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Wireless Outdoor Speakers
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Hi Tech Wireless Audio Goes Garden
Wireless outdoor speakers are somewhat of a new item to the hi-tech garden landscape. For years theme parks have had outdoor audio and music piped around the park using” outdoor rock speakers” or speakers looking like a small pot with a cover. They understand everyone seems to love music in the home and in the car. Why not surround yourself with music outdoors as well?
Wireless speakers have come into their own in the last few years. For the homeowner, they made their debut on the patio – protected, but without the need for special wires. Now just like solar garden lights which are wireless, audio has moved to the outdoors and into the garden following the no-wire trend. Who wants the extra work of digging a trench to put in wire for speakers when wireless is the best option? Plus, even for the non-techie, setting up a wireless speakers system made for outdoor use is fairly easy.
Two Categories of Wireless Speakers
The wireless technology currently used by outdoor garden speakers come in two categories: RF (Radio Frequency) and IR (Infrared). Infrared technology speakers require what is called – line-of-sight – where a clear clean line of sight runs from the wireless receiver to the speaker out in the garden.
Radio Frequency technology transmits “waves” to send a signal from a receiver to the speaker. IR works fine in small areas but RF is probably the best as it eliminates the dependence on a clear line of sight signal. As with all wireless technology RF does some drawbacks as some frequencies many interference or disrupt the sound from the wireless speakers.
If you have a very big yard take into account the maximum distance of the speakers to the receiver when shopping for wireless outdoor speakers.
Small in Size – Big in Sound – Weather Resistant
Many outdoor speakers are small in size – about the size of a bathroom trashcan and sound quality has improved greatly over the years. These compact units like the Audiovox Acoustic Research AW825 Mission Style Wireless Speaker with their high-performance weather-resistant drivers can deliver crystal-clear reception up to 150 feet away. These “designed for outdoor use” speakers can handle most weather conditions.
Look for companies like Bose, Audiovox Acoustic Research, Audio Unlimited, Brookstone and others. Check out Amazon as they are an excellent source for Wireless Outdoor Speakers and products- for example:
Audiovox Acoustic Research AW825 Mission Style Wireless Speaker (Bronze) by Acoustic Research
Crisp-clear sound from your mp3 player, iPhone, iPod computer and yes your stereo too so you control the audio source. The weather-resistant wireless indoor/outdoor speakers deliver audio with amazing clarity outdoors on the patio and beyond. They are even expandable. The portable speaker design allows them to hang or stand making wireless installation a snap. The speaker housing is designed to handle a variety of weather conditions and elements.
Read more about wireless ooutdoor speakers on www.wireless-speakers.org
RCA Main/Stereo 900Mhz Wireless Speaker System Review
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How many times have you tried setting up your home stereo system, only to become entangled in endless wires? While one may think that this is how it has to be, there are many wireless stereo systems that you can choose from. But this is just the problem, how do you know you are purchasing a wireless stereo system that is worth your time and money? There are several features that you need to ensure of before you purchase a wireless stereo system. The most important of these is to ensure that the wireless signal is broad enough to fit the room your planning on putting your speakers in. The RCA Main/Stereo 900 MHz Wireless Speaker System, Model: WSP150 will provide you with the necessary features and technology to fill your entire home with high-quality sound, no matter where you place the speakers.
Main Product Features:
The main feature of this wireless speaker system from RCA is the versatility this product will provide you. With the ability to place these speakers either inside or outside, you will be able to entertain your guests with high-quality music inside on cold, winter days and during the summer you can move the party outside, complete with a soundtrack. How this wireless stereo system works is you connect your main base to your stereo, or your television. After you have done this, you are able to place the speakers throughout the room or outside within a transmitting distance of 125-feet. The signal is able to travel through walls and floors, so you are literally able to place the speakers anywhere in your home as long as you are within the transmit area.
Read more about RCA wireless speakers on www.wireless-speakers.org
How to Set up Surround Sound Speakers
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So you’ve bought that brand new home theatre surround sound system and taken it home in eager anticipation of sitting right down and watching the complementary Iron Man blu-ray they gave you at the shop. Boy, those sound effects are sure going to be awesome in full 5.1 sound!
But wait a minute, there’s an awful lot of speakers and wires here, an awful lot of connecting and setting up to do. Bummer! Iron Man’s going to have to wait a while.
While it’s true that a surround sound system takes a little effort and time to set up, it’s not really as bad as that mess of wires makes it look. There are essentially three areas you need to address: connection, speaker placement and volume level. Take them one at a time and you’ll be battling the baddies with Robert Downey Jr. in no time.
5.1 Layout
In a 5.1 surround sound system there are five speakers (front left, front right, centre, rear left and rear right) and one subwoofer. Each of the speakers must be connected to your receiver. The receiver is the box that decodes the sound signal and sends it to the appropriate speakers – often it will be built into your DVD player.
Connection
As movies have their sound separated into a number of different channels, and as each of these channels exits from its appropriate output on the receiver, it is essential that you connect the correct speaker to the correct output on the back of your receiver. Connecting the left rear speaker, say, to the centre output will result in the actors constantly talking behind your back (as the dialogue channel is always routed by the receiver to the centre output).
As you connect each speaker, label it with its designation (LR, RR, C etc.) – post-it notes are great for this. Labelling speakers at this point in the process will save you a lot of time when you begin to place them around the room.
Speaker Placement
Once you’ve connected all your speakers, you need to place them appropriately. Speaker placement will vary according to the size of the room, its acoustics and your personal preferences. However, there are certain general rules you can follow to get a good starting point.
Read more about speakers placement connectivity on www.wireless-speakers.org
Better Wireless Stereo
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More and more companies are hopping on the stereo Bluetooth bandwagon, despite the inherent limitations of using this wireless technology for transmitting audio. Of course you don’t have to go the Bluetooth route at all. There are many other examples of innovations in the wireless audio arena. Intellitouch, for instance, has just released the Eos Wireless speaker system, a much cheaper alternative to Sonos, the $1000 wireless home audio system (that price doesn’t even get you speakers!). Eos is less sleek and more barebones—no Rhapsody tie-in, for instance, but it works and a starter set goes for $300—speakers included. The sound won’t knock your socks off either, but the price won’t leave you with buyer’s remorse.
Creative’s X-Dock and X-Fi Receiver combo works as well, and also starts at $300. Both systems have unimpressive remotes (you’ll have only limited iPod navigation with no screen on the remote itself). The Creative docks lack speakers too, so you’ll need an extra pair—that’s the main difference between the X-Fi receiver and the Eos receiver…but some may view this as an advantage, as the Eos system has underwhelming bass.
Chestnut Hill Sound makes another wireless option of sorts, the George iPod dock. While George doesn’t wirelessly transmit audio to remote speakers, it does have an amazing wireless remote with good range. The screen on the remote completely recreates your iPod’s menu and navigation is easy. Want to change the EQ or listen to the radio? It’s got that, too—all on the remote. Sure, it’s not wireless audio transmission, but it is wireless control of your music, and depending on your set-up, that could be just as useful. Also, the George also sounds simply amazing—it had better for $549.
Read more about wireless stereo speakers on www.wireless-speakers.org
Wireless Speakers Review: Wireless Speaker Systems Right For You?
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I love music – in fact, I am listening to music as I type this post, so a good pair of speakers is quite necessary in my opinion. Speakers have come a long way, and there is now technology that allows sound to pass through a good set of speakers as if it actually made the noise around you. Not only is there a way to make sound actually sound as realistic as possible, but do so without any wires whatsoever. The technology is catching on as you can now buy wireless computer speakers, outdoor wireless speakers, wireless laptop speakers and the list keeps growing. So how does this technology work, and is the quality just as good as a set of wired speakers? I’ll answer those questions and more as well as tell you why I absolutely love wireless speakers.
First, you have to understand how speakers actually work before I get to wireless speakers. Though I am not a technical guy, I do know a thing or two about speakers from all those music classes in college so I’ll give you a rather rudimentary – yet brief -understanding of how speakers work. Obviously, speakers are opposite to a microphone, so a microphone is used to capture audio and a speaker is used to play the audio captured; This audio is called impulses. Our ears cannot hear impulses, so that is where speakers come in. They translate those impulses into vibrations (using awesome technology) that our ears can understand. Therefore, we have music which is pleasing to the ears — sometimes. 
That is basically how speakers work. Of course, there are much more details involved, however, I will spare you from boredom. Whether the speakers are wired or wireless, the technology behind playing music through them is generally the same. However, the technology behind making a speaker wireless or wired is, as you might expect, a little different. Wireless speakers must come with a transmitter that sends the audio signal to the wireless speakers. Most transmitters have a standard input connection in the transmitter that allow you to connect any audio device to it. You can connect a CD player, an MP3 player or any thing that has audio output. There are several frequencies at which wireless speakers operate: 900Mhz, 2.4Ghz and 5.8Ghz and even 1.9Ghz using DECT 6.0 technology. Generally the less congested frequency band has better reception and sound quality based on the environment you are operating the wireless audio speaker. Another type of technology around wireless speakers is bluetooth which is a unique and complex wireless speaker method, but a technology that has flourished and will continue to do so.
Once the sound source is plugged into the transmitter, you should be able to take your wireless speakers any where within the specified range and turn them on, and listen to your audio source. Some transmitters or speakers have a frequency nob that you can adjust to change the channel get the best audio quality and some wireless speakers change the channels automatically.
Read more about wireless speakers reviews on www.wireless-speakers.org
Sony Wireless Digital Audio VGF-WA1 speaker system
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Today’s world of digital music gives us lots of choices to enjoy music every day. The problem with digital music is that the files are either all stored on computer, be it a personal or family computer, or on a portable music player. If you want to listen to your music you have to either listen to a portable MP3 player or be sitting in front of you computer. But what happens when you have guests over and you want to play that music for them? You have a few choices, either play the computer speakers as loud as they can go, hook up your MP3 player to a stereo system, or pull out some portable speakers that you can play your MP3 player on. What if you didn’t have to do all this just to play your music? What if you could play your music wirelessly streamed directly from the computer that all of the music files are on. The Sony Wireless Digital Audio Streamer WA1, lets you do all this and just a little more in one simple package.
The Audio Streamer is a simple way to play your music on your computer anywhere in your house as long as it stays within wireless range. The way the streamer works is that when you set up the speaker base you have two options of connecting it to your computer. You can either use the included wireless adapter that is already paired for use with it, or if you have a wireless network deployed across your home you can connect the speaker base to the wireless network. The VGF-WA1 supports ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus, MP3, WMA, AAC, WAVE, Linear PCM, protected (DRM) ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus, and AAC files are not supported.
Read more about sony wireless speakers on www.wireless-speakers.org
Electronic devices: how speakers work
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Electronic speakers may have complicated features and configurations, but they all operate on a simple combination of electromagnetics and soundwave production.
Before examining how electronic speakers actually work, it might be helpful to understand the scientific principles behind sound generation. Many of us have heard the old riddle “If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?” For our purposes, the answer is no. The tree may very well push a lot of air out of the way as it falls, but ‘sound’ is a phenomenon which occurs in the listener’s mind. Humans have sensitive eardrums which receive waves of air pressure from a vibrating or moving object. In and of themselves these waves of air pressure are meaningless, but our ears feed this information to our brain, which in turn translate these waves into recognizable sounds. The tree in our riddle can be large or small, far or distant. What it generates is disturbances in the air, which we TRANSLATE as sound.
If we apply that same principle to the world of electronic sound reproduction, we see that speakers duplicate the work of the tree. Speakers also disturb the air in front of them, causing soundwaves to be projected through space. Eventually our ears pick up enough of these waves to send to our brains. In turn, our brains convert the vibrations into music or speech or even unintelligible noise. Our ears are usually passive receivers- they will feed any and all external noises to the brain without interpretation or prejudice. Our brains must decide which sounds are worthwhile and which are ignorable. This is why you can listen to a stereo and not realize the air conditioner is running- your brain can filter out extraneous soundwaves.
So how does a speaker actually work? The answer lies in a combination of electromagnetism and human comprehension. A speaker is made of several important components: a permanent magnet, an electromagnet called a voice coil, a suspension device called a spider, and a conical membrane called a cone. All of these parts are held in place by a metallic structure called a basket.
A vibrating object such as a guitar string generates soundwaves much like rings on a pond. These waves are actually disturbances in the air which radiate in a steady pattern or frequency. A sensitive microphone has a thin piece of material which begins to duplicate the wavelength of the guitar string because air particles are striking it. This vibration is turned into electronic impulses and recorded on an electronic storage medium (CD, cassette tape, vinyl album, etc.). When the medium is placed inside an appropriate player, the electronic impulses are fed through an amplification system which can increase the volume (amplitude) of the signals. These signals are sent out to the speakers.
Read more about how speakers work on www.wireless-speakers.org
Rock Speakers and Planters
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I think today wherever there’s a human being, there’s a pair of speakers. Perhaps you can’t imagine your living without your home theater system. In the bedroom, you still want to listen to your favorite Cd’s. The shortest car ride is unbearable without a decent stereo and a pair of speakers. Newly, this goes for boat rides, too. The more recent wireless technology allows you to have speakers in the garden, in the garage or wherever you have things to do. But loudspeaker manufacturers don’t settle for this, when it comes to outdoor use. They want speakers that black out and melt into the environment. They want 100% weatherproof. They want naturalistic design. And the answer to all their wishes has materialized itself into the planter and rock speakers. The biggest rocks in this field are Stereostone, Rockustics and SpeakerCraft. When it comes to rocking and rolling stones they can make all your wishes come true. Just try them by sending over a piece of rock from your garden. They’ll send back the design of a prototype speaker that looks exactly like your rock.
How to recognize a rock speaker
If you are in a friend’s garden, music is all around but you don’t know where it comes from, be sure that the speakers are hiding in the form of some rocks or flower pots. These speakers are especially designed for outdoor use, which means that they are 100% weatherproof. They are completely sealed, using insulating materials that are made to hold up in extreme weather conditions. In aspect, both Rockustics and Stereostone speakers got inspired from mother nature. They have that grainy look, irregular shape of natural rocks, heavy appearance heavy, but are entirely made of light, synthetic, materials. Most buying guides recommend looking for speakers that are made of good weatherproof materials like: coated aluminum, stainless steel, polypropylene.
Do rock speakers really rock?
They sure do! What we like most about these speakers is how you can use them to impress your kids. Flower pots that sing and rocks that tell stories, this is as close as technology can get to a fairy tale. If you have doubts about their performance level, don’t. Of course, they can’t compete by far with the audio quality of a high performing audio system or to the home theater experience. But they sound pretty well. Rock speakers and planters are meant to please the ear while they don’t bug the eye. The major advantage is they come close to you, and you don’t have to play them that loud. This way you won’t keep the neighbors up at night just because you are giving a back yard party. The major drawback? Though they are designed mostly for outdoor use, they’re all wired. But this inconvenient can be solved through a few placement tricks.
Read more about rock speakers planters on www.wireless-speakers.org
Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 Wireless Speakers
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Klipsch storms its way onto our Best of the Best list
Every portable computer, from the brawniest desktop replacement to the tiniest netbook, has one thing in common: terrible speakers. There’s no shortage of powered speaker systems on the market—some of which are very good—but what’s the point of using a laptop if you have to tether it to a box to get good sound?
Klipsch has a better solution: The ProMedia 2.1 Wireless uses a USB transmitter to send audio from the host PC to the speakers over the airwaves. The speakers themselves are all hardwired, with the amplifier tucked inside the subwoofer. And lordy, what a subwoofer it is. There’s a 6.5-inch long-throw, side-firing driver housed inside a bass-reflex enclosure with a front port. The sub cabinet also houses the wireless receiver and the 200-watt amplifier that powers all three channels. Klipsch claims line-of-sight range of 30 feet and our experience backs that up. If you’re looking for a wireless audio system that will send audio from a computer in one room to speakers in another, this isn’t the right solution.
The two-way satellite speakers consist of 25mm polymer tweeters mated to Klipsch’s well-known MicroTractix horn. Mids are produced by three-inch long-throw drivers. The right-hand satellite cabinet houses a master volume control and a separate control for bass volume, a 1/8-inch headphone output, and a 1/8-inch auxiliary input. This input provides +6dB input sensitivity to compensate for the low output voltage that many portable digital media players deliver; take heed if you’re feeding it from an AC-powered source. The satellites can be mounted on either the included desktop stands or on a wall using an optional Klipsch accessory (model WB-1 wall brackets, which sell for $22 a pair).
Read more about wireless speakers on www.wireless-speakers.org
Jensen Marine Audio Systems
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Many people prefer listening to music while out on a boating adventure. However, obtaining high-quality music on a boat sometimes becomes difficult. For optimum high quality sound, the use of marine speakers is advisable.
Marine speakers are the best available option for boating activities. They are waterproof. Marine Speakers are of great help while one is on board on the waters. Jensen Marine Audio Systems are the best ones that one can opt for. Among all the models, the Jensen MSR 7007 is the best one. This gadget combines the latest audio features in a waterproof marine design and is developed from the ground to meet the distinctive needs of the industry. Some of the features of the marine stereo are listed below: 1. 200 Watt output power 50 W x 4 2. Waterproof faceplate and a water resistant/ sealed chassis 3. Enabled with Electronic Bass, treble, Balance and fader Controls 4. AM/ FM AUST/US/EURO Tuner with 30 Presets 5. Enabled with SIRIUS Satellite and iPod Ready 6. Pre-Set Equalizer – 5 settings, with Flat, Rock, Pop, Classical 7. 40 seconds of electronic skip protection 8. Radio Broadcast Data System 9. MP3/WMA compatible 10. NOAA Weatherband with weather alert 11. Multiple line LCD display 12. Wired remote ready 13. Subwoofer Output 14. Rear Aux-in 15. CD Door Open Alarm 16.Low battery warning 17. Zero current 18. 1 DIN chassis
Read more about marine speakers on www.wireless-speakers.org
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