Typically, wireless is not considered to be as reliable as wired. Dropped signals and diminished fidelity are typical problems that have plagued this technology.
Rocketfish designed this system to eliminate the need for running wires around your walls or under your floors (the latter is even more difficult if you do not have a basement). It comes with a sender unit (sending at 2.4 GHz), receiver unit, stand for the receiver unit, power adapter, and two 2-foot speaker wires. The setup is very simple. After connecting your surround cables to the sender unit from the amplifier, you will connect your surround speakers to the receiver. The cables that come with the system have terminals instead of wires, which is nice. It makes it extremely easy to connect. The only negative is that it doesn’t come with another set of cables, so you will still need to have some on-hand for your receiver unit.
Once the units are connected and plugged in, each unit is powered on. They should make a connection within a few seconds. Your receiver’s volume control will be the main one to use, but a very nice feature here is the volume control on the back of the receiver unit, which balances the front and rear speakers.
Our first test was an action movie on DVD. The initial results were surprisingly good. The depth and volume from the surround speakers was much stronger than their wired counterparts. Once I adjusted the volume a bit, I sat back and listened for a while. Not only was the balance between the back and front speakers better, but the clarity of the back speakers was sharper than I have heard out of most other systems. Further testing on an Xbox360 provided equally good results.
The biggest complaint about the system is the occasional pop that comes from the surround speakers. There does not seem to be any one thing that causes it, like a scene change in a movie, or a lot of sound or music going on at once. It can be a bit annoying. But overall, RocketFish has designed a very solid product that will provide more credibility to the wireless audio world.
Damn – you need to dust man! That last picture makes my sneeze just looking at it! Great review by the way – I have been thinking about a system like this for my living room since wires pick up static from my carpet and my daughter cannot seem to leave them alone for more than 5 minutes at a time (even when only a small part of wire is showing under the baseboards!)
You’re absolutely right. I may try to ge some better pictures uploaded, I honestly didn’t realize how much dust there was.
I should add that for those who already have their wires neatly hidden in their floorboards or basement, I don’t know that I would jump to get these. The sound seems a bit better (aside from the pops), but when you get your “wireless” kit home and discover you still have just about as many wires to plug in to the two separate units, it’s a little disappointing.
This looks like a very good solution to the many 900 mHz wireless speaker systems out there. Before I bought one of these I’d like to know what kind of interference there is with wifi operating on the same band, and, if so, does changing wifi channels have any effect?
I have the same kit, which I purchased about a month and a half ago from Best Buy – $45 as a returned (but unopened) item! They really do work great; I have heard a popping sound about three times since I purchased them (and they get used a couple hours every day). The transmitter is within a few feet of my wireless router, but YMMV when it comes to wireless gear. The popping sound (in my case) is faint — not like the terrifying speaker-busting pops of 900mhz; it sounds more like the sound you would hear as an audio jitter with a dirty CD.
My only complaint is that the speakers are not totally silent when they are not in use — they emit a very quiet buzz when my audio receiver is turned off and not supplying any sound. When the receiver is on, the buzz goes away; I suspect that when there is no sound, the transmitter is not transmitting anything and the noise I hear is just ground hum or similar. Turning down the knob on the Rocketfish amp (and then turning up the rear output of the audio receiver) solved this issue.
Great deal, maybe not worth $100 but definately worth $50 if you can find it on clearance or similar. Another thing to note is that this setup is advertised for use with wireless rears, but it can be used with any stereo speakers — if I see another discounted set, I’m going to use it on the secondary speaker output on my receiver for outdoor speakers.
I have the same kit wireless louspeaker and have the same pop that comes from the surround boxes from time to time. I could not identity what is the reason for it.
I do have the Panasonic home teather and an old RCA system, both wireless surround speaker and none of them has this “pop static” problem than the Rocketfish has. Sure, is something that Rocketfish has to solve, is anoying and does not go away. While I am happy with the quality, this problem needs to be fixed. Is a defect.
Thanks, Mario
I am looking at getting something like this. I have four floor model JBL speakers and I want to put two of them in areas of the room where the wires will be unsightly if used. Everything that I have seen states that the power handling is up to 100 watts (which tells me that these types of units are only for bookshelf type speakers). All my speakers pump at least 300 watts. Is there anything out there that can handle this?
Works great except when it goes out. Sending unit quit working. Rocketfish told me to contact Best Buy. Best buy told me to contact Rocketfish. Contacting the BBB. It is a 200 hundred mile round trip to Best Buy. It is under warranty and I even offered to pay for a new sending unit.
Hello guys,
I bought this kit from best buy yesterday. I followed the instruction step by step and I did everything, but it doesn’t work there is no sounds from the rear speakers. I tried it without the kit and the rear speakers works 100%.
Can anybody help me and tell me what the problem is?
* I hook up the wires correctly and I check them hundred times.
* the light flashing when I turn the receiver on and then I turn the sender on and it’s flashing for seconds then both of them solids which means there is no more flashing and I think that’s mean it’s working correctly.
* I don’t understand what’s the 2.4 I just turn the receiver and the sender on and it’s automatically stop flashing the light.
* My living room is a small do u think guys that is the problem?
* do I need to use the stand for the receiver or not?
Please can anybody help me . .
Mohammed
Saihat20@gmail.com
Mine isn’t working either! Did you get any replies Mohammed?
Dear God, I’m hating technology now!
I recently bought a Panasonic home theater system model # SC-PT660 and the Rocketfish wireless speaker system. The big problem is that my home theater system has propietary connectors to the receiver and I would have to splice the speaker wire to make it work with Rocketfish. Is there some other way around this?
I bought this system as a means to lose the clutter of running wires to the rear speakers based upon mostly favorable reviews on the product. I very disappointed in this unit…everything has been set up properly and tested numerous times. The rear speakers go silent, very little volume when it’s working properly and the popping is annoying, especially in a goog part of a movie. I’ll try returning it and trying another unit but I don’t have my hopes up.
cant get mine to work either, any suggestions?
I got to this page while I was looking for a solution the “Pop”. I’m starting to go out of my mind!!! Have you come across a reason, or a solution for this yet??
Email me if you have an answer to either. Jeffwilliams73@hotmail.com