Product Description

Audiovox became a pioneer in the wireless industry, selling its first vehicle-installed wireless telephones in 1984 as a natural expansion of its automotive aftermarket business. Its extensive distribution network and its long-standing industry relationships have allowed Audiovox to benefit from growing market opportunities in the wireless industry and to exploit niches in the consumer electronics business.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18923 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Acoustic Research
• Model: AW-871
• Dimensions: 10.00" h x 12.00" w x 20.00" l, 13.90 pounds

Features

• Pair of wireless stereo speakers with transmitter offers cable-free range of up to 300 feet
• 900 MHz signal broadcasts through walls, ceilings, and more
• Use as rear channel speakers in 5.1 surround sound systems
• Integrated power/volume/tuning control; left/mono/right switch
• 20 watts total RMS power (10 watts x 2); powered by AC adapter or 8 C batteries per speaker

Amazon.com Product Description
Anyone who has installed a speaker system knows the worst part is figuring out how to hide the unsightly speaker cables, especially if your speakers are located across the room from the receiver. Enter this pair of Acoustic Research stereo speakers, which resolves the dilemma by eliminating speaker wires altogether. The system's powerful transmitter broadcasts its 900 MHz signal through walls, floors, ceilings, and other obstacles, giving listeners a wide array of installation options. Looking for a pair of high-quality speakers for the upstairs bedroom? No problem. Want to enjoy your favorite tunes in the basement without running speaker wire through the floor? Easy. Thanks to the system's 300-foot range, almost any home speaker scenario is possible, including positioning the speakers outdoors so you can provide the soundtrack for your neighborhood block party. And fortunately for listeners, the wireless setup doesn't compromise the quality of the audio, as the rich signal is drift- and static-free.

Each 10-watt speaker employs a 4-inch woofer and 1-inch dome tweeter, with a left/mono/right switch for added versatility. The speakers also include integrated power, volume, and tuning controls along the front faces. In lieu of an AV receiver, listeners can connect the speakers directly to most audio sources, including TVs, DVD players, VCRs, computers, and portable audio devices such as MP3 players. Alternately, they can connect the speakers to the rear channels of 5.1 surround sound receivers and take full advantage of the wireless design. Each of the speakers comes with its own AC adapter, though listeners can also install eight C-cell batteries per speaker for complete cordless use. The speakers even recharge ni-cad and NiMH batteries when plugged into an AC adapter. Other accessories include a 1/4-inch headphone adapter and a "Y" cable that connects the transmitter to the audio source.

What's in the Box
Two speakers, transmitter, AC power adapter for transmitter, two AC power adapters for speakers, Y adapter cable, 1/4-inch headphone adapter, user's manual.

Customer Reviews

I wish I could be more positive
Even though my experience with wireless headphones were universally poor -- I once overheard my neighbor's cell phone conversation while listening on wireless headphones -- I was very impressed by the plentiful good reviews for this product and decided to give it a try at Amazon's wonderful low price. Amazon sells this product for up to $75 below the price stores ask.

However, once I got it home, hooked it up and turned on my stereo, my experiences with this set of wireless speakers was an exact replay of my expereince with wireless headphones. I set these up as the rear surround speakers in my living room as part of on my 5.1 system, fixing the speakers only about 25 feet from the transmitter. Even in that brief distance with almost no physical block between them, the left speaker consistently spit out static. The rightt speaker played fine all the time but had an annoying tendency to click while the music was turned off.

This is not what I had in mind for my home stereo! I moved the speakers around (as far as the power cords would go, anyway) and re-situated them, trying to gain greater proximity to the transmitter. This did nothing to improve matters. The transmitter indicated the signal was strong, yet that left speaker continued it staticky way throughout my experiment.

These speakers are easy to set up and easy to get working. You really don't need the instructions if you've had any experience with anything wireless. Still, I consulted the booklet to see if there was anything I was doing wrong. At one point I had the setting on both speakers at "right", so I changed that. No change in the outcome. I also re-set the transmitter from "1" to "2" and even to "3". No change. I moved the speakers again. No change. I consulted the booklet and listened again. Same thing.

Perhaps my experience has something to do with my neighborhood, my home or my neighbors, but my experience was not nearly as good as those reported elsewhere on this page. On the plus side, these speakers sound pretty good for something that barely costs $100 and they are easy to use.

They are portable and can be set up anywhere a power source is near or set up anywhere using battery power. The transmitter is supposed to be good up to 300 feet and I know the speakers in my house received the signal. I simply was not going to pay for a product that resulted in my SACD signal being converted to static.

While the sound the speakers produced was pretty good for something so inexpensive, I was not impressed with them as surround sound speakers. With independent volume controls, they seem like just another set of speakers to me. Compared to the sound I get from my wired surround speakers in another room from my front three speakers, these did not sound much like surround speakers regardless of the amnount of fiddling I did with the volumer controls and transmitter.

Even though this experiment was a failure at my house, I am grateful Amazon accepted my return; not every company on the Web will take back electronics. I wish you better luck with this product than I had.

Excellent speaker system
The speaker system as mentioned in a prior review did not work immediately upon unpacking. Indeed, it took 30 minutes to derive sound from the speakers which I may attribute to having a rather complicated receiver that required a fair number of settings changes to make the speakers work. Probably because I know the quality of AR speakers from years ago(I used to own both AR-4s and AR-2as many many years go), I kept at it because I believed I was doing something wrong. After getting the speakers to work and they do emit a distintive AR sound, I moved them to my proposed location and plugged them in again. And lo and behold, no sound from one of the speakers. I returned the speaker to its original location and plugged it again and no sound. It seems that there is an on-off switch on the front of the speaker(read the brochure!!) that I had depressed. Also it is not a simple press and release but you are instructed to hold the button for 5 seconds and release. Once done, everything worked fine and is still working fine. I have moved the speakers several times with no deterioration in quality although I am sure the editors of The Absolute Sound would turn up their noses at my arrangement. I also subscribe to XM radio using one of their Delphi units which has a headphone jack. No trouble at all unplugging from the receiver and plugging the jack into the headphone outlet-immediate sound. I also have a wireless network and a wireless TV unit and I have not noticed any conflicts between any of the units. I will order another set so that I can have speakers in other locations throughout the house. I believe I will be able to connect the next set to the same transmitter. I see there is a single speaker being offered by Advent(Recoton) which does not appeal to me(white does not cut it) but it is cheaper if that is all you need. Since I have a stereo system that I would like to hear all over the house as well as XM, I will probably visit Radio Shack for a switch box that will allow me to plug in the stereo and the XM and control the output via the transmitter. I suspect I will lose some sound quality but as long as Stereophile magazine does not come knocking I will be happy.

How to Have a Happy Wireless Speaker System
Here's what I've learned about the AR 900mhz wireless speaker system.

1) After setup, they work better than I had expected. It appears the system has internal frequency monitoring that allows them to self-adjust, and they do a good job of it. I've gotten very little static even in a high-density neighborhood, and with a houseful of other wireless devices. When static or fuzziness does occur, it seems to be effectively and automatically "dealt with" in a few moments.

2) There are a few clever but non-intuitive features that mean you actually need to read the operator's manual on setup, rather than intuit your way through. I thought it was so simple I could just guess, which had me scratching my head for a few minutes wondering why things weren't working. But the answers were all in the manual, such as the need to pre-tune the transmitter appropriately (a blue flashing light on the transmitter will tell you when your tuning is correct), to turn on the speakers with a brief push-and-hold of the volume control, and to turn off the speakers with an extended push-and-hold. Many of the negative comments from other users posted below, such as "When I tried to recharge nonrechargeable alkaline batteries in them, they leaked" (no kidding!) and "I wish there were an on-off button on the speakers" (there is!) and "The speakers would not work until I turned them on" (no kidding!) seem to come from people who blithely ignored the manual.

3) Check your output device (whether TV/amplifier/stereo/computer/ipod or other) to see if it has a nonvariable (fixed) line out. That's what these speakers want and need. You can fry the transmitter with a variable line out that's turned up, so be careful if you don't have a fixed line out. My output device, a TV, offered either variable or fixed line out (a menu option) so I had to figure out how to change the TV output to fixed. Setup would have been faster if I'd known about this beforehand.

I'm looking forward to adding rechargeable (preferably NiMH) batteries to the speakers and taking advantage of the auto-recharge option afforded by the speaker power supplies. I'd love to move these speakers around the house, completely independent of all wires, including power supply wires.

I'm giving these speakers 5 stars because I can't think of any obvious oversights or deficiencies in their design, and because they exceed my expectations in several ways. I used to have to blast our livingroom TV to hear it from the kitchen, and now I can keep the volume at a moderate level right in the kitchen, where I need it. A quick changeover from the TV to the computer allows me to podcast to anywhere within the house. Nice.