Wireless Home Theater Speakers

Keepin' up with the Joneses

While the term wireless is bound to incite passions of convenience and modernity, take caution from those who have been swept up in a recent technological wave.  The innovation is just old enough to have generated some honest reviews, and many of them are on the fence. 

Wireless - more or less

Expect a wireless set of speakers to run more than $100 more than a superior sounding, albeit wired, conventional set.  This alone may sway you to humbly accede that the short time spent wiring your home theater speakers is valued just under the difference.  And all wireless speakers need a power source.  This is derived from several D batteries that need changing regularly, or - surprise, a wire. 

The benefits are substantial though.  Threading speaker wire through walls or carpet to your rear surround speakers is no small task.  And as long as an outlet is nearby, batteries can be avoided.  Then there are instances where hiding the wire is not feasible (or at least prohibitively difficult).  Wood floors can present this problem, likewise if you want to place your surround speakers on an end table. 

The price is right

Necessity and price should be your two main criteria.  Plenty of options are out there for two-way (not surround) wireless speakers, but again, they don't measure up to connected speakers in price or sound. 

If you want to spend it, entry-level, quality HTIBs (home theater in a box) are available for around $500. 

Panasonic has the SC-HT930 offering a CD/DVD changer, wireless surround sound (the wireless receiver is sold separately but is included in the price here), and a subwoofer.  For top-of-the-line, expect to pay just under $1,000.

Sony's DAV-FX100W is similar to Panasonic's, but the wireless is more reliable.

A final word, all wireless devices can lock up when traveling through the same channels.  Make sure the wireless home theater speakers you pick have dozens of optional channels or expect problems with your wireless phones, baby monitors, Wi-Fi, even microwaves. 

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