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Wireless surround speakers?

tinpanalley
I don't have any interest in sound bars. I have a 5.1 system, I just want to know if wireless speakers for the rear surrounds exist, if they're any good, and whether they can be used on any receiver. I have a new living room that makes it very difficult to wire them without being in the way.
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On 10/12/2022 at 12:15 AM, tinpanalley said:
I don't have any interest in sound bars. I have a 5.1 system, I just want to know if wireless speakers for the rear surrounds exist, if they're any good, and whether they can be used on any receiver. I have a new living room that makes it very difficult to wire them without being in the way.

You can buy kits that will convert any speaker into a wireless speaker (the kit will come with a receiver and a transmitter). They mostly work pretty good these days, but you gotta be careful what frequency is being used, otherwise you might run into interference issues (eg: causing WIFI problems, or when turning on the microwave, etc).

 

Many AV Receivers have wireless surround support out of the box, but you'll need to pair them with specific speakers that are compatible - usually vendor lock-in (same manufacturer for speakers and AV Receiver).

 

The vendor lock-in kits generally do work better, and the connection is more seamless and more straightforward.

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Very, very few "TRUE WIRELESS" surround sounds exist.  Because even if you remote the driver signal, you are still using wired connections to power the driver.

 

A true wireless set would have a receiver built into the satellites--and a rechargeable battery.  And each one would have to be charged individually when the batteries run low.

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6 hours ago, IPD said:

Very, very few "TRUE WIRELESS" surround sounds exist.  Because even if you remote the driver signal, you are still using wired connections to power the driver.

 

A true wireless set would have a receiver built into the satellites--and a rechargeable battery.  And each one would have to be charged individually when the batteries run low.

True - but in most cases, wireless surround generally refers to wireless signal, not the power supply. Running power cables to rear speakers is generally a lot easier than running Audio Wires to them - particularly in instances where wireless surrounds would be most useful.

 

Obviously it's up to the OP to decide whether wireless power is important to them, but for me, having to recharge the rear speakers would be far more annoying than having to run power to them. Personal preference at that point.

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I just have a living room that makes my current speakers hard to run cable for. But I'd rather do that. I was just wondering if wireless was something everyone was using because then it would be somethig I just didn't know worked well. I may have to investigate ways of running and concealing cables.

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1 minute ago, tinpanalley said:

I just have a living room that makes my current speakers hard to run cable for. But I'd rather do that. I was just wondering if wireless was something everyone was using because then it would be somethig I just didn't know worked well. I may have to investigate ways of running and concealing cables.

Wireless can work well - especially if you don't have much interference from equipment operating on similar frequencies.

 

But if you can manage to run the audio cable, the results are more consistent. I ended up going the way of Cable Track (I specifically used Legrande Cable Mate II (the larger rectangular cable track) but there is a lot of variety), matched the paint, and just went up the walls and across the ceiling. Hiding it in corners when possible really helps.

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Here's an image of the space @dalekphalm...


image.thumb.jpeg.d8dbe3b26078d1f75f92f9aef0386859.jpeg

 

We need to get from the right of the TV where the receiver is to the wall the couch is on on the left. There's a join between the hardwood floor in the living room and the kitchen ceramic tiles. Same join between the hardwood floor and the entrance tiles where the photo is taken from. In the case of the kitchen entrance it's 2m across, in the passageway the photo is taken from it's 1.5m. We have no problem at all running cables even if they're partially visible but we'd like this as clean as reasonbly possible.
Any help would be awesome.

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19 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Wireless can work well - especially if you don't have much interference from equipment operating on similar frequencies.

 

But if you can manage to run the audio cable, the results are more consistent. I ended up going the way of Cable Track (I specifically used Legrande Cable Mate II (the larger rectangular cable track) but there is a lot of variety), matched the paint, and just went up the walls and across the ceiling. Hiding it in corners when possible really helps.

I use something like this, and it runs directly from my entertainment stand to underneath the side of my sectional sofa.

 

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Legrand-0-438-in-Black-Overfloor-Cord-Protector/1000282097

 

If I was even pickier, I could probably throw an area rug or a runner over top of it, just for good measure--but it's not necessary.

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Have a look at yamaha music cast. It's one of the only things I can think of.

 

And usually it's a one specific product to work with one specific device.

 

It's not like you can buy anything and make it work with anything either.

 

It's entirely different from running a speaker wire to almost any speaker.

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