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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

CS 1226T Plus – Two-Way 70/100 V SpeedMount Ceiling Speaker System

cs1226tplus

Two-Way 70/100 V SpeedMount Ceiling Speaker System

 

 The Extron CS 1226T Plus SpeedMount® Ceiling Speaker System is a patented low profile, plenum rated two-piece speaker system. It is comprised of a CS 120P plenum rated enclosure and a CS 26T Plus two‑way speaker cartridge. The CS 120P enclosure installs quickly into 2′ x 2′ (61 cm x 61 cm) or metric 600 mm x 600 mm suspended ceiling grids. The CS 26T Plus speaker cartridge features a 6.5″ (16.5 cm) woofer and a 3/4″ (1.9 cm) ferrofluid-cooled dome tweeter in a coaxial design, with an innovative tweeter bridge that delivers smooth off-axis response. It offers wide 112° conical coverage for flexibility in speaker spacing, and can be used in 70/100 volt or 8 ohm operation. The CS 1226T Plus is available as a complete assembly, or the CS 120P and CS 26T Plus can be purchased separately to accommodate division-of-labor installations.

 

Key Features

  • Patented two-piece speaker system for suspended ceilings in division-of-labor installations
  • Enclosure and speaker cartridge can be purchased as individual components and installed separately by low-voltage and AV system contractors
  • Provides significant time and cost savings in ceiling speaker installation
  • 3/4″ (1.9 cm) ferrofluid-cooled dome tweeter mounted on an innovative honeycomb tweeter bridge
  • 6.5″ (16.5 cm) long-throw woofer with a tuned bass reflex port
  • 8 ohm direct or 70/100 volt operation on a six-position, behind-the-grille selector

See more details at www.extron.com

How do I… get my Hi-Fi sounding right? 5 tips for perfect home audio

The world of high-end home audio is endlessly confusing. Buying and setting up speakers correctly is never straightforward, and more often than not results in money wasted and things sounding worse than they need to.

My flat is a nightmare for audiophiles. It has wooden floors, obtuse angles where walls meet and a large set of windows that run the entire length of one side of the building. The result is, no matter how hard I try, I can never get speakers to sound as good as they should.

Bowers & Wilkins were desperate for us to test out a set of its new 684 floorstanding speakers, but wouldn’t believe me when I said they would sound awful in the flat. Sensing a challenge, Bowers & Wilkins headed over to set the sound system up themselves, imparting some extremely useful home audio advice along the way.

Bowers & Wilkins

It’s important to note that firstly, Bowers & Wilkins didn’t let us keep the speakers and secondly, you can replicate this with any speaker brand out there. All you need to do is follow these tips and you should be able to get the most out of whatever audio system you purchase – or even have at home already.

1. First and foremost, think about your existing music library

First things first, before you even set out to buy a set of speakers, you need to think about what you listen to. Try and class your listening habits into a set of genres so that when you head to a shop to pick up a new sound system, you can tell them what music will be played on it.

This is because not every speaker is suited to every type of sound. Dance music fans will want something with plenty of bass, while classical listeners want a lighter, more detailed sound. Indie music is my thing, so Bowers & Wilkins suggested the 684s simply because of their more balanced mid-range and sound.

2. Positioning is more important than you think

Next up, you need to think about the space the speakers are going to sit in. Have a look around the room and consider any obstructions, seeing what could cause sound to bounce around unpredictably.

For example, having speakers set facing a window is a bad idea, while tables and chairs will all obstruct the path of the sound travelling from speaker to your ear. It’s a good idea to photograph the room itself and show pictures to the Hi-Fi shop staff – any decent retailer should be able to advise on speaker purchases using visual references.

By ***See Full Story on www.digitalspy.co.uk

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