No one likes looking around their media room and seeing cords running all over the place. Likewise, we’d guess about 0 out of 10 people enjoy the crawl space and attic activities associated with running new electric. If you’ve just started building your own home theater – stop here and start researching purpose-built wireless sound systems for home cinemas. But if your home theater needs an update or an upgrade, we’re going to explain some easy ways to make your movie room wire-free and your sound system more convenient.
Simple Methods for Getting Those Tangled Cords out of Your Life
Before you get started, you need to consider where the outlets in your theater room are. If you have rear speakers – do they need to be powered by the wireless unit? Are they already powered? Where are the closest outlets, and are there any obstacles like light fixtures or doors? There’s really no point to making your speakers wireless if you’ve still got all the other cords running everywhere.
Good news is, if you have a back row of theater chairs with power features, you’re probably already good to go. Either way, get the outlet situation in your home theater sorted out first. Sorry, that one might involve a bit of DIY contracting work.
Provided we’ve established easy access between speakers and power sources, we can get to eliminating all the other wires. You can buy kits that convert wired speakers to wireless that basically change how the speakers communicate with the projector and each other. Instead of a hard line like a cord, the kits has transmitters and receivers that work on radiofrequency.
You could instead choose to add Bluetooth adapters with amplifiers to your speakers. These are little units you stick into the inputs and outputs of a speaker, letting you control the speaker remotely… like, with a remote. Or tablet or smartphone. It’s pretty cool.
Pros & Cons of Taking a Wired Sound System Wireless
Up until now we’ve really just complained about wires ruin the aesthetic of your movie theater. But a clean, modern, techy look isn’t the only thing a wireless conversion for your sound system gets you. Other advantages to a wireless sound system are:
- Compatible with Bluetooth via phones, tablets, etc. or Wi-Fi
- Compatible with streaming devices like Amazon Fire Stick, Roku, Chromecast, etc.
- No more tripping over cords and wires
- Easy integration with wireless projector systems
- Bluetooth speaker systems are great for budget home theater builds
- No running wires in cramped, dusty spaces in order to hide them
There are a couple caveats to wireless speakers, though, so you’ve got to weigh your priorities for your home theater room’s sound system when considering a wireless setup:
- Bluetooth condenses sound and is less reliable than Wi-Fi run systems
- Can occasionally cause popping sounds in the speakers or be interrupted by other signals
- The system is always on to some extent, which ups power usage
- Wi-Fi theater sound systems are more expensive
The great thing about a wireless sound system in your home movie theater is the ease of setup, convenience of use, and ability to integrate with the other parts of your audiovisual setup. So if your home theater’s sound system is a bit outdated, or you’re tired of all those wires, spend a few minutes on YouTube and you’ll see that converting your sound system to wireless is a lot easier than you’d think!