Tuesday 12 November 2013

Some Tips To Help Pick A Cordless Surround Sound Package

By Scott Humton


Various Secrets To Help Decide On A Cordless Surround Sound System

Getting audio from your living room to your bed room can be quite a problem particularly in buildings which are not wired for audio. The following technologies are utilized by products solving this problem: infrared, RF, wireless LAN and powerline.

Infrared is restricted to line of sight since the audio signal is broadcast as lightwaves and therefore products using this technology, such as infrared wireless surround sound products, are restricted to a single room.

RF wireless products broadcast the audio as RF waves - either by utilizing FM transmission or digital transmission - and can as a result without problems transmit through walls. FM transmission is economical but rather prone to static, audio distortion and susceptible to interference. Digital wireless audio transmitter devices, such as products from Amphony, utilize a digital protocol. The audio is first converted to digital data before being broadcast. Some wireless audio transmitters will use audio compression, such as Bluetooth transmitters which will decrease the audio quality to some degree. Digital wireless audio transmitters which send the audio uncompressed provide the highest audio fidelity.

Products which use 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 guarantee 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.

Products utilizing wireless LAN are practical when streaming audio from a PC. Their drawback is that they normally have some fairly high latency, i.e. the signal will be delayed by some amount since wireless LAN was not particularly designed for real-time audio streaming. WLAN receivers usually require purchasing a separate LAN card to be plugged into every receiver.

Powerline devices use the power mains to distribute music and provide large range but run into problems if there are individual mains circuits in the home in terms of crossing between circuits. Powerline products have another problem in the form of power surges and spikes which can cause transmission errors. To prevent audio dropouts, these products will usually have an audio latency of several seconds as a safeguard.

Make sure the wireless transmitter provides the audio inputs you need. You may need amplified speaker inputs, RCA audio 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 music signal from clipping inside the transmitter audio converter. This will guarantee optimum dynamic range regardless of the signal level of your equipment.

Check that the system provides amplified receivers with a digital amplifier to guarantee high power efficiency. This will help keep the receiver cool during operation. Also, make sure the amplifier provides low audio distortion. This is crucial for good sound quality. Make sure the receivers can drive speakers with your preferred Ohm rating. Picking a product where the wireless receivers have a small footprint and easy mounting options will help in the course of the installation. 5.8 GHz wireless products typically have less problems with interference from other wireless transmitters than products operating at 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz.




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