Lately more and more wireless audio kits have appeared which claim to deliver the ultimate freedom of sending music throughout the home. We will investigate if these latest products are suitable for whole-house audio. Also, we will give vital suggestions for selecting a wireless music system.
Getting audio from your living room to your bed room can be quite a challenge particularly in buildings which are not wired for audio. Devices which resolve this problem are commonly based on the following technologies: infrared wireless, RF wireless, wireless LAN or powerline.
Infrared wireless audio products are restricted to line-of-sight applications, i.e. only function within a single room since the signal is sent as infrared light which can't go through walls. This technology is frequently found in wireless speaker kit types.
RF wireless products will broadcast the signal as RF waves. These waves can without difficulty penetrate walls. RF wireless audio products either make use of FM transmission or digital audio transmission. FM transmission is cheap but rather prone to noise, 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 method ensures that the audio quality is entirely maintained. Some transmitters employ some form of audio compression, such as Bluetooth transmitters, which will degrade the audio to some extent. Transmitters which send the audio data uncompressed will attain the maximum fidelity.
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 purchase separate wireless LAN modules that are plugged into each audio receiver.
Powerline devices utilize the power mains to distribute audio and provide great range but run into problems if there are separate mains circuits in the home in terms of crossing between circuits. Also, these products build in a delay of a number of seconds to safeguard against transmission errors during power surges and spikes which prevents their use in applications where the audio from wireless loudspeakers has to be in sync with other non-wireless speakers or video.
Now we'll give you some suggestions for shopping for a wireless system: Go for a system that supports multiple wireless receivers if you plan to stream audio to several rooms so that you don't have to buy a separate transmitter for every 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 maintain the original audio quality, preferably one with an audio latency of less than 10 ms in case of video or other time-sensitive applications.
Select a transmitter that has all the audio inputs you require, such as speaker inputs, line-level RCA 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. If you go with a digital audio transmitter, choose one with an input audio level control knob to prevent 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 in the course of the installation. Products utilizing the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band will generally have less trouble with wireless interference than 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz products.
Getting audio from your living room to your bed room can be quite a challenge particularly in buildings which are not wired for audio. Devices which resolve this problem are commonly based on the following technologies: infrared wireless, RF wireless, wireless LAN or powerline.
Infrared wireless audio products are restricted to line-of-sight applications, i.e. only function within a single room since the signal is sent as infrared light which can't go through walls. This technology is frequently found in wireless speaker kit types.
RF wireless products will broadcast the signal as RF waves. These waves can without difficulty penetrate walls. RF wireless audio products either make use of FM transmission or digital audio transmission. FM transmission is cheap but rather prone to noise, 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 method ensures that the audio quality is entirely maintained. Some transmitters employ some form of audio compression, such as Bluetooth transmitters, which will degrade the audio to some extent. Transmitters which send the audio data uncompressed will attain the maximum fidelity.
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 purchase separate wireless LAN modules that are plugged into each audio receiver.
Powerline devices utilize the power mains to distribute audio and provide great range but run into problems if there are separate mains circuits in the home in terms of crossing between circuits. Also, these products build in a delay of a number of seconds to safeguard against transmission errors during power surges and spikes which prevents their use in applications where the audio from wireless loudspeakers has to be in sync with other non-wireless speakers or video.
Now we'll give you some suggestions for shopping for a wireless system: Go for a system that supports multiple wireless receivers if you plan to stream audio to several rooms so that you don't have to buy a separate transmitter for every 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 maintain the original audio quality, preferably one with an audio latency of less than 10 ms in case of video or other time-sensitive applications.
Select a transmitter that has all the audio inputs you require, such as speaker inputs, line-level RCA 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. If you go with a digital audio transmitter, choose one with an input audio level control knob to prevent 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 in the course of the installation. Products utilizing the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band will generally have less trouble with wireless interference than 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz products.
About the Author:
You can get further information concerning wireless audio receivers as well as other wireless audio models from Amphony's web site.