Jan 1, 2014

Some Suggestions To Help Choose A Wireless Surround Sound Package

By Scott Humton


A Few Recommendations To Help Decide On A Wireless Surround Sound Set Recently more and more wireless surround sound transmitter devices have emerged which claim to bring the ultimate freedom of sending music throughout the house. We will have a look at numerous products and technologies to find out in how far these devices are practical for whole-house audio uses and what to look out for when purchasing a wireless system.

Lately more and more wireless surround sound transmitter products have appeared which promise to deliver the ultimate freedom of broadcasting music throughout the house. We will take a look at the most common technologies for wireless audio and give some suggestions for selecting the best wireless audio product.

If your house is not wired for audio then you face quite a challenge when you want to get your music from your living room to your bed room. Frequently the audio source cannot be moved. Running speaker wires between rooms will be costly and as a result many people are looking for other options. Products which resolve this problem are usually based on the following technologies: infrared wireless, RF wireless, wireless LAN or powerline.

Infrared is limited to line of sight because the audio signal is sent as lightwaves and therefore devices using this technology, such as infrared wireless surround sound products, are limited to a single room. RF wireless products broadcast the audio as RF waves - either by utilizing FM transmission or digital transmission - and can for that reason easily transmit through walls. FM transmission is inexpensive but rather prone to static, audio distortion and susceptible to interference.

Digital wireless audio transmitter products, such as products from Amphony, utilize a digital protocol. The audio is first converted to digital data before being transmitted. This conversion and transmission in the digital domain will guarantee that the original audio quality is maintained. On the other hand, this is only the case of the data is sent uncompressed. Some wireless audio transmitters will apply some form of audio compression. Such products include Bluetooth audio transmitters. Audio compression will degrade the quality of the audio to some degree.

Powerline products broadcast the audio via the power mains and provide large range. They run into problems in homes where there are separate mains circuits in terms of being able to cross over into another circuit. Powerline products have another problem in the form of power surges and spikes which can cause transmission errors. To prevent audio dropouts, these products will generally have an audio latency of several seconds as a safeguard.

Here are some suggestions for picking a wireless audio system: If you plan to stream audio into numerous rooms of your house, be certain to pick a system that allows streaming to multiple receivers at the same time. That way you don't have to buy a separate transmitter for each receiver that you are streaming to. Products with some form of error correction will be more resistant against radio interference from other wireless transmitters. Digital RF audio transmitters will be able to preserve the original audio quality. If you have time-critical applications where sync of the audio is crucial then you should get a transmitter with a low audio latency. An audio latency of less than 10 ms would be appropriate for most scenarios.

Here are some tips for choosing the perfect wireless audio system: Try to find a system that can run several wireless receivers from a single transmitter. Ideally an unlimited number of receivers should be supported. That way you don't need to purchase additional transmitters when you begin adding receivers in different rooms of your home. Products with some type of error correction will be more immune against radio interference from other wireless transmitters. Digital RF audio transmitters will be able to preserve the original audio quality. If you have time-critical applications where sync of the audio is important then you should get a transmitter with a low audio latency. An audio latency of less than 10 ms would be suitable for most scenarios.

Make sure the wireless transmitter offers the audio inputs you need. You may need amplified speaker inputs, RCA audio inputs etc. Get a wireless system where you can buy separate receivers later on. You should check 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. Pick a transmitter that can regulate the audio volume of the input stage. This will give you the flexibility to connect the transmitter to any kind of equipment with different signal levels. Otherwise the audio may get clipped inside the transmitter converter stage or the dynamic range is not fully utilized. Make sure that the system provides amplified receivers with a digital amplifier to guarantee high power efficiency. This will help keep the receiver cool during operation. Also, make sure the amplifier offers low audio distortion. This is important for good sound quality. Verify that the amplified receiver is able to drive speakers with the desired Ohm rating and that it is small and easily mountable for easy set up. 5.8 GHz wireless devices normally have less trouble with interference from other wireless transmitters than devices operating at 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz.




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