Home Theater Klipsch wired + wireless possible? (1 Viewer)

[Mark Ayzenberg]

Hi guys,

I just purchased a Klipsch home theater system and I am hoping to also connect speakers in other rooms to the system as a separate zone setup for wireless.

My question is: can I use wired klipsch speakers and make them wireless somehow without losing much audio quality?

The background:

I purchased a Klipsch reference bundle, but ended up getting the reference premier set as well. Now I will be selling the reference subwoofer and center speaker and the yamaha receiver that came with the reference bundle, but keeping everything else. Here is my hopeful plan if you guys can help it come to fruition:

Home theater setup:

Onky RZ830 (although I may swap this out for something else (suggestions?) because onkyo support told me my speakers are too powerful for it.

Klipsch 8060FA floor standing pair
Klipsch 504C center
Klipsch RP500M rears
Klipsch SPL120 sub
-----
Extra speakers I was hoping to make wireless:

Klipsch 625FA floorstanding pair -- was hoping to put these in the bedroom for music
Klipsch R-41 bookshelf speakers -- hoping to put these in another bedroom for music.
Klipsch 52c center -- thinking about putting this one in the bathroom for music.

Do you guys know if it's possible to make these all wireless? I also would love to make the rears for the home theater wireless as well because otherwise I have to somehow find a way to stretch wires all along the walls of my living room without it looking too obvious.

Also, anyone have recommendations as far as speaker stands for the rears or a pad for the subwoofer to help minimize vibration to my downstairs neighbors?

I really appreciate the help!

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

“Wireless.” Rolls of the tongue easy, but that’s where “easy” ends.

A wireless speaker has a built-in receiver and amplifier. How much do you think it would cost to put all that in each one of those speakers?

And of course, transmitters are required to send the signal to the wireless speakers.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[JohnRice]

...yeah...

"Make them wireless" sounds like such a simple idea. How do you control what plays in each room? Is it the same thing everywhere, or different things in each room. How do you control the volume? Also, look at the back of the speakers. There are two connectors, possibly four. Those are for wires. So, wires are kind of built into the concept. Most of all, you can't play back audio without power, which has to come through wires, or from batteries. Batteries are a lot more of a hassle than a couple wires.

As far as wireless surround speakers, that's been tried several times, and there are options, but I've never heard of one that works. That is a lot more complicated than it sounds, since the surround speakers have to perfectly integrate into the rest of the system, without even a millisecond of delay, and it has to change volume perfectly in sync with the rest of the system. We can put a man on the moon, but we still can't figure that one out. At least not for a price anyone wants to pay.

Just one more comment, before I get too discouraging, regarding the comment "Onkyo RZ830 (although I may swap this out for something else (suggestions?) because Onkyo support told me my speakers are too powerful for it." Is Onkyo support really that incompetent? Those speakers are unpowered. They get their power from the receiver. There is no such thing as speakers that "are too powerful" for the receiver. A receiver can be lacking the power needed for the speakers, but that is definitely not the case with any Klipsch speaker, which require very little power.

In the end, the directions you are expecting simply don't exist.

Having said that, there are ways to distribute audio through a house using WiFi, but you need a source, generally computer based, to store and distribute the music, and a way to control playback. You can do video as well. I use iTunes and AppleTVs (and 16TB of storage) to send or call up music, movies and TV shows to/from multiple systems, but each of those systems require components (receiver, TV, AppleTV) to receive and play it back. It gets complicated, and expensive. In any case, the media might be sent to remote locations through WiFi, but you still need something wired within the room to hear and/or see it.

 

[Mark Ayzenberg]

Hi John, thanks for the detailed reply. I should clarify my needs --

1) Forget wireless rears, I will run wires, it's not that bad.
2) My goal is to connect my home theater in the living room with speakers in 2 bedrooms and one bathroom so I can play music throughout the house. Ideally, controlling volume separately would be great. I don't need these things to be completely wireless. I realize there are systems like Sonos out there that let you connect a house full of speakers, but I was hoping to use the Klipsch I have. So my real question is -- what is the most cost effective way of connecting my living room receiver to speakers in 2 other rooms? I know Onkyo RZ 830 has wireless features, which is why I asked about that, but I realize I need to have something that receives the wireless input. Also, I'm not sure if the Onkyo can control 3 separate rooms at once. My goal is to be able to play music through my Onkyo receiver and hear it throughout the house without having to send wires through all the walls into the rooms. Is that doable within reason?

Thanks!

...yeah...

"Make them wireless" sounds like such a simple idea. How do you control what plays in each room? Is it the same thing everywhere, or different things in each room. How do you control the volume? Also, look at the back of the speakers. There are two connectors, possibly four. Those are for wires. So, wires are kind of built into the concept. Most of all, you can't play back audio without power, which has to come through wires, or from batteries. Batteries are a lot more of a hassle than a couple wires.

As far as wireless surround speakers, that's been tried several times, and there are options, but I've never heard of one that works. That is a lot more complicated than it sounds, since the surround speakers have to perfectly integrate into the rest of the system, without even a millisecond of delay, and it has to change volume perfectly in sync with the rest of the system. We can put a man on the moon, but we still can't figure that one out. At least not for a price anyone wants to pay.

Just one more comment, before I get too discouraging, regarding the comment "Onkyo RZ830 (although I may swap this out for something else (suggestions?) because Onkyo support told me my speakers are too powerful for it." Is Onkyo support really that incompetent? Those speakers are unpowered. They get their power from the receiver. There is no such thing as speakers that "are too powerful" for the receiver. A receiver can be lacking the power needed for the speakers, but that is definitely not the case with any Klipsch speaker, which require very little power.

In the end, the directions you are expecting simply don't exist.

Having said that, there are ways to distribute audio through a house using WiFi, but you need a source, generally computer based, to store and distribute the music, and a way to control playback. You can do video as well. I use iTunes and AppleTVs (and 16TB of storage) to send or call up music, movies and TV shows to/from multiple systems, but each of those systems require components (receiver, TV, AppleTV) to receive and play it back. It gets complicated, and expensive. In any case, the media might be sent to remote locations through WiFi, but you still need something wired within the room to hear and/or see it.

 

[JohnRice]

I can't really help you with Sonos, but I do see that the Onkyo receiver can receive or transmit a signal. If there are basic Sonos receivers, then you should be able to use them along with a basic integrated amp to play music in different rooms using your extra Klipsch speakers. By "integrated amp" I just mean a basic amp that has a volume control, like THIS ONE. That would be your most basic/cheap option. Different companies have different music distribution systems. I use Apple's, which is AirPlay, so that's what I'm familiar with. We use it at work, which is a two story commercial building. I'm on the main floor most of the day and I play the music I want simultaneously through three systems. Upstairs is one big room, and they play what they want through WiFi to their system. Three of the systems use an amp like the one I linked, and receive the music through AirPlay. In this case, the music is all stored on computer, or streamed from online radio stations.

It sounds like you can play music through the Onkyo and distribute to systems in the house. I just don't know what types of receivers they offer, aside from the integrated speaker/receiver/amp ones, which wouldn't allow you to use your Klipsch speakers.

 

[Mark Ayzenberg]

I can't really help you with Sonos, but I do see that the Onkyo receiver can receive or transmit a signal. If there are basic Sonos receivers, then you should be able to use them along with a basic integrated amp to play music in different rooms using your extra Klipsch speakers. By "integrated amp" I just mean a basic amp that has a volume control, like THIS ONE. That would be your most basic/cheap option. Different companies have different music distribution systems. I use Apple's, which is AirPlay, so that's what I'm familiar with. We use it at work, which is a two story commercial building. I'm on the main floor most of the day and I play the music I want simultaneously through three systems. Upstairs is one big room, and they play what they want through WiFi to their system. Three of the systems use an amp like the one I linked, and receive the music through AirPlay. In this case, the music is all stored on computer, or streamed from online radio stations.

It sounds like you can play music through the Onkyo and distribute to systems in the house. I just don't know what types of receivers they offer, aside from the integrated speaker/receiver/amp ones, which wouldn't allow you to use your Klipsch speakers.

Thanks again, John. Can I use airplay and connect it to the Onkyo to do the same thing if I use Pandora through my iphone to do so? Or how do I get my PC to work with the rest of the speakers?

 

[JohnRice]

You should be able to play back anything from your iPhone to your receiver, as well as to any receiver or component that has AirPlay, which is getting to be extremely common. I've never done exactly that. I use iTunes for playback. No doubt others here have done a lot of it though and can give more experience.

BTW, THIS ARTICLE indicates you also need a Sonos Connect ($350) to actually use the Onkyo as a Sonos source. AirPlay is becoming an extremely common feature, so you might look into that. Assuming you have a WiFi network in your house, the Onkyo will receive and play it back, then you just need a receiver like THIS and an amp like the one I Iinked earlier in each room, with speakers connected, and you should be good to go. In this case, your phone is the source. Everything else just receives the music.