Replacing a Savant music system: keep your speakers, drop the subscription
If your Savant system is mostly there to play music, you may not need Savant at all. In most homes the speakers and wiring can stay, and we replace only the Savant audio equipment with standard streaming amplifiers: no licenses, no annual subscription, and nothing that only one dealer can service.
By HUM · Denver, Colorado · Updated
Can I replace Savant and keep my speakers?
Usually, yes. Most Savant homes use standard passive speakers in the ceilings and walls, joined to the equipment rack by ordinary speaker wire. Nothing about them is locked to Savant, so new amplifiers can drive them just as well.
The one exception is Savant's self-powered network speakers, which carry their own amplifier and connect by network cable rather than speaker wire. Those only work with Savant. At the visit we check every speaker and tell you plainly which ones can stay.
What stays
- Passive in-ceiling and in-wall speakers
- The speaker wire already run through your walls
- Outdoor and landscape speakers
- Lighting, shades and anything else Savant runs that you're happy with
What we replace
- The Savant audio amplifiers in the equipment rack
- Savant as the system that runs your music
- The subscription and dealer visits you only kept for music
Why Savant owners move on
Changes go through a dealer
Savant systems are configured by authorized dealers using Savant's professional tools. You can create scenes and schedules in the Savant app, but deeper changes, and even recovering some passwords, mean calling a dealer.
Staying current depends on a yearly subscription
Savant Essentials is an annual subscription covering software updates, remote access, notifications and cloud backup. Savant doesn't publish its price. According to a Savant distributor, configuration uploads are disabled without it, and Savant's own release notes say newer licensed hosts need an active subscription to operate at all.
Older equipment falls off the supported list
Savant's software, now called SavantOS (formerly da Vinci), leaves older hosts behind. Hosts from the SVR-4500 and earlier weren't supported from da Vinci 10, and the current release notes list only the SVR-5100S and newer among Mac-based hosts.
Your dealer is hard to reach
When the one company that can change your system stops returning calls, a music system you paid well for starts to feel like a burden.
When you should keep Savant
Savant is a capable system. It already plays Spotify and AirPlay, and if it runs lighting, shades and climate you love, with a dealer who answers, there may be no reason to change anything.
If your only problem is a dealer who has gone quiet, Savant can connect you with another one through the find-a-dealer tool and support form on savant.com.
Weighing your options? See our honest comparison of Sonos vs Control4 vs Savant.
We only do audio. If Savant runs your lighting and shades, those stay exactly as they are, and we replace just the music.
How music works afterwards
You play music the way you already do on your phone. Open Spotify or Apple Music, press play, and pick the rooms. Anything that supports AirPlay works the same way.
The difference is what's behind it. The amplifiers are standard streaming equipment you own outright: no host licenses, no subscription, and nothing that only one company can service. The speakers work quietly in the background, and a simple app handles only what the music apps can't, like which rooms are on.
Have a Control4 system instead? See replacing a Control4 music system.
What it costs
The price depends mostly on how many rooms play music and whether your existing speakers are worth keeping (they usually are). Because we reuse the speakers and the wiring in your walls, you aren't paying to open ceilings, run new wire, or patch and paint afterwards.
After a free visit you receive a written plan with a fixed price. There are no hourly programming charges and no subscription.
How the switch works
1. We look at what you have
At a free visit we check every speaker, passive or self-powered, and look over the equipment rack. We'll tell you honestly what's worth keeping.
2. A written plan and fixed price
Which rooms, which equipment, what stays, what goes. The price is on paper before any work begins.
3. A tidy swap
The work happens at the equipment rack, not your ceilings. Your speakers stay where they are.
4. We teach you at the kitchen table
Play something from the app you already use, choose the rooms, done. Then we come back whenever you need us, at no cost.
Free in-home support, for as long as you own your system.
If something isn't working, or you'd simply like a refresher on the app, call us. We'll come to your home and help — no service fees, no trip charges, no time limit. It's how we stand behind our work, and it's simply the right thing to do.
Questions from Savant owners
Most will. The in-ceiling and in-wall speakers in most Savant homes are standard passive speakers on ordinary speaker wire, and any suitable amplifier can drive them. The exception is Savant's self-powered network speakers, which have their own amplifier inside and connect by network cable; those are tied to Savant. We check every speaker at the visit and tell you which is which.
If it works well for you, you may not need to. Owners usually come to us because of what sits behind it: a yearly Essentials subscription, a dealer needed for changes, and equipment that eventually falls off Savant's supported list. Our systems use standard equipment with no subscription, and any qualified installer could service them.
Yes. We only do audio, so lighting, shades and climate stay on Savant exactly as they are. Removing the old audio equipment from the Savant configuration may need a Savant dealer; we'll tell you up front if it does.
Ask your dealer first. Without Essentials, configuration changes can't be uploaded, and Savant's current release notes say newer licensed hosts need an active subscription to operate. If Savant no longer runs anything in your home, the question goes away.
Savant can connect you with a new dealer: use the find-a-dealer tool on savant.com, or the support form, which asks for your zip code and puts you in touch with a Savant representative nearby. If you'd rather not depend on a dealer for your music, that's where we come in.
It depends mostly on how many rooms play music and whether your speakers are worth keeping, which they usually are. Because the speakers and wiring stay, you aren't paying to open ceilings or run new wire. After the free visit you get a fixed written price.