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Monday, November 4, 2013

Some Tips To Help Decide On A Wireless Surround Sound Package

By Scott Humton


Some Guidelines To Help Choose A Wireless Surround Sound Set

The latest series of wireless surround sound transmitter products claims streaming of music throughout the house without limits. We will have a look at numerous products and technologies to find out in how far these products are practical for whole-house audio uses and what to look out for when buying a wireless system.

Infrared wireless audio products are limited to line-of-sight applications, i.e. only operate within a single room since the signal is broadcast as infrared light which cannot go through walls. This technology is often found in wireless speaker kit products.

RF wireless products send the audio as RF waves - either by utilizing FM transmission or digital transmission - and can consequently without difficulty transmit through walls. The least expensive choice is FM transmission. Products using FM transmission, however, have a series of drawbacks. These include degradation of the audio quality due to noise or hiss and audio distortion. In addition, FM transmitter products are also fairly prone to interference from other wireless transmitters. Products which employ digital wireless audio transmission use a digital protocol. Such devices include transmitters from Amphony. In this protocol, prior to transmission the audio signal is converted to digital data. This conversion and transmission in the digital domain will ensure that the original audio quality is preserved. However, 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 extent.

Products which utilize digital wireless audio transmission employ a digital protocol. Such products include transmitters from Amphony. In this protocol, before transmission the audio signal is converted to digital data. This conversion and transmission in the digital domain will ensure that the original audio quality is preserved. On the other hand, this is only the case of the data is sent uncompressed. Some wireless audio transmitters will apply some type of audio compression. Such products include Bluetooth audio transmitters. Audio compression will degrade the quality of the audio to some degree.

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.

Here are some tips for picking the optimum 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 buy extra transmitters when you start adding receivers in different rooms of your house. Some devices have some form of error correction built in which will help guard against dropouts in case of strong wireless interference. 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.

Here are some pointers for picking 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 buy extra transmitters when you start adding receivers in different rooms of your home. Products with some form of error correction will be more immune against radio interference from other wireless transmitters. Pick a digital RF transmitter to preserve the original audio quality, ideally one with an audio latency of less than 10 ms in case of video or other time-sensitive applications.

For high amplifier power efficiency and greatest sound quality, verify that the amplified receiver has a built-in low-distortion digital amplifier. Select a system which provides receivers that can drive speakers with the desired Ohm rating. Make sure the receivers have a small form factor and are easily mountable. This will help during the set up. 5.8 GHz wireless devices normally have less problems with interference from other wireless transmitters than products operating at 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz.




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