Yamaha to Add Amazon Alexa Voice Control to MusicCast
Yamaha is bringing Amazon Alexa voice control to its MusicCast wireless multiroom audio products to enable system owners to control their home entertainment experience.
Starting this fall, more than 40 Yamaha MusicCast AV products capable of streaming high-quality audio throughout the home will receive a firmware update enabling control using spoken commands through Alexa-enabled devices. An Alexa skill that adds support for the MusicCast commands will simultaneously be made available for Alexa-enabled devices, including the Amazon Echo, Amazon Echo Dot, Amazon Tap, and Amazon Fire TV.
"MusicCast is the most versatile and powerful wireless multiroom audio system on the market, and the integration with Amazon Alexa makes it even easier to control," said Bob Goedken, general manager of the AV division at Yamaha Corporation of America, in a statement. "Telling Alexa to play your music and hearing it synchronized throughout your home with Yamaha sound quality is an extraordinary experience."
Yamaha MusicCast products range from wireless speakers to sound bars, AV receivers, streaming amplifiers, and Hi-Fi receivers. Designed to work with existing home Wi-Fi networks, MusicCast offers access to a wide range of audio content from streaming services, Internet radio channels, digital music libraries, Bluetooth devices, and even external sources connected to MusicCast products, such as TV set-top boxes, Blu-ray Disc players, and turntables.
While the Alexa skill and MusicCast firmware updates are slated for the fall, MusicCast products can already be connected with the Amazon Echo Dot and support multiroom playback. MusicCast products feature a Bluetooth input and can redistribute a Bluetooth source to multiple MusicCast devices. Since the Echo Dot offers a Bluetooth output, it can be easily paired with any MusicCast wireless speaker, sound bar or AV receiver. The two devices can then be connected by simply saying, “Alexa, connect.” From there, the sound of the Echo Dot can be played back through a single MusicCast device, or multiple devices can be linked using the MusicCast app. Many MusicCast products also offer analog inputs that can be connected to the Echo Dot via its line output.