and works great, and so we use it all the time. It is the holidays now, and we routinely play holiday songs from Spotify in multiple zones--our kids love it. It also appears to be a high-quality device.The one knock you see in the current most popular review for this item is that it could use a little more power. Well, guess what, Juke introduced a new box, the Juke+, with 100 watts per channel. For me, the power on the legacy boxes was no issue for the indoor speakers, but I did use Juke's instructions to wire in a Fosi amplifier for some outdoor speakers. (Part of the problem might have been the speakers or the wire I inherited from the prior owners, not the Juke). And even that review was just asking for a bump up from 20 to 40 watts per channel, which I think the legacy Juke 6 and 8 provide--a bit of confusion on this point.This manufacturer must really listen to customers, b/c the other improvement they did in the Juke+ wereadd an equalizer for each zone, something I saw reviewers asking for. They also added a few more connections, although not the crazy variety of connections you see on typical single or low zone A/V receivers. This may seem like it violates the KISS principla, but we must also keep in mind Einstein's admonition that "[e]verything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler"!Anyway, if you are in my situation and are reluctant to dump five figures into a Crestron or Control4 or other high-end home system b/c 95% of what you want is just to play music over your wired in-wall speakers, go ahead buy the Juke and stop spec'ing other alternatives. Life's too short. (And if you want to play your TV audio over those speakers, heck, the Juke folks probably have a hack for it that will cost a lot less than the high-end systems).

I have 8 audio zones in my house and have had other sound systems that were cumbersome, difficult to use and broke often. I ordered the Juke 8 after a lighting strike took out my router and Nuvo amp with it . One of my requirements was a system that worked wirelessly and not a direct cable connection to the router - Juke had both options. I was able to set up the Juke 8 wirelessly with no problems and set up for the rest of the system was just as easy. I use Spotify and the system connected seamlessly and I was able to group zones for my favorite listening areas. And....the sound is excellent! This is simply a great product.

Good replacement system to upgrade my old home audio system. Easy to set up and configure with very good sound quality. Easy to use too, but favors apple devices. Works Ok with android, but requires additional apps and steps. I'd give it 5 stars if I was an apple only user.