Kenwood RFU-6100 Wireless Module for Surround Speakers
See it at Amazon.com for $249.99Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First (4 out of 5)Best Yet, but not as good as wires
I bought this unit through Amazon, who actually just forwarded the order to Crutchfield. Still, very fast service and shipping was free.
I have experimented with other wireless solutions such as X10 and Advent. The big thing about this unit was the 50W X 2 amplifier built into the receiver. Other systems require you to provide amplification after the receiver to power the speakers.
OK, a quick breakdown:
Looks - Good enough. Not an issue for me. My transmitter and receiver are both hidden from sight. Silver might not fit your scheme.
Ease of Use - Good. Need to connect preconnected speaker wire from the Xmitter to my amp, and power. Receiver needs power and user supplied speaker wire. Then, if needed, adjust the channel 1-4 on both units to avoid local RF interference.
Functionality - Good enough. I use it for rear channel speakers that generally don't need much amplification. Also, I stopped being an audiophile years ago as my hearing degraded, so the audio quality is fine by me. In 5.1 DVD movie use it performs very well and provides the surround experience I want, without the wires I don't want.
Gotchas - Antenna placement is very important. The box claims 100 ft range, but doesn't specify signal quality at that distance. My units are about 14 ft apart, and the antennae must be at the same height to provide the best sound. No putting the transmitter on top of your stereo rack, and the receiver under the couch. That orientation provided lots of pops and clicks as my wife walked between the two units. Also, I wish both pieces were squared off and had wall mount holes. This would provide additional mounting options.
Overall - Works as advertised/expected. I'm happy with it. However, if you aren't as lazy as I am, run the wires through your walls for better sound.
(4 out of 5)Works well but not a perfect solution
Oh joy, oh rapture. Yet another RF toy to add to my growing collection of wireless paraphernalia. I ordered this unit to eliminate the circuitous wires leading from my 5.1 A/V Receiver (Yamaha) to a pair of secondary speakers. The unit comes with a small wireless transmitter and a matching wireless receiver that includes a small, digital amplifier whose volume and tonality vary with the parent receiver. For those with 6.1 and 7.1, two units should suffice, although I assume that would mean hooking up two transmitters as well. There is an issue with RF noise resulting from placing the unit too close to stereo equipment, which Kenwood mentions briefly in their literature. However, I was able to reduce the noise substantially by hooking up the transmitter's power source to the back of my receiver (as opposed to plugging it into my HT surge suppressor). Can't figure out why. After playing around with the signal selectors on both units and adding an additional surge suppressor to the RFU receiver, I am fairly happy with the results. This is sort of new but promising technology. I would have liked a little more noise suppression on both units and the ability to support 6.1 and 7.1 configurations without the purchase of additional transmitters, but not a bad product.
(4 out of 5)Surprise, surprise -- this really works and it's good !!
I was very skeptical about this product and read a lot of the pros and cons before buying it and hoped that it would work, as I did not want the hassle of running wires in my basement from the front to the back of the room.
I have a NAK AV-8 with Klipsch surrounds and although this is not truly wireless [ you have to hook up the rear surrounds with the receiver ], the end result was surprisingly good and beyond my expectations.
I watched Gladiator [ battle scene ], Armageddon [ meteor scene ] and the Matrix ... the surround effects were really good and I could hardly believe my ears .. there was little or no distortion and I was very satisfied with my purchase.
(4 out of 5)Works like a charm
I set this system up, and put on Saving Private Ryan, specifically the Omaha Beach sequence which is one of the best DVD surround mixes out there, and it performed admirably.
My only beef with the system is that the wires from the transmitter to your receiver are VERY short and not replaceable, so you have to position the transmitter no more than a foot from the source, making it hard to avoid interference from the surrounding machines.
Give me longer wires, and it'll be a 5 star review for the next generation.
(4 out of 5)Does what is said it would
Installation was fairly easy. The receiver and transmitter are about 50' apart in my setup and it preforms flawlessly.