Speaker technology moves fast.
If you are like all of us and all you want to do is come home and relax and listen to some music, well, deciding which speakers to bring home can be tricky.
As speaker technology continues to improve, it can be hard to keep up with the with all the latest trends, especially with work and the kids and everything else constantly battling for your attention. Fear not: If you’ve always wondered about wireless speakers and have never had the time to figure out just how they work, we are making things easy for you on the blog this week. We’ve put together a little beginner’s guide to wireless speakers and how they work, to better help our customers decide which type of speakers are the ones they should bring home.
All Wireless Everything
Much like traditional, wired speakers, wireless speaker systems come in a wide variety of sizes, speaker configurations, and options. But, instead of having wires connecting all of the speakers together, the speakers communicate wirelessly. Many of them actually use the same frequency range as cordless telephones!
Of course, we also do need to add one clarification that comes up with customers: Wireless home audio speakers are not truly 100 percent wireless, as they all require power to work. Sound bars, powered satellites, and powered subwoofers all have a power cable that needs to be connected to an electrical outlet. Wireless just means that they don’t need wires connecting them to each other.
There is a trade-off, however. Wireless speakers are great for large rooms or areas where you don’t want to run speaker wire all over the house. However, wireless speakers don’t have the same sound quality as their wired counterparts, though most people probably won’t be able to tell the difference. This is also a difference that is rapidly becoming less and less noticeable as wireless speakers only continue to improve.
As for home theater systems, wireless surround sound systems can come in both 5.1 speaker configurations – with five speakers and one subwoofer – or 7.1 configurations – with seven speakers and one subwoofer – giving you options to pick from depending on how many speakers you want. There is also the option of combining a sound bar with wireless speakers, giving you even more options to help make your home theater sound great.
Bluetooth on the Go
Home theater speakers aren’t the only ones going wireless, either. Portable Bluetooth speakers are popping up all over the place from many different manufacturers, and these can go everywhere from your pocket, the bathroom, and even on outdoor adventures. And they don’t require constant use of an outlet, but are instead rechargeable to be on the go with you.
Portable speakers use Bluetooth – another type of wireless communication technology – to connect to other devices, such as your cell phone. It makes connecting to each other and a wide variety of devices simple and easy and can usually be done at the press of a button.
These speakers also use rechargeable batteries, which means that you don’t have to worry about being tied down by wall outlets or other sources of power. You could easily take such speakers out camping, hiking, or even use them pool-side for some sonic swimming action.
Every Room Audio
Using wireless speakers in your house opens up the possibility of creating whole-home audio. For example, if you placed wireless speakers throughout every room in your home, you could create a situation where you could listen to whatever you wanted, anywhere that you wanted. You could put a record on in the den, and have the music follow you to the speakers in the kitchen while you are preparing for dinner. You could even have the music follow you outside to the patio speakers when the family all gets together to eat dinner.
You aren’t limited to just your record collection, however. Wireless speakers also give you home-wide access to your music library, streaming services, or even your home theater sound. If your family wants to listen to different types of music in different rooms, wireless speakers can help you do that.
Wireless speakers also allow you to create different zones of audio, giving you even more control over what you listen to and where you listen to it. Let the kids stream Spotify in the den while you and your partner wind down the evening with some wine and smooth jazz records. A wireless whole home audio system makes all of this – and even more – possible.
Pretty exciting stuff, isn’t it? Now that you know what wireless speakers are and how they work, you can start deciding how best to upgrade your own speaker system! Go check out our contact page and give us a call; we’ll be able to help you find whatever wireless – or wired – speakers will be best to really revitalize your home audio setup.