In this post I will take a look at some of the latest models of speaker kits which have hit the shelves. For those people who are not familiar with these products, let me give you a quick overview of what these kits actually are. As you may know, home theater systems require front speakers as well as rear speakers. More recent 7.1 surround sound systems even add two additional side speakers. These speaker kits essentially replace the speaker cable with a wireless link. The music is input into a wireless base which hooks up to the main AV receiver. The wireless signal then travels to wireless receiver units which are connected to the speakers. Some entry-level kits may only have a single wireless receiver which is connected to two speakers. More sophisticated kits such as the ones shown here have dedicated wireless receivers for each speaker. This reduces the length of the connecting wire between the receiver unit and the speaker.
The latest models of these speaker kits offer much higher audio fidelity than previous-generation models. In particular, while traditional models would send the wireless signal by way of FM transmission or as a 16-bit signal, the latest models boost audio fidelity by transmitting at 24 bits. This higher resolution improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the wireless signal quite a bit. Also, the sampling rate of the converters that change the speaker signal into data has been increased in order to improve the audio frequency range.
Other improvements that were implemented in these kits include the wireless range and audio fidelity of the integrated amplifier. The range of rear speaker kits typically was no more than 30 feet. However, newest models increase this range to around 300 feet. This range is high enough for using these kits for whole-house audio streaming. As such you can use these speaker kits for setting up speakers in virtually any room in your house as opposed to being restricted to a single room.
