Wireless connectivity for home theater has been elusive over the years (refer to my article: What Is Wireless Home Theater?), but in the past couple of years some interesting products have appeared that offer some practical solutions that home theater fans can embrace.
This year, the Summit Wireless division of Focus Enhancements was demonstrating a wireless home theater speaker system with two important aspects: The system is easy to set up and the speakers sound great.
The key to the system is an outboard control hub (see example) that you connect your preamp or source outputs to. The hub has a transmitter that sends the audio signals to a set of high-quality self-amplified speakers. However, although the entire sound path is wireless it must be noted that each speaker must be plugged into an AC outlet in order to power the speaker drivers (see example). In other words, even though unsightly wires can be eliminated between your source components and the speakers, speaker placement is still dictated by the proximity of available AC wall outlets. Wireless power hasn't made it this far yet.
Another interesting feature of this system is that a provided remote control allows the user to change the speaker levels depending on the user's seating position. In other words, if you decide to sit off one side, rather than in the traditional center position, to watch your movie or listen to your music, a touch of a button activates a sensor on the remote that tells the system's control box to adjust the speaker levels so that the sound balance is the same as if you were sitting in the center position.
In fact, the system actually displays a graphical representation of were the speakers would be physically if you had to move them to obtain the new balance (see example). The whole process only takes about 5 seconds.
Summit Wireless/Focus Enhancements is not the maker of the speaker system shown, but makes the base technology that makes their wireless functions work. It is in the process of licensing there wireless technology to other manufacturers. If this type of system can be made into an affordable package, and is supported by speaker manufacturers willing to make high-quality self-powered speakers, wireless connectivity could be a game changer for home theater installers and users.
Proceed to the next photo...
This year, the Summit Wireless division of Focus Enhancements was demonstrating a wireless home theater speaker system with two important aspects: The system is easy to set up and the speakers sound great.
The key to the system is an outboard control hub (see example) that you connect your preamp or source outputs to. The hub has a transmitter that sends the audio signals to a set of high-quality self-amplified speakers. However, although the entire sound path is wireless it must be noted that each speaker must be plugged into an AC outlet in order to power the speaker drivers (see example). In other words, even though unsightly wires can be eliminated between your source components and the speakers, speaker placement is still dictated by the proximity of available AC wall outlets. Wireless power hasn't made it this far yet.
Another interesting feature of this system is that a provided remote control allows the user to change the speaker levels depending on the user's seating position. In other words, if you decide to sit off one side, rather than in the traditional center position, to watch your movie or listen to your music, a touch of a button activates a sensor on the remote that tells the system's control box to adjust the speaker levels so that the sound balance is the same as if you were sitting in the center position.
In fact, the system actually displays a graphical representation of were the speakers would be physically if you had to move them to obtain the new balance (see example). The whole process only takes about 5 seconds.
Summit Wireless/Focus Enhancements is not the maker of the speaker system shown, but makes the base technology that makes their wireless functions work. It is in the process of licensing there wireless technology to other manufacturers. If this type of system can be made into an affordable package, and is supported by speaker manufacturers willing to make high-quality self-powered speakers, wireless connectivity could be a game changer for home theater installers and users.
Proceed to the next photo...
Source...