JBL On Air WEM-1 module makes any speaker wireless, for a price

It's not exactly the first to turn any old speakers into wireless ones, but any attempt to cut down on wire clutter is alright in our book, and JBL is now doing its part with its new On Air WEM-1 wireless expansion module. As you can see above, this one consists of a transmitter module that connects to the audio source of your choice, and a receiver / amplifier that connects to a pair of speakers (it's apparently "tailored for use with select JBL loudspeakers," though it seems you can connect anything you like). That combo will give you a range of 70 feet and, supposedly, no loss in sound quality, although you will have to make do with the 50 watts per channel the amplifier pumps out. There's also the small matter of the $360 price tag, but we're sure there's at least a few folks out there willing to accept those trade-offs for a bit of added convenience, and for the principle of the thing.

[Curtis Joslin @ Sep 4th 2008 4:09PM]

for the price compared to amps out, you might as well buy wireless speakers.

[427 Cobra @ Sep 4th 2008 4:12PM]

These would be great for surrounds in a home theatre if the receiver side was smaller.

[kadajawi @ Sep 4th 2008 4:17PM]

Not really, no, I don't see the point. Maybe if you want some music in the kitchen or garden and couldn't care less about sound quality, but the distance is too great to use cables, but if they are in one room with the source?

[kadajawi @ Sep 4th 2008 4:13PM]

No loss in sound quality? Compared to... uh, what? A cheap amp that for example Logitech uses in their speakers, or compared to a high end tube amp? No thanks, I'll continue to use wires. The thicker, the better. I don't mind if people see them, if they look good.

[IMHO @ Sep 4th 2008 6:02PM]

Somebody help me out here. You still have to power the speaker (or the wireless receiver), right. So it's only wireless in the sense that you don't have to run speaker wires correct?

[letstakeawalk @ Sep 4th 2008 4:32PM]

The fatal flaw in every wireless speaker I've ever seen.

[pito189 @ Sep 4th 2008 4:48PM]

Yeah that is what I am wondering. It's nice to not have speaker wires everywhere but I guess you still have to put the speakers by outlets?

[David Gerard @ Sep 4th 2008 4:53PM]

They can run them off the Intel Mad Scientist Magnetic Power Transmitter! http://notnews.today.com/?p=34

[jorvay @ Sep 4th 2008 4:30PM]

Pfft! $360 is peanuts compared to what many people blow on "superior" cables and wiring.

[letstakeawalk @ Sep 4th 2008 4:30PM]

Without knowing the specs on the amplifier units, it's really hard to make an informed decision. They do seem flexible in how they can be used; they would be an easy way to add a second system in another room by hooking the line-level outputs to another amplifer.

Wireless has a long way to go before I've convinced it can compete equally with good cable (never mind the power issues that require batteries or plug-ins). I'm with kadajawi - I'll keep my wires. They're easy enough to tuck behind the baseboard molding, anyway.

[MarkD @ Sep 4th 2008 4:31PM]

$360 is crazy. I'll keep the wires.

[GaryZ @ Sep 4th 2008 4:59PM]

underpowered, yet overpriced

[kadajawi @ Sep 5th 2008 11:41AM]

Why is 50 Watts underpowered? My 2x35 Watts amp is by far more than enough to get complaints by the neighbours (and become deaf), without maxing it out at all. It's not like you're going to hook up some ultra high end speakers to them that are very hard to drive... for those you would be paying much much much more for an amp with cables.

What I would find more interesting would be a device that could wirelessly transfer the sound files unaltered to wherever you want, and there you can hook up any amp you want, instead of being stuck with the integrated amp of this thing, which might be good, but which also might be crap.

[sawbones @ Sep 4th 2008 6:28PM]

I have something similar by KEF... the sound is pretty good, almost identical to other channels in 7.1 setup... there's only 1 issue: there's quite a coding/decoding delay; I've had to add about 25 feet to the actual distance of my rear speakers in my AV receiver setup to get a proper rear soundstage.

[Brently Lemons @ Sep 5th 2008 12:23AM]

Spend the extra money and get going with Sonos.

[Gareth @ Sep 5th 2008 12:41AM]

Those are pretty cool, I especially like the box design. You're right that there's others out there. Chinavasion's got a a set that will give you a greater reach for a lot less http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/24ghz-wireless-audio-video-ir-remote-transmission-set/