Wireless Audio
Guidelines For Finding The Perfect Wireless Audio Transmitter Device For Whole-House Audio Streaming
The newest series of wireless audio transmitter products promises streaming of music throughout the home without limits. We will examine if these latest products are suitable for whole-house audio. Also, we will give vital guidelines for choosing a wireless music system.
Running music in your home can be a daunting job. A lot of homes are not wired for multi-room audio and getting the music from your living room to your bed room can be quite a challenge. Devices which resolve this challenge are commonly based on the following technologies: infrared wireless, RF wireless, wireless LAN or powerline.
Infrared products broadcast the audio as lightwaves. Light can’t go through walls. Consequently devices utilizing infrared, such as wireless surround sound kits, are restricted to a single room.
RF wireless products send the audio as RF waves – either by using FM transmission or digital transmission – and can therefore without difficulty transmit through walls. FM transmitters are the least expensive option. They provide good range but the music signal is prone to audio distortion and static and is extremely susceptible to interference from other wireless transmitters.
Products utilizing digital wireless audio transmission, such as Amphony audio transmitter products, utilize a digital protocol in which the audio is converted to a digital signal before transmission. This method ensures that the audio quality is fully preserved. Some transmitters employ some form of audio compression, such as Bluetooth transmitters, which will degrade the audio to some degree. Transmitters which broadcast the audio data uncompressed will attain the highest fidelity.
Products utilizing wireless LAN are useful when streaming audio from a PC. Their disadvantage is that they normally have some fairly high latency, i.e. the signal will be delayed by some amount since wireless LAN was not specifically designed for real-time audio streaming. WLAN receivers frequently do not have built-in network access. As a result, such products frequently require purchasing separate LAN cards. These cards are then plugged into each receiver.
Powerline devices utilize the power mains as a medium to send the music. These products typically provide excellent range. However, they face trouble if there are a number of separate mains circuits in the home. In this case the signal will have difficulty crossing between these circuits. Also, these products build in a delay of a number of seconds to safeguard against transmission errors during power surges and spikes which prevents their use in applications where the audio from wireless loudspeakers has to be in sync with other non-wireless speakers or video.
Now we’ll give you some tips for shopping for a wireless system: Pick a system that supports numerous wireless receivers if you plan to stream audio to a number of rooms so that you don’t have to buy a separate transmitter for each receiver. Some products have some sort of error correction built in which will help guard against dropouts in case of strong wireless interference. Pick a digital RF transmitter to maintain the original audio quality, preferably one with an audio latency of less than 10 ms in case of video or other time-sensitive applications.
Pick a transmitter that has all the audio inputs you require, such as speaker inputs, line-level RCA inputs etc. Get a wireless system where you can purchase additional receivers later on. You should check that you can get receivers for all the different applications you have. Such receivers may include amplified receivers for passive speakers or line-level receivers for active speakers. If you go with a digital audio transmitter, pick one with an input audio level control knob to prevent the music signal from clipping inside the transmitter audio converter. This will guarantee optimum dynamic range regardless of the signal level of your equipment.
Make sure that the system provides amplified receivers with a digital amplifier to guarantee high power efficiency. This will help keep the receiver cool during operation. Also, make sure the amplifier provides low audio distortion. This is vital for good sound quality. Make sure the receivers can drive speakers with your desired Ohm rating. Selecting a product where the wireless receivers have a small footprint and easy mounting options will help in the course of the installation. Devices which function in the 5.8 GHz frequency band will have less problems with wireless interference than devices utilizing the crowded 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz frequency band.
About the Author
Brian Fuller has been involved with engineering wireless and electronic devices for over a decade. You can get additional information regarding wireless speaker kit products at Amphony’s website.
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