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.
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