Wireless 5.1 Speakers

People always ask me if wireless 5.1 speakers, that is to say, wireless 5.1 surround sound speakers are the next big thing. I don't really know what to tell them, because I am notoriously bad at predicting the future when it comes to trends... but I do know one thing and that is that wireless 5.1 speakers are pretty cool!

If you look around the world, you find that Hong Kong tends to be leading the market at least in terms of research and development expenditures for 5.1 wireless speakers. And if there's one thing that the Chinese are good at, its trend spotting and jumping on new technology while the rest of us are sleeping!

2.4 GHz RF and Bluetooth: seem to be the way the technology is stacking up at the moment, coupled with forms of digital amplification, these are the latest innovative approaches that we are seeing at the moment. These technologies seem to be able to handle the wireless component of the speaker systems quite well, we'll just have to wait and see to be sure.

The advantages of having wireless speakers are very obvious. If there's one thing that I hate about my surround sound system, it's all the wires! I never expected it to be such a hassle, but it is. With no wires to worry about, you have much greater freedom as to where you place your speakers throughout your room.

There are some obstacles to the new wireless format: for instance there's an argument between the actual signal quality of 2.4 gH and Bluetooth systems and the perceived quality of those systems. Bluetooth technology, for all intents and purposes, usually has a transfer rate of 433 kB per second without tweaking it using asymmetrical transfers and things like that. The digital requires 400 kB per second and at the same time DTS uses up to 448 kB per second, so you see the problem right off the bat!

Another issue relates to an amplification quality for surround channels. But I'm not going to do go into that in any greater detail because it's pretty boring and I'm getting tired of typing.

And let's not forget, wireless speakers require electricity to run! That means basically that you need to plug them in. In order to plug them in you need wires to connect the speaker to electrical outlet. So basically you are just switching one wire for another! Of course, finding an electric outlet to plug your speaker into is much easier than running wires all the way across your room back to your entertainment system... so in that regard it's really much easier.

There are also infrared wireless speakers, but they aren't as popular overall. Most people find that the infrared speakers aren't as easy to use as the 2.4 GHz speakers..

One good thing is price... wireless speakers with 2.4 GHz systems are nowhere near as expensive as you might expect. Usually it's the exact opposite when a new technology comes out... we usually see a time of incredibly high prices followed by a consolidation in the industry before the prices finally drop. Not so with wireless speakers; at least for now the price is right.

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