Philips WACS700 streaming hi-fi

Let Philips' user-friendly wireless hi-fi run riot around your house.

Wireless multi-room hi-fi is an awesome proposition - it's the stuff of footballers' mansions and playboy pads. But some can be difficult to set up, especially if you've never tinkered with Wi-Fi before. This beauty cuts out the technobabble and is as easy to get up and running as a bog-standard mini system.

Just sit the two units next to each other, they metaphorically shake hands and then communicate with each other. Simple. You can then move them to different rooms in your home and they'll stay in contact. From then on they can supply music throughout the house.

The main server is the heart of the system, and contains a 40GB hard drive which is good for storing around 750 CDs' worth of tunes. It's got a slot-loading CD player to rip tunes directly to MP3 without going near a PC, but if you'd prefer to transfer tunes from your computer you can do that too.

The smaller station streams music from the main unit's hard drive. It's pretty speedy in operation with minimal delay between picking a track and hearing it. Up to four extra stations can be added to the system, and there's also a separate 80GB hard drive, for storing extra tunes, planned for the near future.

Sonically, both parts of the system sound good, although the larger box has the edge because it pumps out more bass. The music follows you around your home by switching from device to device, and the great-looking remotes are easy to use. However, while there is a built-in FM radio and support for Internet radio, there is no digital radio tuner.

This wireless music system is a great performer, easy to set up and comes in at a price point that's hard to resist.