Questions About Home Theater Speakers Wireless

Jack answers:

No problem. It will depend on how many and how far you are going from the source. Even Radio Shack has a set of two remote speakers good for a hundred feet or so for around $120. As in all speakers, the higher the quality, the higher the price.

Jack answers:

I won’t comment on your decision re HD DVD other than to suggest you consider it not as an HD DVD player, but as an upscaling DVD player that will play HD DVDs, and that you buy a basic model (e.g the Venture (rebranded Toshiba HD-A3) @ Walmart (US only) for $197 or an actual Toshiba HD-A3 (a bit more, but qualifies for the free disk offer)).

As an aside, I have a Toshiba HD-A2 and use it as an upscaling DVD player for DVDs on my 110″ screen HD projection system.

Regarding what you need and hints … I assume you have an HDTV or other HD display device (e.g. Projector). Also, to take advantage of an HD DVD player you will need HDMI (or DVI) connections to your HDTV (and on the A/V receiver if you want to use it for switching).

Depending on the size and the resolution of the HDTV you will get differing degrees of benefit from HD DVD (or Blu-ray). If it is smaller than about 40″ or a 720p model improvements to picture sharpness will be minor (relative to a DVD on a good upscaling player). Colour saturation and depth will probably improve somewhat though. On a 40″+ 1080p HDTV improvements will be more significant.

An often overlooked area of difference beteen HD DVD (or Blu-ray) and DVD is in the audio. The more advanced audio formats (which not all disks support however) can give a noticeably improved sound … But your audio system must be capable of reproducing the sound. Unfortunately, wireless speakers are (usually) less capable than wired speakers so you may not get the full benefit.

The single most significant change you can probably make to ensure maximum benefit from HD DVD disks and HDTV from, for example, HD cable or HD satellite (with your existing equipment) is to ensure optimum viewing distance. Basically this comes down to not sitting so close you see the individual pixels on the screen, but as little further back than that as possible without feeling overwhelmed by the screen. Guidelines vary, but 3-5X screen height or 1.5-2X screen (diagonal) size are useful approximations, with the closer dimension being more appropriate for 1080 HDTVs and the longer being more for 720p screens. These distances will seem short, and may not be acceptable to you given furniture and other room constraints, but they are the point where you will be able to most appreciate both the higher resolution and a movie theatre-like viewing angle (See the article at the link for an explanation and a useful viewing distance calculator).

Hope this helps.

Jack answers:

Look at the newer Sony systems. They have the Sony Air wireless system which is a 2 channel amp that receives a wireless signal and sends it to two wired surrounds. That’s the best setup I’ve seen so far. Otherwise, wireless speakers just aren’t very good.

Jack answers:

Unfortunately, the process of ‘converting’ a wired speaker to a wireless is more than likely more hassle than its worth. The reason is simple: the wire provides both the source information (ie, the sound effects or music) and the power information (ie, how loud it is).

While we hear everyday about wireless products, speakers require far more *amplification* than your average cell phone, wireless headset (which oftentimes use batteries that run out very quickly), or remote control.

Your best bet, as the previous respondent mentioned, is to determine a way to conceal your wiring. There are a lot of choices available, ranging from something as simple as white speaker wire carefully attached to the bottom of your baseboard, all the way to fishing wires through walls and in-wall rear speakers. Most likely that would be a whole new question.

Best of luck, hope this helps.

Jack answers:

Does your system have RCA audio output connections? If so, you should be able to hook up the transmitter for the wireless speakers there.