Wireless surround

[docdaddy]

For years I had a nice surround sound system (5.1) in my den with my satellite TV. I had a nice large subwoofer cube, some nice though large Boston Acoustics front speakers, and BA towers for my back speakers.

Today - new situation, all the equipment is gone (except for my Dish receiver and new flat screen) and starting from scratch. All we have is a Sony soundbar. For reasons not worth going into,, running wires to the back of the room for the surround speakers is not an option. So I'm looking for a decent wireless option for the back speakers. I've got to purchase the AVR, front speakers (side, center, subwoofer) and some kind of wireless back receivers.

Is there a wireless surround system that is not junk, won't have a faint hum or buzz (drives me crazy) and yet is on the reasonable side in cost? Or better yet, what are the options at different price points?

Thanks

 

[lparsons21]

I was in the same situation recently. Bought a new house, but the design of the great room made wired rear speakers a real issue. Thought about ceiling speakers for the rears but in the end I just didn't like that idea. So I started to think a bit out of the box.

Ended up getting the Samsung 950 ATMOS soundbar system. 48" soundbar, powered wireless subwoofer and 2 rear wireless speakers. As soundbars go, this is an expensive unit with some growing pains. But overall I'm very pleased with the results and have had no issues with it. That said, if I was a big music listener, this wouldn't be the choice, but for TV/Movie use it is very good. And when you get a Bluray with ATMOS encoding it really shines.

 

[klang]

Second the Samsung 950 recommendation. It is not like the 7.1 system I had in a dedicated theater at my previous house but seems to be the best compromise I've run across. I started out with a Yamaha YSP-3300, which receives good reviews but it doesn't work so well in today's popular 'open concept' living rooms.

 

[lakebum431]

If you want really good sound quality that is perfectly matched with your other speakers, the sad answer seems to be no. If you want OK sounds that is mostly in sync, the above option (among several others) is available. I have yet to find anything that actually works at the quality level that I want without wires..

 

[mdram]

i just stopped at 3.1

someday if i ever find a suitable wireless rear system i might try 5.1.
i am thinking it would need its own amp, or power to the speakers if they have a built in amp
so there is no way to get wound some kind of wires.

i have a denon avr and have thought about the heos speakers, just havent researched it yet

 

[klang]

The rears for the Samsung system do have to be plugged in for power. Not completely wireless.

 

[Tampa8]

The rears for the Samsung system do have to be plugged in for power. Not completely wireless.

I would hope so, if only battery that would be insane for full time indoor system..

 

[Tampa8]

I was in the same situation recently. Bought a new house, but the design of the great room made wired rear speakers a real issue. Thought about ceiling speakers for the rears but in the end I just didn't like that idea. So I started to think a bit out of the box.

Ended up getting the Samsung 950 ATMOS soundbar system. 48" soundbar, powered wireless subwoofer and 2 rear wireless speakers. As soundbars go, this is an expensive unit with some growing pains. But overall I'm very pleased with the results and have had no issues with it. That said, if I was a big music listener, this wouldn't be the choice, but for TV/Movie use it is very good. And when you get a Bluray with ATMOS encoding it really shines.

I can't say I have exhaustively listened to every option of course but your choice is a good one overall for a wireless system in the realm of what I could afford.

 

[docdaddy]

Yeah, my ideal system would be a speaker system that lets me pick a decent AV receiver. So the front speakers and subwoofer wouldn't need to be wireless, just the rears.

 

[lparsons21]

Reprising this thread...

The situation for wireless surround speakers is just about the same as it was 2 years ago. Darned little choices and virtually none if you use an AV Receiver.

With a higher end AVR with pre-amp outputs I suppose you could use a Bluetooth transmitter/receiver setup to powered rear speakers that have their own amp, but the odds of that sounding really good are poor IMO.

The only movement in wireless surrounds seems to be in some soundbars. Samsung has a newer version of the HW-K950 that seems to be very good and is totally wireless for signal though power has to come from the wall.

Nakamichi has some excellent soundbar setups and pretty fair pricing. They’ve taken a different approach to the rears. The sub is wireless, only needing power, the surrounds are wired to the sub. So the sub goes in the rear of the room which might work OK in some rooms. They also have a couple models with 2 subs and each sub has a surround that plugs into it. Not cheap, but really not all that bad considering their performance. Look up Nakamichi Shockwafe for more info. And note, it is ‘shockwafe’ not ‘shockwave’.

One approach that is finding some traction for those situations where wired rears are just not practical or desired is using a 3.1.2 setup. And some AVRs have a Dolby Enhancer functionality that supposedly reduces the need for those rears. Info on exactly who is using that in their gear and on which models is damned sparse. Onkyo has at least some models with it. Others might too though finding out it difficult.

 

[klang]

With the additional Dolby Atmos material available through Netflix and Amazon I've been enjoying my HW-K950 even more.

 

[lparsons21]

With the additional Dolby Atmos material available through Netflix and Amazon I've been enjoying my HW-K950 even more.

Me too! I had been considering upgrading to an AVR/speaker setup this year, even considering one of the newer AVRs with the Dolby Surround Enhancer and going 3.1.2. But I like rear speakers!

BTW, I’ve found through a lot of experimenting that the best streaming box when using the K950 is the AppleTV. Even with the stereo that a lot of the streaming apps are doing I get a massaged surround when using the AppleTV. For whatever reason that doesn’t seem to be the case when using some other boxes.

 

[klang]

Me too! I had been considering upgrading to an AVR/speaker setup this year, even considering one of the newer AVRs with the Dolby Surround Enhancer and going 3.1.2. But I like rear speakers!

BTW, I’ve found through a lot of experimenting that the best streaming box when using the K950 is the AppleTV. Even with the stereo that a lot of the streaming apps are doing I get a massaged surround when using the AppleTV. For whatever reason that doesn’t seem to be the case when using some other boxes.

Same here. I've been using AppleTV exclusively lately for streaming. Haven't had much luck with the apps on UHD disk players. No Atmos. Pretty sure it is the sound bar, disk work fine just not the apps.

 

[lparsons21]

Same here. I've been using AppleTV exclusively lately for streaming. Haven't had much luck with the apps on UHD disk players. No Atmos. Pretty sure it is the sound bar, disk work fine just not the apps.

I had been using the Xbox One with Dolby Access app which does wonders for 5.1 and above audio, but unfortunately actually makes stereo sources worse, putting a slight, irritating echo into the mix and of course, nothing from the rears at all.