Do you want the advantages of a wireless surround sound system without having to shell out for an entirely new system? Wireless speaker kits which can add on to your current home theater system offer a cost-effective solution to your wiring issues.
Wireless speaker kits are easy to set up and will generally work with any speaker that doesn’t have a proprietary plug. The sound quality will be fine for most listeners – if you can’t tell the difference between MP3 and CD sound quality, then you won’t be able to tell between wireless and wired sound quality either.
Most systems run the wireless signal over 2.4GHz RF, which is shared with wireless networks, cordless phones etc. so it is important to choose a good quality system to ensure the best listening experience. Here are three of the currently available systems which we recommend:
The rocketfish wireless rear speaker kit is the cheapest option to get good quality wireless sound into your home theater. The wireless receiver has dual 25-watt digital power amplifiers to power your speakers. Unfortunately, there is no remote control, so you will have to manually turn the system on and off. When you are using stereo mode instead of surround there may be noticeable buzzing and humming coming from the speakers. Overall though, this is a great entry level system to get rid of those rear surround wires.
The JBL WEM-1 wireless speaker kit comes in about $100 more expensive than the rocketfish system, but with the added price comes a few extra features. You get a 50-watt per channel amplifier (compared to 25 with the rocketfish), and there is a remote which means you don’t have to manually turn the system on and off. There is also an auxiliary input, which means the system can double as a wireless speaker for your ipod.
Coming in at just under $500, the KEF universal wireless kit is the most expensive add-on wireless kit available. While expensive, this system offers the best quality sound, with very minimal hissing or interference. Best of all, there are two separate receivers, each with its own 50 watt digital amplifiers. Having two receivers means that wire management will be even simpler as you won’t have to run wires to each speaker from a central amplifier. This feature alone justifies the extra money if you are looking for as little wiring as possible in your system, and makes this system the pick of the bunch if you can afford the cost.
Conclusion:
Wireless speaker kits offer a cost-effective option for reducing your wire burden while still maintaining good quality surround sound. These three systems will work with basically any home theater system as long as it doesn’t use proprietary cable connecters. If you are stuck with one of these systems, check to see if your manufacturer has its own wireless add-on option – most do.
Technorati Tags: JBL, KEF, rocketfish, wireless expansion module, Wireless home theater system, wireless rear speakers, wireless speaker kit, Wireless surround speakers
Phillips unveils a wireless HDMI solution at CES 2007, as well as a surround sound speaker system and a gaming sound system with lights and fans.
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Technorati Tags: CES, consumer, electronics, gaming, hdmi, mechanics, phillips, popular, show, speakers, wireless
Rocketfish Wireless Rear Speaker System
allows you to send a wireless signal from a sender unit connected to your receiver to your rear satellite speakers. Gives you full surround sound w/out running wires all over the place. The front speakers connect to receiver as normal. The rear speakers connect to the sender unit and transmit the signal to the rear via a receiver which connects to your rear speakers. It’s not “true” wireless, but it’s pretty close. It keeps you from having to run wires from your receiver to the rear satellites.
Recommend: You may need to purchase add’l speaker wire. The included wires are short and may not reach to your desired location
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Technorati Tags: best, blu, buy, DVD, fish, halo, home, no, nowires, playstation, ps3, ray, rear, rocket, rocketfish, sound, speaker, surround, surroundsound, system, theater, theatre, wireless, wires, xbox
Hooking up surround-sound speakers is step one to setting up a home theater. Knowing where to position your surround-sound speakers — subwoofers and tweeters, wireless or not — makes a huge difference in sound quality when watching a plasma or LCD HDTV.
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Technorati Tags: Dummies, For, home, set, sound, subwoofer, surround, theater, up
Have you wanted to have high performance sound somewhere in your house but couldn’t get speaker wires to that location? With the JBL WEM-1 wireless expansion module, great sound can be had nearly anywhere you want it without lengthy speaker wire runs back to your audio system. Come look at just how easy this high performance solution is to integrate into your audio system.
• Transmit music throughout your home
• Connect to virtually any system and speakers
• Add surround speakers to your home theater system without the trouble and expense of running speaker wires across the room
• Connect to your computer and enjoy your music library anywhere in your home
• Enjoy the music on your iPod or other portable music player
• Transmitter and receiver/amplifier may be mounted horizontally, vertically or on the wall
• Wire-management vertical stand included for receiver/amplifier
• Wall brackets included for transmitter and receiver module
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Technorati Tags: 2.4GHz, amplifier, antennea, audio, audiophile, Blu-ray, CD, CES, custom, DVD, easy, freedom, frequency, Harman, high definition, home theater, hot, install, JBL, module, movies, music, new, sound, speakers, surround, technology, WEM-1, wireless
Panasonic is looking to take the wireless home theater system experience one step further with the upcoming SC-ZT1 wireless surround sound system. The system uses 2.4GHz RF transmission to send uncompressed audio to four speakers, doing away completely with speaker wires. You will still need a power cable for each speaker, but without long speaker wires everywhere it will make for a much cleaner looking system.
The system uses just four speaker units, each consisting of four small speakers vertically aligned, with a 5 inch down-firing woofer at the base. Panasonic uses a virtual technology to give the illusion of 7.1 surround sound with only four speakers. There will probably be a noticeable difference between this and a real 7.1 system, but it will look a lot better in the home theater.
For those of us looking for a fully wireless home theater system, you can add a Panasonic VIERA Z1 TV and a DMP-BD80, BD70V or BD60 Blu-Ray player which have wireless video transmission, giving you fully wireless audio and video.
The SC-ZT1 is slated for release spring 2009 in the US, but there hasn’t been any further updates since the press release in January. For Australian consumers, it looks like it will be released in August 2009 as a 2 speaker system according to Gadget Guy.
This system is unlikely to be gentle on the hip pocket, but if you are looking for something that will look amazing without compromising too much on sound quality, then this should be on your wish list.
Press release at Panasonic USA
Technorati Tags: Panasonic, wireless home speaker system, Wireless home theater system, Wireless home theatre
Wireless audio has become more and more popular over the last few years, as technology has finally brought sound quality comaparable to wired systems. Unfortunately wireless video has lagged behind, leaving those of us yearning for a truly wireless home theater experience unfulfilled.
Hopefully, all of this is going to change in the next few years. Amimon, an Israel-based semiconductor company has developed the Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI), which promises to deliver high-quality wireless video throughout your home.
WHDI uses the 5GHz unlicensed band to transmit 1080p video at 60Hz with a latency of under 1 millisecond. It can transmit video at distances of over 100 feet. The transmission uses Hollywood approved HDCP 2.0 copy protection, which means that it should get the green light from movie producers who have been concerned in the past about all that copyrighted material being flung around wirelessly.
Currently, the chip is priced at $25, but as production increases, the price per unit is likely to drop. At such a low price, the WHDI chip is likely to get included in HDTVs, projectors, AV receivers, game consoles, computers, and basically anything else that uses or produces a video signal of some kind.
Imagine being able to watch wireless television from your wireless home theater system in your kitchen or bedroom at the same time, or even being able to watch the same video from every room in your house!
While the chipset is unlikely to be found in mass produced electronics for the next few years, the WHDI technology is likely to be available in outboard dongle-type devices within the year.
Story at DVICE.com
Technorati Tags: WHDI, wireless HD, wireless television, wireless video
