A friend has asked me about this product for his home: https://www.soundavo.com/products/ws-66i
There's also a long and poorly recorded Youtube video on it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMUl4TANpmw
It will be $2K all in, so I'm asking if there are alternates he should also consider, perhaps a commercial unit?
Thanks
Depends if he's looking to merely get 'something' into various rooms for cheap, or if sound quality and headroom, and flexible control, are desired as well.
Good whole home audio is generally some flavor of music streaming hardware; wired LAN in, Wi-Fi control in, multiple wired audio channels out. D/A conversion, number of discrete streams (zones), number of streaming platforms supported, etc separate the options.
That typically goes into a multi-channel amplifier, which may or may not be part of the streaming control ecosystem. Common brands include Sonance, LEA, Apex, Powersoft, and more. Naturally there's a significant difference as you look at output power, how well they handle subwoofers, how advanced the DSP is, etc.
From what I've used, if I were going to spend money on my own house - I'd look at Bluesound Pro for the streaming hardware, and Powersoft or Apex or LEA (in that order) for amps. Not a fan of Sonance and Sonos and other common cheap residential options.
Speakers - sky's the limit. There are a ton of commercial options for basic ceiling speakers, not many outside the residential market for recessed in-wall, and lots of commercial (surface mount) and pro (the world we live in) options.