Multiroom audio is an interesting category. While it may seem as though most Americans are perfectly happy placing their iPhones inside a bowl for optimum sound performance, thankfully there still appear to be plenty of folks who crave a little “extra cheese on their Whopper,” as Chris Rock would say.
Couple that desire with 25 solid years of architectural audio installations in new homes, and we’ve seen a few upgrade waves come and go. Some of these cycles involved upgrading old volume control knobs with individual streaming amplifiers capable of AirPlay and Bluetooth Audio. Others have seen Sonos take the world by storm one amplifier at a time.
Enter Juke Audio into the fray recently with its Juke+ streaming amplifier, which is capable of driving six amplified zones of audio. Would the Juke+ be able to hang in this highly competitive category? I fired up the test bench and prepared to put the amplifier through its paces.
Unboxing
The Juke+ arrives in a blue cardboard box, which flips up to reveal accessories and a Quick Start guide. The packaging is minimalistic with no extra flair. I laid everything out, inventorying a power cord, Ethernet cable, Wi-Fi antenna, and some Phoenix connectors.
Installation
The included quick installation guide contained four easy steps that I followed to the letter. After downloading the Juke app, I plugged the Juke+ into a power outlet, screwed on the Wi-Fi antenna, terminated my speakers into the back via one of the Phoenix connectors, and flicked on the power switch, which immediately glowed dark red. I heard a low hum and intuited that it was time to head back to my smartphone to finish the setup.
I booted up the app and followed the step-by-step instructions on each screen prompting me to connect the amplifier to our network and then start labeling each zone. The whole process took less than five minutes. I’ve never seen a multi room/zone amplifier set up as easily as the Juke+.
Configuration
After labeling each zone, I took out my iPhone and started playing “Blood on The Rooftops” by Genesis. I pressed the AirPlay option and saw my newly labeled zone, connected to it, and Phil Collins’ crooning soon filled the room. Grouping zones was incredibly intuitive with Apple’s moves into becoming the home technology interface of choice becoming more and more apparent with each new release of iOS.
I moved around to a variety of different devices, including an iMac, iPad, and PC. They all interacted flawlessly with the Juke+. I even used the multiroom mode across different streaming amplifiers, and it all went off without a hitch. The amplifier also boasts a line-in capability for auxiliary sources such as televisions or Apple TVs via AirPlay, Bluetooth, or hardwired connections.
Final Report
The Juke+ retails for $2,499. That’s $416.50 per zone. Compared to the real estate taken up by something like a Sonos Amp, never mind the $700 per zone price tag, the Juke+ takes up a surprisingly small amount of space for a 100 watt per channel six-zone streaming amplifier.
The old days of being concerned about phone calls interrupting AirPlay streams are long since gone. If you have a house full of old knob volume controls or are looking for options during a new build, take a hard look at the Juke+. It’s dead simple and does exactly what it’s supposed to. I’m adding it to a very short list of technology in my life that just works.
