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Wireless Surround Sound - does it eliminate cable clutter?

By: Gunter Fellbaum

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Recently more and more manufacturers have started to offer home theater systems with wireless speakers or wireless wireless surround sound speaker kits. From a homeowners standpoint, eliminating long speaker cable runs is certainly a big plus. Multi-channel surround sound is a fairly new phenomenon and as such many older houses are not wired for rear speakers, not to mention 7.1 systems. As such a wireless solution might be the logical conclusion. But how reliable are these wireless surround sound products in a real-world scenario and do these options really eliminate the dreaded cable clutter?

Looking at some of the available options for wireless speaker kits, you’ll notice that most of these systems, such as the products from LG or Rocketfish, will connect two speakers to a wireless receiver unit. Thus while these systems eliminate the speaker cable from the front of the room to the back, there still is a significant amount of speaker cable to run. A better choice would be a product, such as the wireless speaker kit from Amphony, which offers separate wireless receivers for each speaker thus offering a much cleaner installation.

When using a wireless option, probably the most important consideration is whether or not the audio quality is affected, i.e. does the audio pick up any noise or distortion during the transmission. A good rule of thumb when picking a wireless system is to use a system where the audio is transmitted in a digital format which will avoid noise common to analog systems. Further, the amplifier inside the wireless receiver unit should be of good quality and introduce minimal distortion. Finally, the size of the wireless unit is worth considering as this unit should be hidden from view.

In a home theater setting, the sound from all surround speakers should be in sync with the video and each other. Some wireless speaker kits, such as the product from Rocketfish, will introduce a noticeable delay. As such you should look at how much of a delay or latency the wireless will introduce to the signal travelling to the wireless speakers. The product from Amphony introduces a delay of a little less than 1 ms which should be low enough for pretty much any application.

The final consideration is how reliable are these wireless speakers and speaker kits in a real-world scenario. A problem facing any wireless device is interference from other wireless devices. Especially consumer devices in the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands, such as WiFi or Bluetooth devices, have become more and more widespread and cause an increasing challenge for any wireless device. Choosing a product that works in a less crowded frequency band, such as the 5.8 GHz frequency band, reduces the impact of interference.

While wireless speakers and wireless surround sound speaker kits are suited for use in a home theater setting, their use is not limited to that application. In particular setting up speakers in another room often poses a challenge in terms of running speaker wires or using speakers outdoors. Just imagine being able to set up a speaker in your backyard in minutes. The possibilities are endless.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Gunter Fellbaum has been developing audio and electronic products for over a decade. Get additional information about 5.8 GHz wireless surround sound and wireless speakers from Amphony's website.

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