Wireless Speakers

What's New

Klipsch intros first Bluetooth speaker

With D-cell battery power for on-the-go sound
- By S&v Staff
- Posted May 8, 2013
- 2
The KMC 3, Klipsch's first Bluetooth speaker, doesn't look like anything radical, but to our eyes, it's a new paradigm for personal audio. Most of its competitors use Apple's AirPlay wireless audio technology, but the KMC 3 uses Bluetooth, making it compatible with any type of smartphone. Most of its competitors need an AC outlet to operate, but the KMC 3 runs off batteries or AC.

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Review: Pioneer A4 Wireless Speaker

Streaming audio... plus sound quality
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted April 1, 2013
- 2
I’ve reviewed a few of these types of speakers. Pioneer calls this one a “Wireless Speaker” but that’s not really adequate for the category. Music streaming speaker (MSS?) is probably more accurate, if less pithy.
Either way, my experience has been that for most, it’s function first, quality second. As in, you get sound, but it’s not very good. Unless the MSS has some sort of special attention paid to sound quality, I try to avoid them.
What got my attention with this one, then? Well, the A4 has been tuned by none other than Andrew Jones, and given how amazing his inexpensive Pioneer speakers are, I figured this doodad was worth a look.

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Review: Dynaudio Xeo 5 wireless speakers

Like a high-end iPod for your living room
- By Daniel Kumin
- Posted March 25, 2013
Wireless is, uh, in the air these days. Audio, video, telecom, and most everything else up to and including war-making are all proceeding nicely without any lengths of braided copper trailing behind. But too much of the time, this is more about wireless-ness than about what happens when the signal gets wherever “there” is. (Unless, that is, you have the misfortune to be riding in a car in the mountains of northern Pakistan…)
Not this time. And the rather unexpected reason is a new family of wireless speakers dubbed Xeo from Dynaudio, the Danish loudspeaker (and transducer) maker that is as widely respected in the hushed confines of pro audio as in the rough-and-tumble of high-end hi-fi.

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New Gear: Monitor Audio WS100 Wireless Multimedia System

A lossless whole house music system with a real audio pedigree
- Posted March 4, 2013
Monitor Audio have covered most of the speaker bases, from traditional towers and surround setups to miniscule desktop companions and docks, so it's no surprise that they've decided to enter the burgeoning wireless audio arena.

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New Gear: The Parrot Zikmu Solo

The latest fashion-forward wireless speaker from the AR.Drone folks has a lot more than good looks to offer
- By Michael Berk
- Posted October 4, 2012
- 1
Having previously been pretty impressed by Parrot's Philippe Starck–designed headphone, the Zik, I figured the latest update to the Zikmu tower dock line might have a little more to offer than looks.

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Review: Aperion Aris Wireless Windows Speaker

Teaming up with Microsoft to challenge Apple's hold on easy wireless audio
- By Michael Berk
- Posted October 4, 2012
- 2
The big box threw me for a second. Some weeks back I'd seen an early prototype of the Aperion Aris, the first Windows 8 Play To certified wireless speaker, and I recalled it being a pretty compact desktop unit. What gives?
Well, it turns out that the manufacturer is so confident in their new product that they sent it to us along with a leading wireless speaker we'd reviewed quite positively, the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air, along with an A/B switcher and a Sansa Clip full of tunes.
Gauntlet thrown! But we'll get to that in a minute.

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CEDIA Expo 2012: Compact and Portable Audio

Wireless minisystems invade an industry formerly dominated by coffin-sized speakers.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted September 11, 2012
The CEDIA Expo is supposed to be a showcase for custom home theater, multiroom sound, and home automation, but this year a lot of manufacturers didn’t seem to have read the rules. Instead of focusing on in-wall speakers or 12-channel amplifiers, they showcased wireless audio systems, desktop systems, and even headphones.

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Review: Audyssey Wireless Speakers

The home-theater DSP experts continue their quest to occupy your desktop with a new Bluetooth-endowed powered monitor
- By Michael Berk
- Posted August 22, 2012
Audyssey, a firm that's long been on our radar as a near-ubiquitous provider of software algorithms for home theater, has in recent years stepped up its efforts to become a force in the desktop audio hardware market. We loved their first powered speaker pair, the Audyssey Media Speakers, and the company's now followed those up with a Bluetooth version, the aptly named Audyssey Wireless Speakers.

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Review: Sonos Sub

The top multiroom audio system gets some extra bottom
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted June 20, 2012
Since my first lengthy experience with Sonos products, I’ve been recommending them as a simpler, lower-cost alternative to traditional multiroom audio systems. It’s just so much easier. Plug in a Sonos component, go through a simple config, and you have great-sounding music and Internet radio in any room (or many rooms) in a matter of minutes, all controlled by your smartphone or computer.
But there’s one thing a Sonos system doesn’t deliver: bass. Now that’s fixed.

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Denon: New Headphones, New Docks, New Look

A revived headphone line and hot new iPod docks for Denon (and D+M sibs Marantz and Boston Acoustics too)
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted May 30, 2012
Denon’s been to headphones what the Rolling Stones have been to rock: Both enjoy an unassailable reputation even though they haven’t done anything significant for a long time. I’m betting the Stones stick to that plan, but as of yesterday, Denon’s back in play with a new line of 11 headphones — plus a couple of cool new AirPlay/DLNA speakers, too.

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Building a Better Wi-Fi Audio System

Why settle? For about the price of a single AirPlay speaker, you can get really great wireless sound.
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted March 12, 2012
- 7
A few weeks ago I reviewed the Altec Lansing inAir 5000. It wasn’t bad, but for $500 I would have hoped for more. That seems to be the case with many Wi-Fi audio systems these days, and that got me thinking:
For the same amount of money, could I build an audio system with similar functionality, similar footprint — and that actually sounds good?
Challenge accepted.

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Altec Lansing Live 5000 Wi-Fi Speaker

The new speaker looks much like its inAir siblings, but abandons AirPlay for Wi-Fi to compete with custom installs — and Sonos
- By Michael Berk
- Posted January 18, 2012
- 3
Altec-Lansing showed us a very interesting new spin on their inAir concept at CES. The new device resembles the existing inAir 5000 AirPlay speaker — but the resemblance is only skin deep.

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