With so many things in home wireless now—why not speakers? There have been wireless speakers around for several years of course, though most end up performing poorly due to weak wireless signals or interference with all the other wireless signals floating around the air. Acoustic Research has come out with a system it claims is superior to all the others by using a spread spectrum 2.4 GHz frequency with something it calls QOS (quality of service) channel that continuously scans for and avoids interference.
The wireless speaker system is offered as a complete package of five extruded aluminum-constructed satellite speakers, each with two three-inch drivers and a one-inch tweeter plus a 125-watt class D amplified subwoofer with a 10-inch woofer. The front left, right and center channels get hooked up directly in a traditional manner to your surround sound speaker. For the rear channels, the speaker outputs of the receiver connect to the system’s wireless transceiver. The transceiver turns the speaker signal into a 2.4 Gz signal and sends it to the wireless speaker, which each have their own 50-watt amplifier. The rear speakers still need to be plugged into an electrical outlet, but you save the hassle of stretching speaker wire across the room.
No advanced degree is required to set the system up. The front left right and center speakers (the center is identical to the others except the AR logo is in the middle) connect to your surround sound receiver just like any other speakers. For the rear speakers, the transceiver module gets hooked up to the surround receiver either from the speaker wire outputs or the pre amp outputs. Then you plug the unit into an electrical outlet. The surround speakers themselves fit onto included pole-style adjustable floor mounts that fit into the individual 50-watt amplifier/receiver units. Each one must be connected to an AC outlet. Unfortunately, the electrical cord includes a rather large AC brick. Why couldn’t the company incorporate the transformer into the base instead of including something else you need to hide? The subwoofer hooks up like any subwoofer and includes volume, phase and crossover adjustments.
Once all is hooked up, go to the transceiver and receivers to switch them on and press the link buttons and wait for the green lights to signal that everything is connecting.
To give the system a good listen, I powered up a Samsung Blu-ray player with the civil war film Gods and Generals—lots of bullets, cannon fire and triumphant music.
First off, the main front speakers and subwoofer performed very well, especially considering the whole system sells for only $800. Dialog was clear amid bombs bursting in air and horses galloping to and fro. The subwoofer carries a lot of punch. It’s a bit boomier than higher-end subwoofers, but users who want to feel the soundtrack in their gut will get their wish.
But what about those wireless surround speakers—true to it’s word, the Acoustic Research system works. The rear receivers picked up all the surrround effects, without any delay that I could notice or interference from other electronic devices. When the transceiver was hooked up with speaker wire, I could detect a very slight hiss (the speaker inputs on the transceiver were not designed for the large gauge wire I used) but not when I connected the transceiver via RCA cables.
The wireless speaker system is a good solution for people dead set against lots of speaker wire. Interestingly, there’s nothing particularly unique about the speakers themselves, so in another form, this system could even work with other speakers. Maybe that’s something to look for in the future.
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