An Evaluation Of Wireless Surround Kits
The process of installing multi-channel audio speakers in home theater systems is rather tedious and vendors have invented new products and technologies such as wireless surround sound speakers or surround sound wireless headphones recently to help simplify the installation. I am going to look at various of the newest technologies that were designed to make setting up home theater systems a breeze. I will point out what to look out for when making your buying decision.
Whilst in the past setting up a TV has been relatively easy, the emergence of multi-channel audio has made installing home theater systems a good deal more complex by requiring a number of external speakers to create surround sound. In case of 5.1 surround, 6 speakers are utilized: center, left and right front, left and right rear and a subwoofer. Newer 7.1 systems require a total amount of 8 loudspeakers by adding 2 additional side speakers.
As a result the setup of home theater kits has become a relatively difficult procedure. A lot of houses are not pre-wired for surround sound. Also, long speaker wires are often unattractive. Some technologies have emerged to simplify this procedure. The first solution is also known as virtual surround sound. This technique will take the audio components which would typically be broadcast by the remote loudspeakers. It then utilizes signal processing to those components and inserts special cues and phase delays. Then these components are mixed with the front speaker audio. The signal processing is designed according to how the human hearing determines the location of a sound. The sound signal is then broadcast by the front speakers. Due to the signal processing, the viewer is tricked into thinking the sound is originating from virtual remote surround loudspeakers.
Virtual surround avoids the remote loudspeakers and simplifies the setup and also avoids long speaker wire runs. Then again, it also has a drawback. The form of each human's ear is somewhat dissimilar. Consequently everybody processes sound differently. The signal processing is based on measurements which are done using a standard human ear model. If the shape of the ear changes, sound will travel differently. Consequently virtual surround will not work equally well for every person.
One more option for avoiding long speaker wire runs is to use wireless surround sound devices or wireless loudspeakers. A wireless product contains a transmitter and one or a number of wireless amplifiers. The transmitter connects to the source. The wireless amplifiers connect to the remote speakers. This transmitter will typically come with line-level along with amplified loudspeaker inputs. Ideally it should come with a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.
Some wireless kits come with wireless amplifiers that connect to two speakers. This still requires cord runs between the two speakers. Other products offer individual wireless amplifiers for every loudspeaker. The most basic wireless devices employ FM broadcast. FM broadcast is susceptible to noise and sound distortion. More advanced devices make use of digital audio transmission to perfectly preserve the original audio. Be certain that you choose a wireless system with a low audio latency, at most a few milliseconds. This will ensure that the audio from all loudspeakers, including the non-wireless speakers, is in sync. Low latency is also vital for good sync with the video. A high latency would lead to an echo effect. This effect would degrade the surround effect. Many wireless gadgets operate in the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands. Some products use the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band and consequently have less competition from other wireless gadgets.
A third technology utilizes side-reflecting speakers. This solution is known as sound bars. The sound that would ordinarily be broadcast by the remote loudspeakers is instead broadcast by loudspeakers at the front. These front loudspeakers send the sound at an angle. Then the audio is reflected by the side and rear walls and appears to be originating from besides or behind the viewer. This solution works best in a square room with minimum interior design and obstacles. It will not function well in a lot of real-world scenarios with diverse room shapes though.
Whilst in the past setting up a TV has been relatively easy, the emergence of multi-channel audio has made installing home theater systems a good deal more complex by requiring a number of external speakers to create surround sound. In case of 5.1 surround, 6 speakers are utilized: center, left and right front, left and right rear and a subwoofer. Newer 7.1 systems require a total amount of 8 loudspeakers by adding 2 additional side speakers.
As a result the setup of home theater kits has become a relatively difficult procedure. A lot of houses are not pre-wired for surround sound. Also, long speaker wires are often unattractive. Some technologies have emerged to simplify this procedure. The first solution is also known as virtual surround sound. This technique will take the audio components which would typically be broadcast by the remote loudspeakers. It then utilizes signal processing to those components and inserts special cues and phase delays. Then these components are mixed with the front speaker audio. The signal processing is designed according to how the human hearing determines the location of a sound. The sound signal is then broadcast by the front speakers. Due to the signal processing, the viewer is tricked into thinking the sound is originating from virtual remote surround loudspeakers.
Virtual surround avoids the remote loudspeakers and simplifies the setup and also avoids long speaker wire runs. Then again, it also has a drawback. The form of each human's ear is somewhat dissimilar. Consequently everybody processes sound differently. The signal processing is based on measurements which are done using a standard human ear model. If the shape of the ear changes, sound will travel differently. Consequently virtual surround will not work equally well for every person.
One more option for avoiding long speaker wire runs is to use wireless surround sound devices or wireless loudspeakers. A wireless product contains a transmitter and one or a number of wireless amplifiers. The transmitter connects to the source. The wireless amplifiers connect to the remote speakers. This transmitter will typically come with line-level along with amplified loudspeaker inputs. Ideally it should come with a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.
Some wireless kits come with wireless amplifiers that connect to two speakers. This still requires cord runs between the two speakers. Other products offer individual wireless amplifiers for every loudspeaker. The most basic wireless devices employ FM broadcast. FM broadcast is susceptible to noise and sound distortion. More advanced devices make use of digital audio transmission to perfectly preserve the original audio. Be certain that you choose a wireless system with a low audio latency, at most a few milliseconds. This will ensure that the audio from all loudspeakers, including the non-wireless speakers, is in sync. Low latency is also vital for good sync with the video. A high latency would lead to an echo effect. This effect would degrade the surround effect. Many wireless gadgets operate in the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands. Some products use the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band and consequently have less competition from other wireless gadgets.
A third technology utilizes side-reflecting speakers. This solution is known as sound bars. The sound that would ordinarily be broadcast by the remote loudspeakers is instead broadcast by loudspeakers at the front. These front loudspeakers send the sound at an angle. Then the audio is reflected by the side and rear walls and appears to be originating from besides or behind the viewer. This solution works best in a square room with minimum interior design and obstacles. It will not function well in a lot of real-world scenarios with diverse room shapes though.
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