(Umm…I’m talkin’ 'bout stereo speakers, not after-dinner speakers…)
I want to attach higher quality speakers to my computer, but don’t have room for them on the computer table.To put the speakers on the bookshelf, I have to stretch wires awkwardly around the room and around two doorframes.
There are wireless phones, keyboards and mice…so why don’t they make wireless speakers?
I think Bose makes some.
Not 100% on that though… I would google “wireless computer speakers”
Ooo. I need to get some wireless speakers. If they have a good range, I can listen to my audio files all from different points in the house…
You can get wireless speakers, but have to choose either affordable or good.
Cheap wireless speakers (BTW, you still need to plug them into an electric outlet, or go through tons of batteries) have a background hiss and tend to pick up sound from things like taxi dispatchers or ambulance calls.
Because of the need for electricity, they really ought to be called wire-reduced speakers.
WAG: because they consume mondo power (well, compared to a mouse or such). You can get speakers with batteries in them, but they don’t last long. Even changing the batteries in my keyboard and mouse seemed to be happening every other week. I’ve since ditched them both for traditional wired jobs. On a desktop, I can’t see the point of wireless (and on a laptop, it’s moot).
I have been using a wireless mouse for years because I was sick of the silly cable restricting the movement of the mouse, especially at key points in a game.
Can’t imagine going back.
People have already mentioned the reason it isn’t popular (the spaekers take power anyway), but here’s a shopping page with some brands (UK page, prices in pounds):
http://uk.shopping.com/xPP-computer_speakers-wireless_speakers-connection_type_wireless
Another product suggests itself here - why not a low power FM stereo transmitter that plugs into your PC’s phone jack? Then you could listen to it on any fm radio or stereo system with a tuner within 100 feet or so. The last I knew, a transmitter of less than 1/10 watt was legal with no licensing.
Poking about, I find that this sort of thing seems to be made also, runnable either on batteries or a USB port:
Wired keyboards don’t bother me, but I really like having a wireless mouse. Fortunately, Logitech finally did the obvious thing to address the battery problem - the base station that plugs into the PC is a recharger cradle which you just set the mouse in, like a cordless phone. As long as you leave the mouse in the cradle at night, the batteries don’t run down.
BTW, for Logitech mice prior to this, you can conserve batteries by using a light colored mouse pad. The mouse automatically compensates for dark surfaces by making the laser brighter, which eats batteries faster. This is confirmed on Logitech’s support pages. Other manufacturers may do similar things.
Excellent idea. And you’re right - obvious too (aside from the fact I never would have thought of it 
).
I didn’t know that. And yes, I was using a solid navy mouse pad. Thanks.
I bought a cool FM Transmitter kit last year for this purpose.
Not only was it really fun to put together, but I can pick up the signal in my car a block from my house.
Now, I put on Winamp with a few hundred MP3s and simply turn on one of the many FM radios throughout the house. Earlier today, I was using a boombox in the basement while putting up some shelving and I used a Sony FM sports radio while cutting the grass and trimming the bushes.
There are several reasons why wireless speakers are not popular:
Cost. You have to have an amplifier, decoders, receiver, and other electronics in each speaker, instead of being centralized in one unit.
Sound quality. You have to take a signal, modulate it, transmit it over a fixed bandwdith, demodulate it, and amplify it. It’s every hard to make the resulting sound quality as good as what you can get by pumping the signal down a wire.
Need. Speakers generally sit in one spot, so once they are wired, you’re good to go. Wireless applications have more benefit for things that move around - headphones, mice, laptops, etc. In short, you’re giving up a lot and paying a lot for the ability to not have to run a wire.
You forgot power consumption, which is a significant part of it. As has been mentioned, if you’re using wireless speakers, you need an amp at the speaker, which means either a power cord or going through batteries at ridiculous rates. Once you’re stringing a power cord to the speaker, you may as well string a signal wire to it as well, and if you’re stringing a signal wire you may as well use a central amp and use speaker wire.
In the absence of the power issue I think wireless speakers, especially for surround speakers in home theatre kits, would be quite popular even with quality and price penalties. People don’t like wire strung around their home theatre, and they balk at paying people like me to snake the speaker wires to the speakers using various tricks to keep them out of sight.
They exist. I tried a pair on loan from a friend, but there’s so much background hiss after twenty or thirty feet of walls, pipes, and furniture that it wasn’t really worth it. Sam Stone’s got it right- it’s rarely worth making a device that doesn’t move around much wireless.
No they don’t. Bose is very anti-wireless speakers due to the fact that the sound quality suffers. I beleive that you are probably thinking about the virtual surround speakers on thier 321 systems. They bounce a sound source off of a wall from the front speaker and use software tricks to make it appear as though you have rear surround speakers. I heard some at thier store last week and I thought that there were speakers behind me. Didn’t buy them though.
I must have the best wireless keyboard ever. The original AA batteries that came with the package lasted 5 and a half years.
Recoton’s been making wireless speakers for years.
They not “expensive” (about $80), and they don’t “hiss/destort” (they use 900mhz technology like your cordless phone).
Yes, they do need to be plugged into a power outlet but you avoid having to “stretch wires awkwardly around the room and around two doorframes.”
The main reason people don’t use them for surround sound is that they have independant volume controls meaning you can’t turn the volume of the movie your watching up and down from your remote or receiver. You have to do it with the knob on the speaker.
Recoton even makes a indoor/outdoor wireless speaker that has a built in rechargable battery.
My parents have these. I would note that they have an awful tendency to pick up cell phone interference - even if your cell phone is six feet away, every time it checks in with the cell tower, the speaker emits an awful “dun-dun-dun-dun” sound. They also pick up other interference randomly, and they don’t have a great range.
Logitech has a surround system with wireless rear speakers.
I have the wired version (Z-5500) and I’m NOT satisfied, so maybe the wireless are even worse. If it works, they have the right idea, though. It’s the rear speakers that are a bitch to wire.