Wireless Home Theater system?

[Robert M]

Wireless Home Theater system?

Hi everyone,

A friend of mine is upgrading his home theater system. He recently got a nice Samsung LCD (I’m jealous!) and wants to enjoy great sound along with its awesome pocture. Currently, he has the TV connected to an ancient Aiwa mini-system and a A/V switch.

He doesn’t want or need a home theater system with a built-in DVD player. He’s got a DVD player and a Blu-Ray player. He grabbed a Sylvania from Radio Shack when they had it on sale. He doesn’t want to have to deal with picking a receiver and then matching speakers and other components to it. He wants to take the hoem theater system out of the box, connect it and enjoy. So, he’s a definitely candidate for a Home Theater System in a Box (HTSIAB).

Since I have an Onkyo HTSIAB that has served me very well, I recommended something along these lines to him:



Then he said he wants to go wireless. To the best of my knowledge, the typical home theater system with wireless is a regular system with wireless rear speakers. All of the other speakers are usually still wired. So, I went back to the drawing board and still considered a regular home theater system in a box is the correct choice but to whichever he purchases he can add the following item:



Anyone have any experience with the Rocketfish™ Universal Wireless Rear Speaker Kit? People who have bought it from Best Buy seem to be pretty happy with the system. While the RocketHish requires wires between the Home Theater Receiver and the Sender and in turn the Rocketfish receiver and the rear speakers, it is wireless otherwise. So, no wires running across the floor or around the perimeter of the room. Seemed like a viable option and will get him a HTSIAB that can be used wired or wireless depending on the circumstances.

Advice?

Robert

[Wailer]

I don't have great ears, but I cringe when listening to any wireless audio. I've never heard consumer-level wireless that doesn't have a hum, high-pitched whiles or crack and pop. Throw in 802.11x, microwaves, and ghz phones and I'd prefer to listen to the audio speakers from a TV in mono than 5 wireless ones.

This was 3 years ago when I tried wireless rear channel speakers. Maybe a lot has changed since then.

[Article Accelerator]

Robert M wrote:
He...wants to enjoy great sound along...He wants to take the hoem theater system out of the box, connect it and enjoy

An HTIB might be the best choice for him but he should be aware that "great sound" and HTIBs don't go together.

Then he said he wants to go wireless.

I believe wireless speakers still need a power connection. In other words, wireless speakers aren't wireless.

[BernDog]

So...

The receiver unit has an amp in it? What is the quality of that amplifier compared to the main A/V receiver? Would it posess the same frequency details, tone, and power as the main receiver? I know this is for surrounds only, and your friend apparently does not have discriminating ears, but I can't believe you'd get the same sound quality from that system, regardless of any other wireless issues. If the main criteria is eliminating wires, though, that may be a fair trade-off, depending on the listener.

Just mentioning other things to think of.

[mikebw]

Yeah, wireless systems are really not wireless at all. You need to provide power to the rear channel audio receiver, and still run speaker wire to the rear channel speakers. The only benefit will be that there is a wireless division between the front and rear of the room.

In my opinion the results are nowhere near worth the expense. You will end up paying more money for lower quality sound. I mean if that's what he wants... well maybe you should just get him a BO$E system...

I think it would be more worthwhile investigating how to discretely run two pairs of copper wire around to the back of the room. In my house I have tucked the wires under the baseboard moulding, behind the tack strip for the carpeting. I can fit a good quality coaxial TV cable in there and some smaller gauge copper, like 18ga.

[RAMd®d]

Not quite Home Theater, the Audioengine 2s or 5s, with the addition of their S8 subwoofer and W1 wireless adapters might fill the bill.

This is a 2.1 system, but would sound far better than a great many HTiaB systems. I'm betting a comparable sounding 5.1/7.1 system with the same superior sound would cost far more.

Assembly would be pretty straight forward, and would sound very fine indeed.

[Robert M]

Hi everyone,

I passed along your suggestions and we'll see what happens. My guess is that he'll go for a standard home theater system in a box and just deal with the wires. He's not an audiophile by any stretch. An Onkyo system like the HT-S780 would do the job nicely. Onkyo is known for making home theater system in a boxes that are on the better end of the quality spectrum. Mine isn't perfect but I've been very pleased with its performance. The sound is pretty good for a home theater system in a box. I just wish it had HDMI. It never occurred to me that I'd need it when I bought the system a few years ago. Maybe I need to look into a new home theater system! - lol!

Robert

[Wailer]

I'm not an audiophile. I bought an Onkyo HTIB, which was basically an TX-SR605 Onkyo 5.1 receiver w/hdmi (pass-thru), a decent DVD (SP-405) player that plays divx/xvid, a decent subwoofer and 5 oversized speakers. It was some Tigerdirect deal 18 months ago for $299. The MSRP on the receiver alone was $599 and the street price was $350, so I jumped on the HTIB with the plan to one-day dump the speakers.

I love it. The jump from plain-old TV stereo audio to 5.1 DTS or DD is more substantial than the jump from 480p to 720p/1080i. In other words, if I had to choose between watching a movie in 480p/5.1dts or 1080i/stereo, I'd always pick the former. 5.1 is just so immersing.

[Robert M]

Wailer,

I hear ya! You ggot an awesome deal! One of the good things about Onkyo systems is the receivers in the HTIB are often very similar to their non-HTIB equivalents. That's why I got the S780 way back when despite people saying I should avoid HTIBs. Ignoring that advice was a great move as the Onkyo system is fantastic. 'course, audiophiles will likely be disappointed by it but the average person enjoys the audio immensely.

You just got me thinking... I don't need a new HTIB. For myself, I just need a new receiver. The rest of the components are in perfect shape. Since I'm looking at wireless setups for my friend - I wasn't able to dissuade him - I'm going to look at a replacement receiver for my configuration - one that has the HDMI features I want these days.

Robert

[Wailer]

Robert,

When I bought my receiver, I thought I wanted HDMI. But I find that I don't use it on the receiver.

I tend only to use my receiver for certain movies and certain TV shows. In other words, I don't like to have to turn my receiver on just to watch TV on a daily basis and when my kids are watching DVDs I prefer they just listen through the TV audio.

So I run HDMI from my DVD and my HD satellite DVR to my TV. I then run digital coax from the DVD to the receiver and optical audio from the satellite to the receiver. This way I can watch TV w/o the receiver on and if I want better audio, I turn the receiver on. Much easier for the wife and kids too.

Maybe this would all change if I got a Harmony remote that made it easier to turn everything on with 1 button.