A Number Of Tricks To Help Choose A Wireless Surround Sound Package
The newest series of wireless surround sound transmitter products claims streaming of music throughout the house without limits. We will look at different products and technologies to find out in how far these devices are practical for whole-house audio applications and what to look out for when buying a wireless system. Running music in your house can be a daunting task. Numerous buildings are not wired for multi-room audio and getting the music from your living room to your bedroom can be quite a challenge. Devices which resolve this difficulty are mostly based on the following technologies: infrared wireless, RF wireless, wireless LAN or powerline.
Running music in your home can be a daunting task. A lot of homes are not wired for multi-room audio and getting the music from your living room to your bedroom can be quite a problem. The following technologies are used by devices solving this problem: infrared, RF, wireless LAN and powerline.
RF wireless music devices send the audio signal via radio waves. These radio wave signals can without difficulty go through walls. The signal is sent either by using FM transmission or digital transmission. FM transmitters are the cheapest alternative. They provide decent range but the audio signal is prone to audio distortion and noise and is very susceptible to interference from other wireless transmitters. Products which use digital wireless audio transmission employ a digital protocol. Such devices include transmitters from Amphony. In this protocol, prior to transmission the audio signal is converted to digital data. Some wireless audio transmitters will use audio compression, such as Bluetooth transmitters which will reduce the audio quality to some degree. Digital wireless audio transmitters which broadcast the audio uncompressed offer the highest audio fidelity.
Products which use digital wireless audio transmission use 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 form of audio compression. Such products include Bluetooth audio transmitters. Audio compression will degrade the quality of the audio to some extent.
Wireless LAN (WLAN) products are practical when streaming from a PC but will add some amount of latency or delay to the signal because 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 employ the power mains to distribute music and provide great range but run into trouble if there are separate mains circuits in the house in terms of crossing between circuits. Another challenge confronting powerline products are strong power surges and spikes. Such surges can bring about dropouts in the audio due to errors in the transmission. To safeguard against these errors, powerline products generally build a delay of several seconds into the transmission. Here are some guidelines for choosing a wireless audio system: If you plan to stream audio into several rooms of your house, be sure to select a system that allows streaming to multiple receivers at the same time. That way you don't have to buy a separate transmitter for every receiver that you are streaming to. Some devices have some type of error correction built in which will help guard against dropouts in case of strong wireless interference. Digital RF audio transmitters will be able to maintain the original audio quality. If you have time-critical applications where sync of the audio is important then you should get a transmitter with a low audio latency. An audio latency of smaller than 10 ms would be appropriate for most scenarios.
Make sure the wireless transmitter offers the audio inputs you need. You may need amplified speaker inputs, RCA audio inputs etc. Make sure that you can buy additional receivers later on as you expand your system. Check that you can get receivers with speaker outputs for connecting regular loudspeakers as well as receivers with line-level RCA outputs. Choose a transmitter that can regulate the audio volume of the input stage. This will give you the versatility to connect the transmitter to any type of equipment with different signal levels. Otherwise the audio may get clipped inside the transmitter converter stage or the dynamic range is not fully used.
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 verify 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, select one with an input audio level control knob to avoid the audio signal from clipping inside the transmitter audio converter. This will guarantee optimum dynamic range regardless of the signal level of your equipment. Ensure that the amplified wireless receivers contain built-in digital amplifiers with low distortion figures. This will keep the receiver cool due to high amplifier power efficiency and offer maximum sound quality. Check that the amplified receiver is able to drive speakers with the preferred Ohm rating and that it is small and easily mountable for simple installation. 5.8 GHz wireless products typically have less trouble with interference from other wireless transmitters than devices working at 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz.
The newest series of wireless surround sound transmitter products claims streaming of music throughout the house without limits. We will look at different products and technologies to find out in how far these devices are practical for whole-house audio applications and what to look out for when buying a wireless system. Running music in your house can be a daunting task. Numerous buildings are not wired for multi-room audio and getting the music from your living room to your bedroom can be quite a challenge. Devices which resolve this difficulty are mostly based on the following technologies: infrared wireless, RF wireless, wireless LAN or powerline.
Running music in your home can be a daunting task. A lot of homes are not wired for multi-room audio and getting the music from your living room to your bedroom can be quite a problem. The following technologies are used by devices solving this problem: infrared, RF, wireless LAN and powerline.
RF wireless music devices send the audio signal via radio waves. These radio wave signals can without difficulty go through walls. The signal is sent either by using FM transmission or digital transmission. FM transmitters are the cheapest alternative. They provide decent range but the audio signal is prone to audio distortion and noise and is very susceptible to interference from other wireless transmitters. Products which use digital wireless audio transmission employ a digital protocol. Such devices include transmitters from Amphony. In this protocol, prior to transmission the audio signal is converted to digital data. Some wireless audio transmitters will use audio compression, such as Bluetooth transmitters which will reduce the audio quality to some degree. Digital wireless audio transmitters which broadcast the audio uncompressed offer the highest audio fidelity.
Products which use digital wireless audio transmission use 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 form of audio compression. Such products include Bluetooth audio transmitters. Audio compression will degrade the quality of the audio to some extent.
Wireless LAN (WLAN) products are practical when streaming from a PC but will add some amount of latency or delay to the signal because 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 employ the power mains to distribute music and provide great range but run into trouble if there are separate mains circuits in the house in terms of crossing between circuits. Another challenge confronting powerline products are strong power surges and spikes. Such surges can bring about dropouts in the audio due to errors in the transmission. To safeguard against these errors, powerline products generally build a delay of several seconds into the transmission. Here are some guidelines for choosing a wireless audio system: If you plan to stream audio into several rooms of your house, be sure to select a system that allows streaming to multiple receivers at the same time. That way you don't have to buy a separate transmitter for every receiver that you are streaming to. Some devices have some type of error correction built in which will help guard against dropouts in case of strong wireless interference. Digital RF audio transmitters will be able to maintain the original audio quality. If you have time-critical applications where sync of the audio is important then you should get a transmitter with a low audio latency. An audio latency of smaller than 10 ms would be appropriate for most scenarios.
Make sure the wireless transmitter offers the audio inputs you need. You may need amplified speaker inputs, RCA audio inputs etc. Make sure that you can buy additional receivers later on as you expand your system. Check that you can get receivers with speaker outputs for connecting regular loudspeakers as well as receivers with line-level RCA outputs. Choose a transmitter that can regulate the audio volume of the input stage. This will give you the versatility to connect the transmitter to any type of equipment with different signal levels. Otherwise the audio may get clipped inside the transmitter converter stage or the dynamic range is not fully used.
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 verify 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, select one with an input audio level control knob to avoid the audio signal from clipping inside the transmitter audio converter. This will guarantee optimum dynamic range regardless of the signal level of your equipment. Ensure that the amplified wireless receivers contain built-in digital amplifiers with low distortion figures. This will keep the receiver cool due to high amplifier power efficiency and offer maximum sound quality. Check that the amplified receiver is able to drive speakers with the preferred Ohm rating and that it is small and easily mountable for simple installation. 5.8 GHz wireless products typically have less trouble with interference from other wireless transmitters than devices working at 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz.
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