Speaker cables have almost disappeared from the rooms of Dr. Stephan Demmrich. The chief editor of the Stuttgart-based magazine Wohn! Design is listening wirelessly: “There is still a stereo system, but it is hardly used”. Instead, radio boxes bring the music wherever it is desired. “This is easier and more elegant than having loud speakers installed in every room,” adds the jazz and trip-hop fan.
A new kind of listening pleasure
However, not only furnishing experts appreciate the advantages of wireless technology. "The sales and sales figures for our wireless products are growing steadily and have grown significantly in the past two years," said Bettina Jönsson, marketing manager for the audio sector at Philips. The Dutch company has been offering streaming products for 10 years and has recognized the trend towards wireless music at an early stage. In the meantime, the range includes a dozen radio loudspeakers.
Background knowledge - What is actually ...
Sonos and Raumfeld, also streaming pioneers, have maintained and expanded their product palettes for years. Classical hi-fi brands such as Bang & Olufsen or Dynaudio have not been around for quite some time, but already benefit from the wireless boom. Different transfer methods - with individual advantages and disadvantages - are used, as you will see on the following fold-out pages. But one thing all radio speakers have in common: they make music listening as simple as wireless Internet browsing.
1. AirPlay
With the music collection on the computer it usually starts. In many modern households the favorite songs have never seen the laser light of a CD player. They were loaded directly from the Internet or "ripped" in the PC drive as such.
2. Bluetooth
In the MP3 or AAC format, the songs are then transferred to smartphones and tablets. Wireless loudspeakers are only the last logical step: they let the status symbol Hi-Fi system disappear and reduce the electronics to the most necessary. Such a wireless music system then consists of only two components: the hard disk archive with the audio files and the wireless speakers.
In between, a smartphone or other "controller" functions as a remote control. The touch screen displays album cover, allows you to select and adjust the volume. If the music is stored on the smartphone, the hard disk archive can be dispensed with in many systems. The phone then sends its program to the loudspeaker itself.
Even if you use a subscription service like Napster or Spotify, you do not need any more stationary memory. He logs in with his account and streams millions of songs directly from the Internet. The radio systems from Raumfeld by Teufel, Sonos and Philips can connect to the servers of such providers. Sony integrates access to the in-house online service, Music Unlimited, into its WLAN speakers.
But it is also different: with a smartphone app. Virtually all streaming services offer Android and iOS, some also for BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7 and other mobile operating systems. Music that is received with it can be easily transmitted via Bluetooth or AirPlay: the radio loudspeaker then plays instead of the smartphone or tablet the desired title
More than 4.5 million Germans already listen to streaming offers according to information from the industry association BITKOM. "The trend is also in music away from CD or file storage and to pure use," says BITKOM President Prof. Dieter Kempf. In addition, there is "no copyright problems" when streaming.
The rental music from the Internet is legal, makes it more difficult to make robbery copies and makes this obendrein uninteresting. What are already a few hundreds or thousands of songs on the hard drive against 15, 16 or 18 million titles that provide Spotify and other music portals on demand?
Yet every music fan does not like to sell his collection of records on eBay over the years. Luckily, CD players, tuners and other traditional hi-fi components can be combined with wireless speakers, such as analogue audio inputs like many radio boxes. Audio devices can be connected via a jack socket, but they can only be heard via the loudspeaker, which is hanging from the cable.
More wireless convenience provide connections that transfer the sound signal to other boxes in the home. This does not work with AirPlay or Bluetooth, but with multi-room systems, which are designed for operation in several rooms. For example, Sonos speakers can feed the external signal into the radio network. Alternatively, for example, Raumfeld and Philips can provide separate connection boxes for the stereo system.
Integration with the Xeo system from Dynaudio is particularly easy: the Danish box builder adds two analogue and one digital audio input to his sending station in addition to a PC connection. This can be connected to TVs, CD players or other sources such as a classic stereo amplifier. The radio system then transmits the signals in CD quality to adult hi-fi boxes.
3. Closed systems
The sound is correspondingly high-quality. Product manager Roland Hoffmann makes it clear: "Our goal was loudspeakers, which not only sound good for radio boxes, but also in comparison with conventional models". This seems to have succeeded. The Xeo speakers are based on Dynaudio's Excite series and, according to Hoffmann, have already surpassed their sister models. "These are our best-selling loudspeaker models," he says.
The wireless boom therefore stops. Perhaps boxing ribs in the home are soon as unnecessary as network cables. However, a line will be preserved for us: the electricity connection. Even battery speakers need it - at least occasionally.
4. WLAN
With AirPlay, Apple has established its own streaming standard. Only radio loudspeakers which have been tested and approved by the iPhone inventor may bear this designation. The advantage of the elaborate procedure: The models of all manufacturers work perfectly with Apple devices together. They automatically appear as external speakers in the AirPlay menu as soon as they are connected to the home network by radio or network cable.
There are stationary boxes and portable models with rechargeable batteries. Technically speaking, they are WLAN speakers, which like the smartphone, notebook or other devices with the router in the apartment contact. How easy this is depends on the model.
On some AirPlay boxes, a push button is sufficient and you can set up a wireless connection via WPS (WiFi Protected Setup). Others get the WLAN access data from a docked iPhone or iPod touch. The classic installation is via the PC where the owner enters the WLAN name and password into a window of the Internet browser.
AirPlay loudspeakers can usually also set up a WLAN, which offers devices other than Funknetz. The playback then works without a router. Because the PC or mobile Apple player loses its WLAN connection to the Internet, this variant is rarely used - with it can not surf while listening to the music.
If you want to use the whole apartment, you need a computer with the Apple program iTunes. Only there is a multi-room function, which can supply several AirPlay loudspeakers and regulate individually in the volume. But then it runs the same music in every room.
Bluetooth technology is mainly used in mobile phones and computers. As a result, the speakers are often reminiscent of PC accessories, less in Hi-Fi boxes. Many models have small housings, a rechargeable battery and function as a hands-free device during telephone calls. You can not expect high volumes or strong bass.
There are exceptions, however, as Bose, JBL or NAD show. The classic hi-fi brands offer Bluetooth speakers, which can satisfy even higher sound requirements. The function is the same for all: Before the first use, the player and the radio box have to pair ("pairing"). The loudspeaker is switched on by pressing the pushbutton. Now it can be selected in the Bluetooth settings on the smartphone, tablet or notebook.
The devices then find and connect automatically as soon as they are within range. The distance should not exceed ten meters because the transmission power is usually not sufficient for longer distances.
The Bluetooth standard ensures that devices from any manufacturer understand each other. However, only the type of transmission is standardized, not its quality. Because Bluetooth devices can use different "profiles" for data exchange, everything is possible from lean phone sounds to full stereo sound. A good indication of good sound quality is the profile 2DP in the technical data of sender and receiver. The codec apt-X even allows transmission in CD quality, but is hardly used so far.
Everything from a single source: Whoever chooses a complete solution does not have to worry about sender and receiver. Closed radio systems play perfectly together - even without the help of the PC.
Connect the transmitter, switch on the loudspeaker, listen to the music. It is just as simple - without configuring a wireless network - with closed radio systems. They connect by themselves.
Box manufacturers such as Audio Pro, Canton and Dynaudio offer such solutions - with a transmitting station that not only transmits music from the PC, but also from hi-fi devices or a television.
There is a remote control for switching the source and the volume. However, as a rule, it does not control the sources. If you want to change a CD title or station, you must use the remote control of the corresponding device.
The advantage of the manufacturer's solutions: If necessary, you send the two channels of the stereo signal to separate radio loudspeakers. This makes an installation with a large box spacing as in classical hi-fi systems particularly easy. In WLAN systems, a box receives both signals. The second must then be connected by cable to the first one - and there is another stripe across the living room. Bluetooth and AirPlay do not see any separation: with them, the stereoklang comes from a box. A special roll under the closed spark solutions is the Sonos system. It combines the playback of analogue audio sources with music from the home network and the Internet. Like other manufacturers' systems, it is multi-room capable. This means that the same or different music programs can run simultaneously in several rooms of the apartment.
Wireless LAN (WLAN) is now available in many households. Besides surfing via notebook or tablet, it can also be used for wireless listening. This requires WLAN speakers that connect to the network by radio.
Then the music has only to be on standby on a PC or NAS system (Network Attached Storage). Smartphones or tablets registered in the same WLAN can also serve as audio sources.
The network standard UPnP AV (Universal Plug and Play Audio Video) ensures that the music memory and the speakers are mutually exclusive. He also appears under other names like AllShare or DLNA in the manufacturer brochures. Theoretically, all devices that support UPnP AV can be combined - even if they are of different origin.
However, there are so many audio formats, data rates and software versions that not every device can work reliably. If you want to be safe, you will stay with a brand and use the smartphone app or PC software that the manufacturer recommends for their radio boxes.
Installation is similar to AirPlay speakers. Wi-Fi systems, such as Raumfeld by Teufel, Philips and Sony, usually have free-of-charge smartphone apps that guide you step-by-step through the installation process. They later also control the music playback - of UPnP servers on the home network or from the Internet . With WLAN speakers, you can also listen to web radio stations or use music subscriptions of streaming services like Napster, Spotify & Co. without a computer.
If you have your music in iTunes or on a mobile Apple device, you only have to ensure that an additional UPnP server program is installed. Apple does not support UPnP at home.
AirPlay; Bluetooth; A closed system; WLAN
