It's not pretty. The sound is not great. But it does what I wanted it to: gets sound from my living room receiver into the kitchen.
Setup is very easy. Everything you could need to connect is included. The unit tunes automatically so there is no fussing with a tuning knob. The auto-tuning is quick and effective.
As promised, the transmitter is compatible with my AW-721 cordless headphones. I now have both transmitters connected to my receiver. (It doesn't seem to help with static but why not.)
In general the signal seems to come through with little interference. The sound is slightly distorted, something I had noticed with the headphones also. It is also overall somewhat tinny. It is hard to say whether that is from the transmission or the just all-right speaker.
One nice feature they don't advertise: if you buy the eight (!) C batteries needed to make this truly portable, you can charge them in the unit. (If you buy NiCad or NiMH batteries- try www.thomas-distributing.com)
Apparently, Acoustic Research and Advent are the same manufacturer. Acoustic Research AW-811 Indoor/Outdoor Wireless Speaker (single)
Like one of the other reviewers, I use this speaker primarily to listen to Streaming Internet Baseball broadcasts in my yard, while safely keeping my computer indoors. The range is excellent, and it puts out plenty of volume. I'm not sure I'd recommend it for audiophile listening, but the sound is definitely as good as a decent radio or boombox. Plus, the price from Amazon is unbeatable -- Best Buy sells the same thing for over $100! This is a fine product that performs exactly as advertised.
Acoustic Research AW-811 Indoor/Outdoor Wireless Speaker (single)
[REVIEW UPDATE - 02.07.2009]
Another discovery I made recently is that the type of audio source you have attached to the antenna makes a big difference as well. For example, I had to use my tweaks below to make the unit sound good with an iPod Nano (one I found the right channel, it worked great). However, a Sony PSP will produce a good signal right from the start. From my computer, I had to do the tweaks. From my stereo, I had a good signal right off the bat. So, also try playing with different audio sources and see what your results are.
[ORIGINAL REVIEW]
Initially, I had problems getting this unit to work (this may have been because my unit didn't ship with instructions). Like many previous reviewers, I either got no sound at all or couldn't get reception very far away from the transmitter -- and when I did, it was full of static. But, after a little trial and error, I have it working great and I must say it sounds pretty darn good.
One important thing I've discovered is not to plug the speaker in and/or turn it on until you have the transmitter hooked up to your audio source and the blue "Level" light is displaying on the front. Once you do, turn the speaker on and see if you can get good reception. From what I have read, for some people, the unit works right off the bat and sounds great. If you have a solid green light on the front of your speaker and the sound quality works for you, then consider yourself blessed -- you are good to go. But if, like me, you do have a lot of static or no sound at all, try the following fixes:
1. Play with different channel settings on the back of the transmitter; there are only three, and one of them should produce a stronger signal than the other two. Find the strongest signal to your speaker and leave it there. DO NOT FORGET to turn the speaker off and on again after each time you change channels on the transmitter! Yes, running back & forth from the transmitter to the speaker is a hassle, but it's critical that you do this or you'll have trouble getting a green light on the front of the speaker instead of a red light. In fact, I don't think the next fixes will make any difference if your speaker has a red light with no sound at all -- so it's imperative that you get SOME type of reception (even if it's intermittently blinking green/red) before you try the next two steps.
2. Try raising/lowering the transmitter and the speaker itself. For some reason, my transmitter works better when it's behind my stereo. You would think that the higher the transmitter, the better the signal, but this hasn't been the case with me. Additionally, I found that when the speaker is underneath certain things like a wrought iron table, you might get more interference than you would if the speaker was on top of said table, or underneath something like a wooden bench.
3. Once you do get reception, try adjusting the level on the transmitter and volume on both the audio source and speaker unit. From where I am transmitting, my speaker reception is best when I have the transmitter level at about 50%, the volume on the audio source at about 35%, and the volume on the speaker at 100% (you can always turn the speaker down using the volume control on the speaker itself if you don't want it so loud, which is a nice feature). You won't knock down any buildings with wall of sound at these settings, but for me the reception is crisp and the treble/bass sounds very good.
I hope this info is helpful and saves you a little frustration, because it really is a nice little unit. I'd be interested to any additional tips/suggestions you may have.
If you can get one of these speakers that works you're in luck. The sound is o.k. for the product type. In my case I bought a pair(they must be purchased individually and although each comes with a transmitter, only one is required for a pair) but only one worked properly. Got a prompt replacement speaker from Amazon but this one wouldn't even turn on. A call to the manufacturer revealed that the maker (Recoton)went bankrupt and the customer service rep for the firm that bought them out as much as admitted that the speaker is junk ("we get calls about them all the time"). I'm sending them both back and moving on. Any suggestions? - Wireless Speaker - Wireless - Wireless Speakers - Speakers'
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