Wireless Surround Sound Speakers For TV?

[AKL_Megs]

Do they even make these?

I looked on Amazon, but everything seems to be for computers.

I am thinking of surprising DH with these for Christmas... if they make them, that is.

We already have a Blu-Ray disc player, so we don't need a whole surround sound "system", and our living room is set up in a way in which installing/running wires and/or cables would be a real task, thus the need for wireless.

If you have them, or know of a good set, let me know! Thanks!

[dawson5]

I don't know if they make them or not but wanted to let you know of what we have, two things actually.

First, oldest and hubby both have wireless headphones that can be hooked up to the tv, radio, etc and moved around. They have great range, but sometimes we pick up phone conversations. I would worry if you bought something like this, settle down for the evening to watch a movie with surround sound and all the sudden you tap into your neighbors conversation with her sister about bunions or something.


Secondly, we have surround sound. Last house we were wired for it, we built the home so it was easy. This one did not have that set-up. Hubby found speaker stands that had the wires come up in them. We still have the wires, he put them through the heating ducts, but they aren't as visible. I think we only see two feet from the duct to the corners that they are set up in.

Does Bose make something like this though? Not a fan of their products, but they do seem to be at the forefront of things like this.

[shortbun]

We bought a surround sound sytem for ours a few years ago. We got it at Circuit City when they were going out of business -then didn't. Have you tried Best Buy?

[bicker]

Originally Posted by AKL_Megs

Do they even make these?

Yes. However, I didn't purchase one... here's why:

I recently purchased a Sony HTS-S360. I actually had been waiting for Sony to release a different unit, the HT-E500W (W = wireless). However, after reading loads of reviews of how well wireless rear speakers work, I concluded that the technology simply was too new, and not good enough yet for me to invest in. (Besides, the HT-E500W, and its low-end model, for which wireless speakers can be added later, the HT-E300, didn't have enough HDMI inputs.)

In the end, I could just get a 35 foot speaker cable and wind it around the baseboard -- my wife was okay with that. If I couldn't, it would have cost perhaps $200 to have someone fish the wires for me (assuming I rightly decided that I shouldn't undertake the effort myself), and the wireless technology cost about $150 extra, so for $50 I'd have a far higher-quality rear speaker solution.

BTW: Please don't take my mentioning of the Sony HTS as any type of endorsement. Despite being very highly rated, and there being pretty-much only glaringly positive reviews from purchasers on the Internet, when I got it home and set it up, I was very disappointed with the sound quality delivered by the unit, specifically when handling DD5.1 from television sources. The center speaker is very clearly way too cheap for the job, and even replacing the center speaker with a better center speaker yielded performance that was no where near as good as my three year old Samsung HT-40 (a very low-end model, by the way, purchased solely as a stop-gap).

Having said that, I have to note that the Sony HTS is utterly fantastic handling sound from disc sources, either DVD or Blu-ray, from the sister Sony BDP-S360 Blu-ray player we've attached to it. So what we've done is left both my old sound system and my new sound system in place, the old system to present television sound, and the new system to present sound from discs. (They really don't take up much room... the speakers in both sets are pretty small and my wife didn't even realize, when she got home after I set up the systems initially, that there were actually two sound systems in the room.)

Originally Posted by AKL_Megs

I am thinking of surprising DH with these for Christmas... if they make them, that is.

Anyway, given what I said above, you probably don't want to buy what I bought, right? I'll tell you that the system I now wish I had bought was the Samsung HT-AS730ST. It isn't wireless though (again, see above for why I wouldn't recommend buying wireless.)

Originally Posted by AKL_Megs

We already have a Blu-Ray disc player, so we don't need a whole surround sound "system",

That's one thing I'm really disappointed about, in Samsung's line-up: It seems that all their sound systems now come with DVD players (except for a few, like the one that I mentioned). I think the issue now is that DVD players are so cheap that they figure why not integrate them in.

[MIGrandma]

We bought a surround sound (wired) system for our TV 2-3 years ago. We got it at Best Buy. I seem to remember they had one wireless system, but it really wasn't recommended. I don't remember why. But we ended up with a wired one. DH is pretty handy and did a good job of hiding the cords. If I were you I'd go to Best Buy and ask questions about the systems. Maybe they've improved on the wireless system by now.

[bicker]

Just a clarification... I did my research in June of this year. If you're really set on wireless, the next set of new technology should be out by February, with ratings available shortly after, and maybe another month or two to get a good feel from actual users whether the new technology is good enough.

I'm not buying a third sound system in five years, though, no matter what.

(Y'know what's interesting.... I tried to donate a bunch of electronic equipment, including the sound system I replaced three years ago, to a church fair, and got no takers. Apparently, people don't buy used electronics at church fairs anymore??? What's with that?)

[Golf4food]

Besides all of Bicker's info, if you are sold on wireless you could check Crutchfield. www.crutchfield.com

They specialize in home and car audio and are fantastic - their customer service is top notch. If you have questions they will help.

[Micca]

I don't think wireless for surround is a good idea just yet because of quality and reliability. I'd get some nice speakers and find a way to hide the wires(you can hire someone to do that if you'd like). If you don't have surround sound yet I think you'll really enjoy it. Even the oldest Disney movies have had surround mixes created(with varying results) but it's alway cool when the surround effects kick-in. Network tv is getting better with surround sound too.