Wireless Speaker Adapters ?

[BioHzrd]

Im about to get my first house around the start of August and will be moving my current 5.1 system into the living room but the place as lovely Oak Flooring down that i do not want to lift and am not really willing to start cutting the roof down stairs to run cables so the question is, is there a system that exists to allow me to connect the two rear speackers of my Onkyo/Q Acustics system wirelessly and still retain my 5.1 Sorround Sound set up ?

Thanks for any help in advance !

 

[BlueWizard]

So, the real question, if I interpret correctly is, how do you hide the wires to the rear speakers?

Yes? No? Maybe?

To some extent that depends on the space. In some case simply dressing the wires neatly, and in a week or two your won't even notice them -

Self-adhesive wire clip, wire holder, latching cable clips

New LWC Latching Wire Clips

Search for assorted "Wire Clips" or "Cable Clips".

When the wires are pulled taught and clipped close to the wall/floor seam, they aren't that noticeable.

However, if you want to do it really clean, then consider conduit/raceways/trunking -

D-LINE - Home page

D-LINE - Trunking in the Home



D-Line is one of many brands, your local building or remodeling supply store should have many options to choose from.

Notice D-Line comes in a variety of common colors as well as woodgrain, and can be painted or stained.

Steve/bluewizard

 

[PSM1]

Wireless systems tend to reduce the quality of sound and also they are far from wireless. You will have a central receiver/amp att he back with speaker cable going from this to the 2 speakers. Since you effectly have to buy a receiver and amp for the rear speakers they tend to not be that cheap and even then tend to reduce sound quality. Using cables is by far the best option for connecting rear speakers. Is the flooring oak panels on top of a substrate floor or similar? If so is it a 'floating' design? Is there a gap between the skirting/wall/flooring that you could use to hide the cable?

 

[BioHzrd]

So, the real question, if I interpret correctly is, how do you hide the wires to the rear speakers?

Yes? No? Maybe?

To some extent that depends on the space. In some case simply dressing the wires neatly, and in a week or two your won't even notice them -

Self-adhesive wire clip, wire holder, latching cable clips

New LWC Latching Wire Clips

Search for assorted "Wire Clips" or "Cable Clips".

When the wires are pulled taught and clipped close to the wall/floor seam, they aren't that noticeable.

However, if you want to do it really clean, then consider conduit/raceways/trunking -

D-LINE - Home page

D-LINE - Trunking in the Home



D-Line is one of many brands, your local building or remodeling supply store should have many options to choose from.

Notice D-Line comes in a variety of common colors as well as woodgrain, and can be painted or stained.

Steve/bluewizard

No it was a question in the regards of not having to run cables on eh surface at all as even when done neatly or in trunking it looks horrible in my opinion, but thank you for the help.

Wireless systems tend to reduce the quality of sound and also they are far from wireless. You will have a central receiver/amp att he back with speaker cable going from this to the 2 speakers. Since you effectly have to buy a receiver and amp for the rear speakers they tend to not be that cheap and even then tend to reduce sound quality. Using cables is by far the best option for connecting rear speakers. Is the flooring oak panels on top of a substrate floor or similar? If so is it a 'floating' design? Is there a gap between the skirting/wall/flooring that you could use to hide the cable?

I did google it and seen on or two items as you describe and they weren't the smallest looking devices and I never really took into consideration the loss of quality.

It's a floating oak floor as you say when it comes to any gaps I am unsure as the house was fully furnished on viewing so could not see all skirting/wall joints, my only other option for running the. bales is to remove a length or two of skirting board but again I fear damage to the floor/walls/skirting a in the process.

 

[BlueWizard]

Did you not pay good money for good amps? If you have wireless speakers, you are not using those amp, rather you are using the small crappy amps in the small crappy wireless speakers.

Are there good wireless speakers? Yes. But they are not cheap. I mean they are really not cheap. Yes, there are cheap wireless speakers, but you have to make a choice, good or cheap, you can't have both.

As an alternative to wireless speakers, a far cheaper and more practical approach is to use some type of Trunking or Raceway, with will be valid and workable through many equipment upgrades.

Now, there are more wireless speaker available on the market, though they are typically for people who want modest sound quality and maximum convenience. Most commonly now, these are wireless speaker that interface with a Smart Phone for ease of music listening. Those wireless speakers will probably not work for you.

To practically use wireless speakers, you need a transmitter at the amp, connect to the outputs specifically for the speakers you are converting to wireless. Then you need speakers that have a receiver, and internal amps. If you can find that, if you can afford that, then fine. IF...

Lastly ...no such thing as wireless speakers... To drive the cones you need amps, to fuel the amps you need a source of power, the source of power is the electrical outlet on the wall. All wireless speakers of any worth need to be plugged in to the wall.

Now perhaps you can find wireless speakers that would satisfy you, but others will have to help you track those down.

Also understand what you are getting - Transmitter+Receiver+Amps+Speakers. That's a lot of "stuff" for a fixed amount of money.

Sorry to be so negative, but this question has been asked before with similar results, though I admit there are more and more wireless speaker available all the time. But most that I encounter are cheap ways for people to play their phone through real speakers.

So ...lots of money ...or... limited quality.

Steve/bluewizard

 

[BioHzrd]

I probably should have used a different title for this post.

I am not looking for "Wireless Speakers" In The sense of you above post more that I am looking for a Transmitter/Receiver setup that would allow me to use my current Q Acoustics without the need to run speaker cable to them wether that be under floor/behind skirting/in trunking the receivers requiring power isn't an issue neither is running cable from said receiver to each rear speaker it getting from one end of the room to the other without having to lift the flooring or removing skirting boards for fear of damage.

I know trunking is the easy method to do it but I'm not a fan I'm an electrician to trade and have had to install it in various situations an no matter what you do it still stands out like a soar thumb

 

[PSM1]

What is your budget? Airfonix do some good kit but it costs a lot of money. Kef and others do wireless kits i.e.:
A1 Sound - KEF Wireless Speaker System 2G
but again not exactly cheap. The reason the receivers are bulky is that you need an amp in them to power the speaker which means power supply etc. which all takes up space. I remember seeing threads a while back where people had gone back to wires because of the drop in sound quality when using an older Kef wireless system. Now they may have improved since then but then again they may have not either.
If it is a floating floor then I would expect the floor not to go to the wall and there would be a little cover type piece on the bottom of the skirting. This should be easy to remove without damage and give access to the gap to run the wires in. May be worth waiting until you get into the house before buying anything to see if running a cable is possible first.
In my current house the skirting boards were not held on by much (bit of no nails by the looks of it) and they came off very easily with no damage to them and easy to restick back on the wall.

 

[BlueWizard]

Just so we are clear, you, for the most part, can NOT transmit power, only signal. So on the receiving end you do need amps, whether they are in the signal receiver or in the speakers, you do need additional amps. It is unlikely that, at an affordable price, those additional amps will be equal to the quality of the amp in your current AV Amp.

If you are an electrician or electrically knowledgeable, then you know that as long as you have wood frame wall, and as long as you can get under those walls, you don't have to drill into the floors. You can drill up through the wall/floor seam and embed the speaker connection into the walls.

speaker terminal wall plate - Google Search

Being only marginally proficient in house electrical installations, I drilled a tiny hole in the floor right next to the wall in the area I wanted to install a low voltage connector. I pushed a tiny 'grain of wheat' light into the hole I drilled. In the basement/cellar, that 'grain of wheat' light allowed me to quickly find the edge of the wall. Then I drilled a larger hole into the base of the wall and ran my cable through.

I filled the tiny hole with a dab of wood putty, and when it dried, a drop of varnish. The hole was invisible once finished, and the cable has 'professionally' installed into a wall outlet.

Again, this only works if you have hollow wood frames walls.

Rapoo SE3 PC Wireless Speaker Receiver and Transmitter Adapter

Panasonic SE-FX65A Surround Digital Wireless Rear Speakers Sender Receiver Kit | eBay

[£24.64] - BX-501 Universal 2.4GHz Wireless Speaker Transmitter + Receiver Set - Grey + Black : Airyear Electronics Cheap Gadgets Shop

Alto Stealth Wireless 2-Channel Wireless Loudspeaker System | Sound | PA Speakers | ALTO | Lighthouse Audiovisual

I'm not recommending any of the above, simply pointing out that such devices do exist, though they are becoming more rare everyday.

Steve/bluewizard

 

[BioHzrd]

What is your budget? Airfonix do some good kit but it costs a lot of money. Kef and others do wireless kits i.e.:
A1 Sound - KEF Wireless Speaker System 2G
but again not exactly cheap. The reason the receivers are bulky is that you need an amp in them to power the speaker which means power supply etc. which all takes up space. I remember seeing threads a while back where people had gone back to wires because of the drop in sound quality when using an older Kef wireless system. Now they may have improved since then but then again they may have not either.
If it is a floating floor then I would expect the floor not to go to the wall and there would be a little cover type piece on the bottom of the skirting. This should be easy to remove without damage and give access to the gap to run the wires in. May be worth waiting until you get into the house before buying anything to see if running a cable is possible first.
In my current house the skirting boards were not held on by much (bit of no nails by the looks of it) and they came off very easily with no damage to them and easy to restick back on the wall.

Hadn't really set out a budget as I was unsure of price ranges for what I was looking for I would happily pay a premium for product that top quality but looking around no matter what device you look at the sound quality always comes into question and I'm not willing to drop money on something that will spoil my viewing/listening pleasure at the end of the day.

Yeah the plan is further investigation once I get in at the start of August, I have a feeling it is the same in this house with them being white manufactured skirting boards they are going to be glued and probably stapled (in a sense) to the wall

Just so we are clear, you, for the most part, can NOT transmit power, only signal. So on the receiving end you do need amps, whether they are in the signal receiver or in the speakers, you do need additional amps. It is unlikely that, at an affordable price, those additional amps will be equal to the quality of the amp in your current AV Amp.

If you are an electrician or electrically knowledgeable, then you know that as long as you have wood frame wall, and as long as you can get under those walls, you don't have to drill into the floors. You can drill up through the wall/floor seam and embed the speaker connection into the walls.

speaker terminal wall plate - Google Search

Being only marginally proficient in house electrical installations, I drilled a tiny hole in the floor right next to the wall in the area I wanted to install a low voltage connector. I pushed a tiny 'grain of wheat' light into the hold I drilled. In the basement/cellar, that 'grain of wheat' light allowed me to quickly find the edge of the wall. Then I drilled a larger hole into the base of the wall and ran my cable through.

I filled the tiny hole with a dab of wood putty, and when it dried, a drop of varnish. The hole was invisible once finished, and the cable has 'professionally' installed into a wall outlet.

Again, this only works if you have hollow wood frames walls.

Rapoo SE3 PC Wireless Speaker Receiver and Transmitter Adapter

Panasonic SE-FX65A Surround Digital Wireless Rear Speakers Sender Receiver Kit | eBay

[£24.64] - BX-501 Universal 2.4GHz Wireless Speaker Transmitter + Receiver Set - Grey + Black : Airyear Electronics Cheap Gadgets Shop

Alto Stealth Wireless 2-Channel Wireless Loudspeaker System | Sound | PA Speakers | ALTO | Lighthouse Audiovisual

I'm not recommending any of the above, simply pointing out that such devices do exist, though they are becoming more rare everyday.

Steve/bluewizard

Yes I am aware that at this present moment in time we can not reliably transmit "power" wirelessly, when that day comes my life will get a lot easier I hope !!!!!!

I appreciate the links, I see them being more rare purely for the effect they have on overall sound quality reading articles and reviews I will no doubt resort to running cables bit in what way I am unsure at the moment until I get the keys.

Cheers

Dean