Retrofitting is a basic term in construction meaning “to update your home from an older building with older outdated technology and adding newer technology to update it.” With the VSSL A.1 Audio Streaming Amplifier, retrofitting is made simple.

Take whichever room/area is outdated and make it new again, by gaining access to all of your music from your mobile device or tablet. When using VSSL, you can control the volume, adjust inputs, play audio files, connect to any speaker, and more!

Music has adapted over the years from vinyl records to an entire bulky case of CDs, to digital music via different streaming sources. I am sure that many of you still support these older music sources but isn’t it more convenient to play music via your phone while connected to your car or the stereo system in your living room?

Having the ability to access thousands of different songs that are just sitting in your pocket and you can also gain access to millions of other songs through streaming sources like Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora. We are also to the point that digital music (like uncompressed digital formats such as DSD and FLAC) sounds better than the original format, due to their higher quality.

The History of Your Home- 

The age of your home will limit your available options when it comes to setting up certain audio devices (aside from a T.V.). If your house is 100 plus years old, we guarantee that the wireless signals will not travel very well throughout each room (even if your home is 50 years old). VSSL is the answer for anyone’s home that cannot be wired.

If you are living in a place that isn’t yours and you are just temporarily renting, then running wires through the walls will definitely not be a viable option. Most single-family households contain many wireless devices that are all competing for bandwidth (the maximum rate of data transfer across a given path)--- more than one smartphone, a laptop or three, tablets for the little ones to occupy themselves with, an extender, maybe even a Wifi IP camera system that is all running on wireless and then they are competing against each other for service. Adding wireless adapters or a separate wireless subwoofer adapter will certainly jumble up the mix that you already have going on, plus leaving your devices to starve for the wireless bandwidth.

Applications

With the VSSL A.1 Home, it has a slim versatile design and connectivity, it can be placed in a variety of applications. When trying to retrofit a home, you may already have a system but it could be a little outdated with how quickly technology is moving forward. The A.1 Home gives you the ability to add Native Streaming™ to your existing system and update it. Seamlessly use the A.1 Home as a source for your outdoor, commercial, or home theater applications.

Backyard Audio- 

One of the biggest applications for the A.1 is most certainly backyard audio (due to the outdoor area only needing single-zone acoustics). Using the A.1 to amplify or to simply add a streaming source to your existing system such as your underground speakers or BeatDrops™ in the patio area or surrounding the BBQ and have speakers delicately positioned around your hot tub to give you the ultimate evening mood influencer.

It’s so much easier to connect to the A.1 through your mobile device and listen to your music instantly. Or even let your house/party guests connect to the system! The simplicity while connecting to the unit is what makes the A.1 perfect for any application.

Pairing With Bookshelf Speakers-

In an older home, customers are sometimes worried that they have to go from one extreme to the next and spend a big lump sum on the home updates. Fortunately, you don’t have to convert your humble abode into a smart home just to enjoy your music.

A simple way to involve quality audio in your bedroom or even your home office is to include TruAudio Bookshelf speakers. The Bookshelf speaker is small enough to fit on your desk next to your computer or to fit on your nightstand at either side of your bed. They give you updated audio connected to an easily accessible source without having to move anything around and is an inexpensive option.

In-Ceiling Speakers

If you are looking for ways to virtually hide your audio system but keep your home relatively the same as far as updates go, then using in-ceiling speakers paired with the A.1 will help you to achieve this. There are no wires hanging around or in the way and these speakers are easy to manage with the A.1. Turn the music on when you walk into the kitchen and listen to your favorite cooking guru while making a delicious dinner. 

Wires tend to be a homeowner’s worst nightmare when it comes to installing speakers and connecting them to an amplifier. The in-ceiling speakers hide the wires and the A.1 makes connecting to your speakers simpler. 

Soundbars

Does your T.V. have a soundbar yet? Having a soundbar to go along with your T.V. will guarantee that you have improved audio and it will simplify your audio system enormously. 

A soundbar is exactly what it sounds like, a long “bar” that has speakers attached to it where it is usually placed under a television to improve the close-range sound. They have multiple speakers built into one “bar” to produce multichannel audio.

Soundbars produce a much richer and more nuanced sound than any single speaker is capable of replicating. A lot of the time it is less expensive to purchase a soundbar because with it you don’t need a full stereo system or even poor-quality T.V. speakers. A soundbar will help you to avoid drilling annoying holes into your ceiling to install speakers (if you want to avoid customizing your home).

Some customers will consider alternative solutions such as purchasing wireless speakers (which makes sense if you are baby-proofing your home). Also, buying wireless speaker adapters so that the rear channels and subwoofers can run without having to jostle the wires around. But to try and hide them alongside or underneath the carpet is just an annoying hassle.

Having the option of controlling the soundbar via the A.1 amplifier means that you are able to listen to the speakers and sound without having to turn the television on (plus making sure that it is all connected). VSSL lets you connect to the soundbar simply through your mobile device by utilizing the optical or analog inputs with the VSSL app. Blast some pumped up jams while you clean!

At the end of the day, optimal sound is not always ideal for every particular room setup, we recommend having a soundbar for your family room T.V. if you are not wanting to spend too much and are looking for a fuller sound throughout the room. A soundbar really does allow for simpler, yet still a satisfying sound.

Subwoofer Out (Preamp Output)-

An active subwoofer, when connected to an amp (VSSL A.1), it presents a very high impedance load, so that the amp doesn’t work any harder when you connect one or more subs to it. The main point is that the sub sees the signal and amplifies it, the way it was intended to do. Not all amplifiers have this output like the A.1.

Be careful when choosing an appropriate subwoofer, check that it works correctly with your system. A high-level interconnect is similar to a speaker cable. Low-level uses an RCA interconnect pair (amp’s pre-out or sub-out or the sub’s low-level input). With the new super-smart T.V.s that have been released this year (2020), they are equipped with speakers and sound systems inside of them that are a substantial improvement.

They are quite the pretty penny and a lot of the time you will not need to connect any other speaker or system. A subwoofer is a great alternative here because it can give the extra oomph that you won’t get from your T.V. speaker system, engulfing you in sound.

The point of a subwoofer isn’t to drown out all other sounds, it should be something that is added to the room and you don’t even notice that it’s there until it is turned off. The subwoofer can give you low-frequency spatial cues that normal systems lack. Turn it on with the rest of the surrounding systems and connect it to the A.1 Home.

Google Home

Voice assistants are indeed a great addition when trying to retrofit your home. They are changing the way that we interact with technology and listen to music. 

Google Home is adaptable to almost any sound system, especially when it is paired with an A.1. When using the VSSL and Google Home you can:

- Control all zones; the volume, play, stop, pause, mute, and change the song.

- Google Home can automatically connect to the VSSL zone set up. Its as simple as, “Ok Google, play R&B music.”

- Google Home also works with the rest of your home system: lights, security cameras, door locks, and more!

While Google has several Google Assistant products (Google Home, Google Home Mini, and Google Home Max), we have found that due to the price and size of the Mini it is a perfect match for the VSSL A.1 Home. You have the ability to place the Google Mini in any room and use it with your in-ceiling speakers to access the Audio. At $29, the Mini is the optimal add-on to a VSSL powered system.

The Quality of The Amp Matters

Many beginner audio enthusiasts will ask if the amplifier can affect sound quality? The answer is, “Yes”. Generally, a better amp will make your speakers play louder and improve the sound quality, however, it will not make bad speakers sound like good speakers.

This is why the A.1 Home is such a terrific choice. All VSSL units offer a wide array of features to satisfy any of your needs. When you add a VSSL unit to your home you get access to; Native Streaming™ to use the music apps you already know, it has voice activation capabilities, “Hey Google, play music”, it’s versatile and built for any install, multizone by adding several A.1 units to any home.

If you have an older amp, you can update the system just by connecting the A.1 to make it streamable. And above all, powerful enough to run any speakers. The A.1 can be placed on a bookshelf, on a wall behind a T.V., or on a rack shelf to power everything from in-ceiling speakers to a custom length soundbar. This VSSL unit has an integrated wall mount system, removable magnetic feet, an IR receiver sensor, and it has an impressively slim profile.