Aperion Zona Wireless Speaker System

[AverageJoe]

If you have a multiple-zone receiver, and are not using all of the zones (and I'll bet that's most of us), this is the coolest thing for that extra zone we thought we didn't need.

I've been using Aperion's Zona Speaker System for over a month now, and they've been in almost every room in the house, and a couple places outside. Very good range, and the fairly compact size and versatile mounting options (threaded inserts in the bottom and on the back) make placement a breeze for just about any location. Each one is independently powered - not a passive speaker connected to a powered one with speaker wire - so each unit has it's own receiver and amp built in, and the long power cords for the speakers are great! Get them within 16' to 18' of an electrical outlet, and you're good to go.



We have a two story house, and the theater room is on the bottom floor at one end, with the receiver in a rack behind it. I connected the transmitter to Zone 3 and just set it on the shelf in front of the receiver. To check the range, I started at the other end of the house on the bottom floor and placed the speakers in the garage, about 50' away (and three walls) from the receiver. Powering up the speakers, it took a few seconds for them to "pair" with the transmitter, and then they were playing fine with no interference or distortion. Next, I went upstairs to the spare bedroom - opposite end of the house again, but just a little more than 50' away - and was fine against the near wall. When I moved them to the farthest wall, the speakers began to buzz a bit when I walked between them and the transmitter. Since there were a couple extra walls and the floor between the speakers and the transmitter now, I was still very satisfied with the range.



I also tried them outside - on the deck, and outside the entry - and the wireless performance was good. Exterior walls didn't seem to reduce the range as much as I would have thought. I suspect the floor contributed the largest barrier to overall range when they were placed upstairs (hardwood floors, subfloor, floor joists, insulation, ceiling sheetrock downstairs, etc.), but I thought it was still pretty impressive to reach every room in the house.



The audio quality was as much of a surprise as the wireless range. I've had a pair of Aperion's Intimus 4B's for a few years, and have enjoyed them as surrounds, PC speakers, and occasional outdoor use. I expected the Zona's to be a fairly similar version of them, with the wireless feature added on. However, to call the Zona's a "wireless surround" speaker doesn't really do them justice. After a brief comparison with the 4B's, I just couldn't help comparing them to anything else I had on hand (typical, whenever I get something new in the house), so I set them up against some passive bookshelf speakers in a casual A/B session, and they faired very well. The brief comparison would not warrant much in the way of "shootout" status, but of the 5 pairs of speakers including the Zona's, Infinity Classia C205's, JBL Balboa's, Klipsch RF-61's, and Atlantic Technology 2400's, the Zona was thought to be as good or better than all but the RF-61's which everyone seemed to prefer most (and even that was close). As I say, it was brief and casual, and the speakers ranged in price from around $200 to $675 per pair, so take it with a grain of salt, but I didn't disagree with them. I do like the sound of these.

The Zona's have bass and treble controls, and there appears to be a 10-step range from minimum to maximum level for each (I set each control 5 steps down from max for the comparisons), so I suppose it could be tweaked a bit for personal preference. In fact, I preferred to bump the bass up a couple steps when I used them outside.

With the weather we get on the Oregon coast, these are ideal for me to use outdoors instead of a permanently mounted solution. They are so quick and easy to setup, and sound so much better than typical weatherproof or in-ceiling speakers - not to mention only needing a single pair to move wherever needed. Other uses we tried out or are planning:

* Connected the transmitter to Audio Out ports of wall mounted TV (and tucked it behind the TV). No receiver needed to really improve audio quality of our bedroom TV.



* As mentioned, great for music outside on the deck, but also a nice option during Christmas for music to accompany outside lights, or for spooky sounds on the front porch to entertain trick-or-treaters (or scare them away if that's your desire).
* Not recommended, but I guess if you keep 'em at a distance: We have a jetted tub in the master bath - A bit better option than headphones as long as you keep them far enough away that they don't fall in. Ouch.
* I don't really enjoy my grandkids choice of TV programming - It's kinda nice to let them watch something in the theater room and have the speakers setup where I am (far away). When it sounds like Barney or Pokoyo or whatever is about to end, I can go in and change discs for them without listening to more than I have to.

Highly recommended!

[Hicks]

Great review, thanks for posting!

[Tomorrow]

* As mentioned, great for music outside on the deck, but also a nice option during Christmas for music to accompany outside lights, or for spooky sounds on the front porch to entertain trick-or-treaters (or scare them away if that's your desire).

Hey, I didn't know we were supposed to scare the trick or treaters on Christmas.

I agree with Joe. I was one of the listeners in this mini-comparo. I was surprised by the SQ coming from these little dudes. They are also smaller than I had envisioned. I wish I had used these for my HT Front Presence speakers instead of having to run wire from here to there and back again with wired ones. I'm also using a pair of Aperion 4B's (for the FP purpose). The sound from the Zonas is that of a much larger speaker...though they are nearly the size of the 4B's. Must be the bass pots boosting the bass.

[afterlife2]

Thanks nice review. Can you post more pics?

[AverageJoe]

Thanks nice review. Can you post more pics?

Haha - I thought maybe I over did it already with the same view, but in different settings.

RJ mentioned the sound quality of the Zona speakers being much larger than their physical size. Here's a shot for comparison - The Zona next to the Klipsch RB-61 (the JBL and Infinity speakers are in the background).