Cisco Systems has decided, as it has stated, to conquer the consumer market as well as it has the professional crowd. Until now, save for the odd attempt at social networking, nothing tangible has come from this pledge. Until, that is, Cisco decided to come out with a Linksys Wireless Home Audio System, so far the most consumer-minded product they’ve released.

The device is a mix-and-match system that allows users to transmit music all around the house, so that one can play the same song over multiple rooms (or a different song for each one) by use of Wi-Fi (802.11n). The audio system is in the same league as a similar one from Sonos, and if it’s successful, it may help get people talking about Cisco as more than a back-end networking hardware outfit.

It is made up of a number of components. First is the Conductor (price not yet determined), which is a CD player and speaker with a 7-inch LCD screen. The director (selling for $449) is a receiver with an amplifier. The Player ($299) does what it says on the tin, and has an extender with output, but no LCD screen.

Additionally you can get a wireless N touch screen controller if you can spare $349 and a stereo speaker kit for $149. You also get an iPod docking station for $79 which will let you play your iPod collection around the house. The system natively supports Rhapsody music online music streaming.

The components can be mixed and matched freely or bought in three pre-configured kits starting at $549.

The systems are designed to work with the new Cisco Media Hubs which let users pull content from their homes or around the world using a web-interface.

It all sounds nice and shiny, so let’s see how well Cisco does with its consumer-friendly approach.