Wireless Surround Speakers - opinions?

SoCal_RT

SoCal_RT

Audiophyte
I did some searching and found a few threads on this topic here and there. I wanted to voice my experience and get others' feedback on the topic.

Thanks to great advice here, I'm now the proud owner of a Yamaha HTR-5860. Hooked everything up "almost" perfect first time around. Only running 5.1 speakers so far and hooked the wireless speakers to "back" channels instead of "surround" channels. Didn't take long to figure it out.

So...a while back I purchased a pair of Acoustic Research AW 871 Wireless Speakers. Never appreciated them much before cuz my old reciever had no preouts, so I couldn't really use them for surround.
Hooked them up to the Yamaha, set their volume to 50% (on the speaker itself) and ran the auto setup feature with the included Yamaha setup mic. They seem to work perfectly so far. I'm really happy with them..not as much on quality (which doesn't seem bad at all), but not having to run & hide wires across my room.

I've linked the speakers here. Anyone else using them or has used them in the past? Likes/dislikes? I'm considering another pair for my rear channel to go 7.1.

http://www.araccessories.com/Cultures/en-US/Recoton+AR/Product+Catalog.htm?ModelNum=AW871&CatalogNavigationBreadCrumbs=Recoton%20-%20Acoustic%20Research;AR%20Wireless&ProductDetail=YES

Thanks again.
 
R

rschleicher

Audioholic
I'm not sure I followed what your set-up now is - are you using a pair of wireless speakers for the back surrounds (channels 6 and 7)?

I'll have to try doing that. I'm just running a 5.1 set-up, but also have a pair of wireless speakers that I usually just use for temporary use outdoors. I run them off the "rec out" jacks, so they are getting the front left/right signals. Thus I can have music on my main speakers indoors, and the same music playing out on the patio for a party.

I have a Yammie receiver, so I should try using the pair of wireless speakers as either a set of back-surrounds in a 7.1 set-up, or else as the "presence" speakers in Yamaha's proprietary "presence speaker" set-up.

One interesting thing I found is that both my wireless speakers (which are Advents), and a set of wireless headphones that I also have (JVC), use the same freuqency range (900 MHz), as well as the same modulation scheme, and so both products will work with either product's transmitter. (In other words I just need to have one transmitter hooked up, to use both the speakers and/or the headphones.)

I have also seen a description of a two-channel wireless "link" from Kenwood, I think, that is meant to be used with a pair of regular speakers. The "wireless receiver" part of this product sits where you want to place the speakers, and contains a pair of modest-size amps to drive the remoted speakers. In theory this would let you use better-quality speakers. I assume the frequency response is somewhat limited - these products never seem to say what the actual frequency response is!
 
SoCal_RT

SoCal_RT

Audiophyte
rschleicher said:
I'm not sure I followed what your set-up now is - are you using a pair of wireless speakers for the back surrounds (channels 6 and 7)?
Actually, I'm using them on the Surround Speaker pre-outs. (4 and 5). On the Yamaha, apparently, if there is no surrounds recognized, they backs are off by defualt....so says the troubleshooting section of the manual. That's how I corrected my "lack of sound" problem.

Can you send me the link for the speaker models you're using? Do they split Left and Right signal? The AR's do.
 
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