Various Tips To Help Choose A Cordless Surround Sound Set
If your house is not wired for audio then you face quite a problem when you want to get your music from your living room to your bedroom. Frequently the audio source cannot be moved. Running speaker wires between rooms will be expensive and therefore a lot of people are looking for alternatives. The following technologies are used by devices solving this problem: infrared, RF, wireless LAN and powerline.
Infrared products send the audio as lightwaves. Light cannot go through walls. Therefore devices using infrared, such as wireless surround sound kits, are restricted to a single room.
Infrared wireless audio products are limited to line-of-sight applications, i.e. only function within a single room because the signal is broadcast as infrared light which can't go through walls. This technology is frequently found in wireless speaker kit products. RF wireless audio products send the music signal via radio waves. These radio wave signals can easily go through walls. The signal is sent either by utilizing FM transmission or digital transmission. FM transmitters are the cheapest alternative. They provide decent range but the music signal is prone to audio distortion and hiss and is extremely susceptible to interference from other wireless transmitters.
Products using wireless LAN are useful when streaming audio from a PC. Their downside is that they typically have some fairly high latency, i.e. the signal will be delayed by some amount since wireless LAN was not specifically designed for real-time audio streaming. WLAN receivers often do not have built-in network access. As a result, such products frequently require purchasing separate LAN cards. These cards are then plugged into each receiver.
Wireless LAN (WLAN) products are practical when streaming from a PC but will add some amount of latency or delay to the signal since wireless LAN was not originally designed for real-time audio streaming. Also, a number of products require to buy separate wireless LAN modules that are plugged into every audio receiver.
Powerline devices use the power mains to distribute music and provide great range but run into trouble if there are separate mains circuits in the home in terms of crossing between circuits. Powerline products have another challenge in the form of power surges and spikes which can cause transmission errors. To prevent audio dropouts, these products will commonly have an audio latency of several seconds as a safeguard. Now we'll give you some guidelines for shopping for a wireless system: Pick a system that supports multiple wireless receivers if you plan to stream audio to a number of rooms so that you don't have to buy a separate transmitter for each receiver. Products with some sort of error correction will be more resistant against radio interference from other wireless transmitters. Choose a digital RF transmitter to preserve the original audio quality, preferably one with an audio latency of less than 10 ms in case of video or other time-sensitive applications.
Make sure the wireless transmitter provides the audio inputs you need. You may need amplified speaker inputs, RCA audio inputs etc. Get a wireless system where you can buy additional receivers later on. You should confirm that you can get receivers for all the different applications you have. Such receivers may include amplified receivers for passive speakers or line-level receivers for active speakers. If you go with a digital audio transmitter, choose one with an input audio level control knob to avoid the music signal from clipping inside the transmitter audio converter. This will guarantee optimum dynamic range regardless of the signal level of your equipment.
For high amplifier power efficiency and greatest sound quality, confirm that the amplified receiver has a built-in low-distortion digital amplifier. Make sure the receivers can drive speakers with your preferred Ohm rating. Choosing a product where the wireless receivers have a small footprint and easy mounting options will help during the installation. Devices using the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band will normally have less trouble with wireless interference than 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz products.
If your house is not wired for audio then you face quite a problem when you want to get your music from your living room to your bedroom. Frequently the audio source cannot be moved. Running speaker wires between rooms will be expensive and therefore a lot of people are looking for alternatives. The following technologies are used by devices solving this problem: infrared, RF, wireless LAN and powerline.
Infrared products send the audio as lightwaves. Light cannot go through walls. Therefore devices using infrared, such as wireless surround sound kits, are restricted to a single room.
Infrared wireless audio products are limited to line-of-sight applications, i.e. only function within a single room because the signal is broadcast as infrared light which can't go through walls. This technology is frequently found in wireless speaker kit products. RF wireless audio products send the music signal via radio waves. These radio wave signals can easily go through walls. The signal is sent either by utilizing FM transmission or digital transmission. FM transmitters are the cheapest alternative. They provide decent range but the music signal is prone to audio distortion and hiss and is extremely susceptible to interference from other wireless transmitters.
Products using wireless LAN are useful when streaming audio from a PC. Their downside is that they typically have some fairly high latency, i.e. the signal will be delayed by some amount since wireless LAN was not specifically designed for real-time audio streaming. WLAN receivers often do not have built-in network access. As a result, such products frequently require purchasing separate LAN cards. These cards are then plugged into each receiver.
Wireless LAN (WLAN) products are practical when streaming from a PC but will add some amount of latency or delay to the signal since wireless LAN was not originally designed for real-time audio streaming. Also, a number of products require to buy separate wireless LAN modules that are plugged into every audio receiver.
Powerline devices use the power mains to distribute music and provide great range but run into trouble if there are separate mains circuits in the home in terms of crossing between circuits. Powerline products have another challenge in the form of power surges and spikes which can cause transmission errors. To prevent audio dropouts, these products will commonly have an audio latency of several seconds as a safeguard. Now we'll give you some guidelines for shopping for a wireless system: Pick a system that supports multiple wireless receivers if you plan to stream audio to a number of rooms so that you don't have to buy a separate transmitter for each receiver. Products with some sort of error correction will be more resistant against radio interference from other wireless transmitters. Choose a digital RF transmitter to preserve the original audio quality, preferably one with an audio latency of less than 10 ms in case of video or other time-sensitive applications.
Make sure the wireless transmitter provides the audio inputs you need. You may need amplified speaker inputs, RCA audio inputs etc. Get a wireless system where you can buy additional receivers later on. You should confirm that you can get receivers for all the different applications you have. Such receivers may include amplified receivers for passive speakers or line-level receivers for active speakers. If you go with a digital audio transmitter, choose one with an input audio level control knob to avoid the music signal from clipping inside the transmitter audio converter. This will guarantee optimum dynamic range regardless of the signal level of your equipment.
For high amplifier power efficiency and greatest sound quality, confirm that the amplified receiver has a built-in low-distortion digital amplifier. Make sure the receivers can drive speakers with your preferred Ohm rating. Choosing a product where the wireless receivers have a small footprint and easy mounting options will help during the installation. Devices using the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band will normally have less trouble with wireless interference than 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz products.
