subject: How To Choose Quality Wireless Speakers [print this page] How To Choose Quality Wireless Speakers How To Choose Quality Wireless Speakers
Speaker systems often cause problems to house-proud homeowners because somewhat ugly cables have to be trailed across the floor, attached to the skirting board or run across the walls. As an alternative to this, more and more people are purchasing wireless speakers. These enable the user to plug in a base station to an MP3 player, DVD player etc. And broadcast the audio signal to lots of individual speakers anywhere in the room (or in fact anywhere in the house).
They can often be attached to any kind of output port, which means they can be used with just about any piece of audio or TV equipment. When looking at the different options, they will usually either be available to broadcast at 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz. The most important things to consider, however, are the following.
The power rating of a speaker is one of the most important things that you should look at. This is a judge of how much power that can go into the speaker without damaging it. With a wireless system, the base unit and the speakers will usually always be purchased together so the threat of damaging one a speaker is minimal. However the power rating should still be looked at so that you can judge how much volume each speaker will be able to create (as a rule, the more power the more volume).
The second option is called the frequency response - this will be labeled on all types of speaker. As sound is simply the vibration of air at different frequencies, the lower frequency vibrations give a more bass sound, whereas the high-frequency vibrations give them more high-pitched (or treble) sound. The higher the range (or frequency response) of the speaker, the more authentically it will be able to produce different types of audio. This means that the higher the response, the better.
The sensitivity is another thing to consider, though it is similar to the power rating. However, in this case it tells us how much volume can be played through the speaker before we get effects such as clipping and other unwanted audio problems. Again, the higher the sensitivity, the better quality the system is likely to be.
As wireless speakers will generally be placed far away from the amp to create a surround sound type experience, the different parts of the room that each speaker is placed in may cause different audio effects. This means that it is useful to see if each individual speaker has its own bass, volume and treble control. This allows the user to tune each speaker to give to the optimum performance for the room.
For example, the Audio Unlimited range of speakers broadcasts audio to each individual speaker, whilst still maintaining a clear signal. They can be used up to 150 feet away from the base unit and, because they broadcast on a 900 MHz frequency, can be used anywhere, even with obstacles or walls in the way.
A quality speaker system no longer means that the user has to have cables all over their house. Wireless speakers are becoming cheaper and cheaper, and the preferred option for many consumers.
