Audio News for October 23, 2007

New Entry in Wireless Sweepstakes – Wireless connections are the hot thing in consumer AV now.  Users welcome the idea of getting rid of the wires connecting their speakers, headphones, computer mice and keyboards.  Although there have been some effective single-speaker surround arrays and semi-successful electronic processing using just two front speakers, most people are realizing that five speakers plus sub really provide the best surround experience. But then where to run the wires for those surround speakers?  The problem is that wireless speakers still need an AC connection to power their built-in amps, and audio quality is not only often compromised with wireless, but subject to interference, including other wireless gadgets such as phones.

Avnera Corporation, a new company based in Oregon, is hoping their wireless technology can make headway against the competition.  It communicates dynamically between the base station and the particular component, switching channels if interference pops up and using a backup datastream to make corrections if problems arise. Also, it packs all its facilities into a single chip, reducing cost and size.  The Avnera chip is already being used in  wireless headphones from Acoustic Research and surround speakers from RocketFish.

Wireless iPod Speakers – Some users have discovered that so-called wireless speakers often require even more wires. Since the iPod is battery-powered, it offers a good starting point for a really wire-free iPod dock with speakers, and that is what Griffin Technology has come up with in their Evolve Wireless Sound System.  It has two small speakers that are completely free of cables, powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries insides the speakers themselves. They can play ten hours before needing a juice-up, and can be placed as far as 150 feet away from the base unit.  The cradle also accepts a stereo input from any other source. SRP: $300.

Home-Theater-In-A-Box With All the Trimmings –  Most HTIB systems make many compromises in order to keep costs down, and the least expensive provide poor speakers, without the required electronics. Onkyo has assembled a promising complete HTIB system with electronics that requires only the addition of a video display for a complete home theater setup. The HT-SP904 system has five identical speakers with 3 1/8-inch woofers and a 1-inch dome tweeter, plus a large 230-watt subwoofer with a 10-inch driver.  The DVD player is a full 1080p upconverting unit, and the versatile AV receiver has FM, AM, XM Radio and Sirius satellite plus a remote interactive iPod dock. The receiver features the latest v. 1.3a HDMI connection to a display and also Audyssey 2EQ automatic calibration to set up the speaker system. SRP: $899.