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Guide to Wireless Speakers For Home Theater

Although there is a large selection of portable and compact wireless powered Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speakers designed for personal music listening, there is an increasing number of inquiries regarding the availability of wireless speakers that are designed specifically for home theater use.

Running those long, unsightly speaker wires required to connect speakers for a surround sound setup can be quite annoying. As a result, consumers are attracted by increasingly promoted home theater system options that tout wireless speakers as a way to solve this problem. However, don’t get sucked in by the term ‘wireless.’ Those speakers might not be as wireless as you expect.

What a Loudspeaker Needs to Create Sound

A loudspeaker needs two types of signals in order to work.

  • First, speakers need to access the music or movie soundtrack. This is provided in the form of electrical impulses (the audio signal).
  • Second, in order for the speaker to take the electrical sound impulses and convert those impulses into an actual sound that you can hear, the speaker needs to be physically connected to an amplifier, which can be powered either by a battery (most applicable for portable devices) or AC power.

Wireless Home Theater Speaker Requirements

In a traditionally wired speaker setup, both the soundtrack impulses and the power needed to make the loudspeaker work are passed through speaker wire connections from an amplifier.

However, in a wireless speaker setup, a transmitter is required to transmit the needed audio signals, and a receiver needs to used to receive the wirelessly transmitted audio signals.

In this type of setup, the transmitter has to be physically connected to preamp outputs on a receiver, or, in the case where you have a packaged home theater system that incorporates a built-in or plug-in wireless transmitter. This transmitter then sends the music/movie soundtrack information to a speaker or secondary amplifier that has a built-in wireless receiver.

However, another connection is needed to complete the process – power. Since power cannot be transmitted wirelessly, in order to produce the audio signal that is wirelessly transmitted so you can actually hear it, the speaker needs additional power in order to work.

What this means that the speaker still has to be physically attached to a power source and an amplifier. The amplifier may be built right into the speaker housing or, in some cases, the speakers are physically attached with speaker wire to an external amplifier that is powered by batteries or plugged into the house AC power source. Obviously, the battery option severely limits the ability of a wireless speaker to output adequate power over a long period of time.

by Robert Silva

See Full Story at www.lifewire.com

5 Tips to Design High-Performance Outdoor Audio Systems

Here are five important tips to help you achieve outstanding results:

1. Ask the Right Qualification Questions

The first step in designing an outdoor theater system is to assess the area and the homeowner’s needs. Some of the key questions to ask are:

  • How large is the space you have to fill?
  • How many viewers does the system need to accommodate?
  • Is the area hardscape (paved)?
  • What kind of programming is the customer most interested in: TV sports only, TV news, rom-com movies, action movies, or some combination of all?
  • What are the customer’s performance aspirations?

Someone with a high-ticket custom indoor home theater will likely have higher performance expectations than someone with only a soundbar indoors. These considerations will influence the type, number, and mounting locations of the speakers as well as amplifier choice.

For example, let’s assume the homeowner wants to watch mostly TV sports outdoors and the seating area is small with room for just a few seats on a paved patio.

In this case, a two-channel system with 5.25-inch two-way speakers, possibly with an on-ground subwoofer or an outdoor rated soundbar, would be adequate.

But be cautious of two-channel systems. Listeners seated well outside of the center “sweet spot” will lose the illusion that centered dialog is anchored to the screen.

2. Distance Determines Loudness

The outdoors is big. With no room surfaces to contain the sound and with the high ambient noise typically found outdoors, a critical issue in outdoor theaters is the amount of sound.

How much sound is enough? Sound outdoors follows the Inverse Square Law, where each doubling of distance between speaker and listener drops the output by an audibly significant 6dB.

If a speaker is playing at, let’s say, 70dB at 1 meter (~3 ft.), at 2 meters (~6 ft.) the sound pressure will be 64dB, and so on.

3. Use Omnidirectional Speakers

I have long been a proponent of omnidirectional speakers for outdoor listening, but not for the front channels of outdoor theaters.

For front stage (LCR) speakers, I’ve found that low to medium dispersion (60- to 120-degree) speakers best focus the mids and highs in the listening area and deliver maximum sound pressure where it’s needed.

Most speakers with forward-facing driver arrays are low to medium dispersion designs. Omnidirectional speakers are most appropriate as side and rear channel speakers in surround systems.

By Bill Kieltyka

See Full Story at www.cepro.com

How to Select the Best Home audio-visual system

For movie lovers watching a movie on an ordinary television screen is not the same thing as watching it in the cinema. Cinemas have a way of turning your movie experience into a memorable one. Nevertheless, with advancement in technology, you get the opportunity to turn your home entertainment into a cinema entertainment thanks to home av systems. A home audio-visual system allows you to change your home entertainment into something worthwhile. However, choosing the right audio-visual system is a challenge for plenty of people. Here are some tips you can use when buying your home theater system.

1. Establish the purpose of the home theater system

It is essential to know the purpose of your home theater system before purchasing the system. Music and movies have different requirements. Therefore, always first determine whether you require the system for movie or music. Identifying the purpose of the system will allow you to steer the performance strength of the system to either the music or movies.

Music and movies defer on the amount of sound they produce on the system. Despite the home system being a dual-purpose device, it is always a smart move to steer your system to your preference for better sound.

2. Determine the size of your room

The size of your entertainment room is also a determining factor when it comes to choosing your home theater system. If your room is big, then you can get a home theater system that amplifies the sound with little vibrational effects. However, if the room is small around 12 by 18 feet, then you do not require a home system with powerful vibrations. You can opt to acquire a small home theater system. It is essential to remember that the size of your room and the theater’s volume capacity are useful in determining your system’s performance.

3. The design of the system

A good home theater system includes a pair of bookshelf speakers or floor standing speakers, a center channel speaker, a subwoofer, and two side sound speakers. However, the set-up of the home theater systems is entirely different. A majority of subwoofers come as a combined single package that you do not require deciding how to place them. While others come as individual units that need you to determine the mode of the set-up.

Ensure you purchase a home theater system that best suits your budget. Buying a home theater system that comes as a single package instead of multiple individual packages is cheaper if you are looking to save some money.

By Alexia Hendrickson
See Full Story at aboutmanchester.co.uk

22 Tips to Obtain Better Sound of A High End Audio System

Most of the points stipulated below will depend on the capabilities of the system but more important, depend on the experience of audiophile. A poor system will not differentiate the points or less experienced ears may not pick them up either. That’s why some of the points below may not be regarded by everybody. I will be delightful if someone who reads that article picks up one or two points.

1- Listening at Night; Critical listening or equipment testing should be done in the night hours. This rule obviously applies to one who lives in a big city. Non noticeable city noise affects our hearing and we are basically not able to hear what our system delivers to us during the day.

Due to city noise is several times lower in the night, all hidden aspects in hi-end appear in the night and the system delivers its full potential. For more information, please check Noise (see for more details)

2- Heat and Humidity; Humidity and heat have serious influences on sound. Systems can not generate their best sound, power and dynamics in a warm and damp weather. I am not sure why this happens but it happens. There may be two reasons: The damp air is heavier in such circumstances, thus the loudspeakers are not able to pull enough air into the room. Or the loudspeaker materials may soften and behave differently in warm weather. Cooling the listening environment before listening session eliminates that effect.

3- Darkness; Music should be listened in dark room. Particularly, the loudspeakers and the system should be kept in dark and the original recording venue should be imagined while listening.

The main objective of a good quality hi-end system is to depart from the hardware and to go into the recording environment. Listening music while watching the hardware will physiologically demolish the virtual environment that we intent to be in. The most inconvenient part of a hi-end system is inexistence of visual imaging. The reality sense is so different when participating to a live concert or listening/watching from a DVD player via a surround system.

By Ozhan Atalay – NonameHifi

See Full Story at www.itworld.com

Tips for Choosing a Good Sound System

Choosing the right sound system for your venue is crucial to providing the best possible audio visual experience. Whether you’re a church, a retail store, an intimate restaurant or a stadium planning on enormous crowds, your sound system is crucial to everything that happens in your space. So crucial, in fact, that the audio sound equipment industry in America was worth $120 billion by 2016. Before you choose a sound system, educate yourself on the basics and what principles you should bear in mind for a PA system:

What Are the Sound Basics?

There are three important components to the system. First, you need a device like a microphone to change sound waves into an electrical signal. Then you need an amplifier to boost this signal, which at this point is pretty weak, to a level that will power a speaker. Finally, you need a speaker that will convert the electrical signal back into sound waves. When an audio video company puts together a PA system for you, they’ll be providing these three basics. Within those basics, however, there’s a lot of choice and variety depending on your specific needs and budget.

What’s the Biggest Consideration?

The most crucial basic issue for your sound system is power. The bigger your audience or the noisier your venue, the more power you need in an amplifier. If your venue is a place where sound reflects easily, this will bounce back and lower the perceived volume for the audience. This means you have to crank it up, and that means a high wattage amplifier. It’s usually wise to get something a bit bigger than you think you’ll need so it can work efficiently and allow you some room for expansion if necessary.

What Do You Want To Use Sound For?

Music, for example, has a lot more variety than just speaking voices. You’ll need an amplifier that can produce a wider range of audio frequencies, and you’ll also need more wattage. In fact, you might need double the power for music that you would need if you were only amplifying voice. Music also sounds better in stereo, and with more speakers, each one tuned to a specific frequency.

See Full Story at www.forumrating.com

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