Hi,

This is my first post on this forum so first of all hello to you all and forgive me if I waffle a bit....

Anyway, I am a final year student at the University of Derby and am currently working on my dissertation for which I am attempting to design and build a completely wireless 5.1 surround sound system. I have been researching quite heavily in to the field of already exisiting products but as yet have not been able to find any that have more than just two wireless channels as a supplement to the standard wired surround sound speakers. The AKAI ASW-24G seems close to having this extention but I am not sure that this system can be extended to encompass all of the speakers in a 5.1 system. Anyway just wondering if anyone has heard of a system that already does this and if they could point me in the right direction...

Thanks a lot all

Greg B

[gazbarber]

There are a number of solutions that provide surround from one box, the most popular being the yamaha sound projector which uses loads of tiny speakers to curve and bounce the sound arround a room in an effective and believeble way (depending on the room as much as anyting). There are also some which are a single speaker that requires a full 5.1 amp to provide the power, but still achieves the surround effect (better than the yamaha even reportadly).

As for actual 5 speaker solutions, the majority are 'all in one' (amp speaker and dvd player in one solution you buy from curreys) type things from Sony, LG and samsung ect... They have the 2 rear speakers with a reciever and the front 3 are connected into the amp unit. The rear 2 also require pluging into the mains as they don't work by induction or pixy dust.

There are the virtual surround systems created from 2 speakers too, altohugh there effectiveness is quite debatable and can depend on the source media as much as the speaker technolgy.

As for a full wireless surround solution it doesn't exist, plus as the speakers need a power source letting the fronts be pluged into the amp bit saves both on lots of plugs and also putting seperate recievers and amps in every speaker (i.e. costs money) when its 'unnecessary'.

There doesn't apear to be a high end soltion for porviding a seperates quality surround system, but most audiophiles would probably dismiss it (although the same one will by a £1800 power cable).

I did hear rhumurs a while ago that sony were experimenting wiht a wireless 5.1 system basicaly. the dvd/amp for had cables as did the sub. but the idea was that the additional 5 speakers plugged into the sub and charged once charged they could be mounted in the room and used. "Apparantly" Although i was told that in first tests they only lasted about 20mins before they needed recharging. but hey it was only a rhumur

[gazbarber]

As i said it makes little sense to make the fronts wireless from the amp as they need to be pluged in somewhere or have batteries, so unless you want to appease the complete wirephobe there is little practical point, nevermind aduioquality wise.

Thanks for your replies guys,

I have heard the roumors about sony's product as well, I have also read a few articles about all of the far eastern countires putting in a lot of research in to the field of digital audio transmission however i havent actually seen any products available yet...

My view is that if this system could be produced (within a reasonable price range) it would be a must have for many low end stereo users... I know that the audiophile market would probably dismiss this idea as the speaker quality would be slightly lower due to the digital RF transmission however for an average home user if there was a completely wireless system it would make setup and home installation much easier and would have a high "gadget" rating!! Also i would like to make this system so that it was compatible with already existing amps... Hopefully it would just plug in to the amp speaker outputs and in to the speaker inputs and the rest of the system would run as it would normally via mains power (not preferred for a wireless system) or possibly with a rechargeable Nicad or similar to supply power to the speakers hopefully with a better lifespan than the sony speakers!!

Anyway if you have any ideas how i could improve this idea please let me know or if you do spot any full 5 speaker systems during your wanderings in audioland give me a shout it would be really useful...

Thanks again

Greg B

[Nick_UK]

As others have already said, you would still need wires for power for the speakers. Since data can already be sent via power cables, the clever trick would be in sending the 5.1 data over the power cables cheaply and with no reduction in quality.

[dolph]

Sony do one with the rear speakers being wireless (althought they still need power cables..)

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/conten...~make~Sony.htm