Philips WACS 7000 - 80GB Wireless Music Centre and Station

I would have given this system 5 stars but for the instructions which do not deal adequately with some installation issues.

I was given the centre and satellite for Christmas and it worked straight out of the box - however the system must have been in storage for months, if not years, as it had the original firmware and and an old Gracenote database which did not recognize many of my CD's.
It is at this point that, unless you are computer-literate and have access to a computer connected to the internet, you could become very frustrated. I guess most people who buy this system will, like me, already have a computer and wireless internet access as it is in this situation that the Streamium system really comes into it own.

In fact I have several PC's on a wireless network using Livebox for internet access. With such a system, assuming that Philips Media Manager (PMM) is installed on each computer, then both the Streamium centre and the satellite(s) can play any of the music stored on any of the computers. If you also install Philips Wireless Audio Device Manager (WADM) on the PC then it too can play the music stored on the Streamium centre.

I downloaded the latest firmware from Philips and successfully updated the Streamium centre via the ethernet cable using the WADM software. I then updated the satellite's firmware wirelessly using WADM. I also updated the centre's Gracenote database using a CD-ROM (just to see how it worked) but you could do this wirelessly as well.

You have to invest more time in all of this than you would expect because the instructions provided by Philips are either inadequate or just plain wrong. For example the 2-way remote control provided with the centre CANNOT access many of the centre's advanced functions (such as setting up the wireless connection) even though the instructions imply that you CAN and the error message you get if you do use the remote is not even listed in the instructions. You can instead use the buttons on the front panel for setting up the wireless connection UNTIL you come to enter the WEP or WPA code for you wireless router which then requires the remote control. And here it gets really stupid - you have to use the 1-way remote control (which comes with the satellite) to enter this code. I only found this out by visiting the excellent Streamium forum at www.streamiumcafe.com

Both the centre and station(s) should be configured for wireless connection with the router (so that both can get music direct from your PC's) so you have to go through this exercise again for each station. Entering a 20 character WEP using the remote control requires some degree of patience!

Now my Streamium is all working I have junked my old hifi system which with its big speakers and associated CD storage shelves which all took up far too much room. The Streamium system is far neater and now I have ripped all my CD's these can be stored in the garage. The centre produces really good quality sound and, considering its size, the satellite's sound is also amazing.

One last piece of advice - there is an excellent freeware called WACHANDLER which provides a much improved PC interface to the Streamium system.

WASC7000 Center and Station looks smart, but its got a downside. Rips CD's to Station very slowly. Center harddrive at times noisy, undermines playback and without music playback it very distracting. Transferring tracks from PC to Center quicker than ripping, but editing via remote very poor, even editing at PC before transfer has problems. The WAC7000 appears to have a mind of its own, reverses editing at times. Editing via PC through WADM software is another option, but it slow and full of problems, the Station dislikes editing this way and often stutters or shuts down momentarily especially during multiple tasks. Center display inadequate, not large enough to display all relevant information, for instance, the artist or atists name often are left incomplete. Wireless network seems fine, not had any problems. Oversall it complicated and not user-friendly for anyone not familiar with computers. In my opinion, look elsewhere, for an alternative, the WAC7000 is certainly not worth the price. I'm very disappointed with the WAC7000, in fact, its put me right-off Philips, a company I have always considered sell quality goods, but this bit of kit is very poor for the price!! And thats another downside, since I bought the WAC7000 in October (priced around £699.00) it price has fallen, currently can be found much cheaper! If you are determined to buy a WAC7000 I suggest wait until the January sales, they may give them away by then.

I recently bought the Philips Streamium, having read a number of reviews and have to say I am impressed. I am not a techie so maybe I am easy to please but I find I am listening to lots of music that hasn't made its way out of its CD case for months. To burn CD's to the hard drive does take a while but I've now got 30 - 40 albums up loaded. The Gracenote CD recognition is good and only a couple of CDs have not been recognised so far.

Shame it doesn't have a digital radio and not to have AM reception is bizarre, but as a music player that looks good, is clever and makes your music available around the house it's great.

I have spent a few painful hours trying to connect both units to my wireless network without major success but then questioned why I would need to anyway (still don't know the answer to that one).

Time now to buy another station for the living room...