Does anyone out there have any experience of wireless home cinema? Mrs H and I are thinking about the purchase of this sort of thing but would prefer to avoid cabling.

Any help (preferably not too technical!) much appreciated.

Can you give a bit more info Mr H?

What is it exactly you are thinking of and what budget do you have.

We haven't thought about the budget, not yet anyway. It's more a case of whether sound quality is good enough and whether there are any particular problems in use ie interference. My experience with wireless headphones (even if not particularly relevant) makes me somewhat scepical about wireless products but, on the other hand, Mrs H and I would prefer not to have cables everywhere.

I didn't even know they DID wireless home cinema. What a great idea! We've only got a bog standard tv 'cos we don't want cabling all over the place...

Well...this is kind of complicated.

In terms of home cinema, it's difficult to find totally wireless solutions for the speakers.

Phillips offer some wireless AV solutions, some of which have received good reviews.

One of their products is / was the MX6000i . I'm unsure as to it's availability, or it's real world worth.

If you want surround sound, but don't want to have speakers and cables everywhere, another option would be a single, multi-driver speaker.

An example here would be these \'so-called\' sound projectors from Yamaha. . They are not cheap - from memory about £6-900 - but they offer really good 'virtual' surround sound by broadcasting from a single - multi-driver source.

Going the route you don't want to, you could always just invest in some really good, but really thin speaker cable that you could run down the edge of your carpeting practically unobtrusively.

I recently put a new 5.1 system in, and used QED Silver Anniversary Micro cable that, with a bit of squeezing, disappeared right out of sight.

Now the only stuff you can see is the speakers....the display....the DVD....the Sky box....the amp.....

Ah

Bugger......

Cromlech, you are a star. I'll check these out at lunchtime.

We are in the same position as you, Flip. But the sheer number of DVD's that Mrs H possesses that would be greatly improved by surround sound makes it worth the possible investment - as long as we can avoid the aural spaghetti that would ensue.

Alternatively - he said, brainstorming - invest in a really decent LCD or plasma display, with built in Dolby Virtual Surround (kind of the same principle as the Yammy sound projectors), and get an up-scaling DVD player (ie: one that can output a psuedo hi-def picture).

And prepare to drink in the visual splendour of what the DVDs contain...



Now off for a cold-shower and a bit of a lie down...

Just a thought, but if you dont want cables running all over the floor check out the Bose 3-2-1 system. I have heard and it deserves respect. It uses 2 front speakers and a sub woofer which re-creates a full surround sound system.

BOSE 3-2-1 System

Chappie - many thanks, this looks interesting.

I've taken a look at all of these links and it has given Mrs H and myself plenty of food for thought. Whether the mental processes accept the nourishment on offer and produce anything of note is another matter....

Many thanks again, gentlemen, for you time and effort.

Reaching the same point - we have loads too! I have "almost" agreement from Mrs Flip that we can get an LCD HD TV...once my studio is built and paid for and the kitchen is done... I'd like a surround sound thingy at the same time - but we have laminate flooring, not carpet, so cables are even more obtrusive. Don't fancy taking the flooring up either!

So thanks to you for asking the Q - and everyone for their replies. Lots of reading up (and hopeully, a solution).

EDIT: I must say, that Yamaha stuff looks ideal (he said, heading off to find some reviews...)

I got me mate Shuff to "plumb" my cabling into the roof spaces and into the wall cavity (ala power cables). It cost me a few quid (not too much, mind) but well worth it. If you're an audiophile, then I wouldn't give a wireless/virtual system a second listen.

Unfortunately, we haven't got cavity walls in that part of the house! I'm not an audiophile as such but I certainly want to avoid any extraneous noise.

By the way, did you get to see Midge at Spilsby? If so, did I miss anything?

I love my 5.1 surround system. OK it's got cables but when I had my carpet relayed few years ago I hid the cables (along with the phone) under it. Looks a lot tidier.
Peter

I'm too deaf to be an audiophile these days. I think before I took the plunge I'd make sure I had a good listen to a set up anyway - specialist dealers would be my 1st stop.

Yeah, we went...and no, you didn't really miss anything. His voice was strong but, as I said previously, if you've seen one acoustic gig you've pretty much seen 'em all! The support act, Richard John Thompson was interesting...shades of Paul Weller.

Sadly, I've not seen one acoustic gig yet. I'll keep an eye to see if he is anywhere local in future. Glad to miss the support act, though, if he sounded like Paul Weller!

Try turning your hearing aid up, Grandad.

Pardon?

You might find taking that teddy bear out of your ear would help.

EH? Sorry, I can't hear you - I have a teddy bear stuck in my ear...

ROFLMAO! Loonies the pair o' ye!