Wireless Surround Sound – Does It Free Your Speakers?

An increasing number of vendors has started to offer wireless speakers for home theater systems or a separate wireless surround sound kit. Multi-channel audio is still a relatively new phenomenon. As such in older homes which are not pre-wired for rear speakers, not to mention 7.1 speakers, a wireless option seems like the logical conclusion. But how reliable are these wireless surround sound kits and do they really eliminate the dreaded cable clutter?

Some wireless surround sound kits, such as the LG or Rocketfish allow to connect 2 speakers to a wireless receiver unit. This eliminates the cables from the front to the back. However, still cables need to be run from the receiver to each speaker and as such the amount of cables is just reduced but not eliminated. Another wireless surround sound product from Amphony comes with separate receivers for each speaker which in comparison to the other products does reduce the cable clutter, albeit not eliminate cables completely.

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.

Another issue to consider is that in a home theater setting is that the sound to all speakers should be in sync with the video and also in sync with each speaker. Some wireless units such as the Rocketfish will introduce a delay in the signal, apparently to cope with interference. As such you should investigate how much the signal travelling to the wireless speaker will be delayed. The Amphony product however specifies a delay of less than 1 ms which should be low enough for pretty much any real-world application. Finally, how reliable are wireless speakers and wireless surround sound kits?

One of the main issues with wireless devices of any sort is interference from other devices. As more and more consumer devices go wireless, the available frequency space becomes more and more limited. Especially the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz bands are exceptionally crowded, due to WiFi hot spots, cell phones with Bluetooth etc. Picking a system that avoids these frequency bands may be the logical choice, such as systems working at 5.8 GHz.

While wireless speakers and wireless surround sound 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.