Wireless Bluetooth 2.1 Speakers

Sandy Cheeks writes "The Saitek A-250 Wireless 2.1 Speaker System made a stong impression when showcased at this year's CES with its sleek styling and rather impressive performance... The compact boomerang shaped device can provide 2.1 stereo sound up to 30 meters away from a source PC, and can alternatively be used hard wired to any other audio source with an 1/8" stereo jack output."

Comments

Marketing Hype

[Jason Hood]

I always get a kick out of marketing hype surrounding wireless capabilities.

30 meters? I bet its more like 3 with marginal quality.

Re:Marketing Hype

[otisg]

Not necessarily. I have mine set about 10 meters away from the transmitter, and they work fine. And they are RCA speakers!

Re:Marketing Hype

[jo42]

24 hours on 4 AA batteries?

Flaming bull excrement.

Re:Marketing Hype

[adamUndefined]

I worked at a big-box electronics store over Christmas and we carried this model. I was able to get just about to the other side of the store before encountering any drop in sound quality. The first thing you tend to lose if the control of your media player, go a bit furthur and the sound starts to get pretty choppy. This was operating in a completely open space so I'm not sure how it would do when you start going through walls and floors. But I was still impressed. We had quite a number of other wireless items running in the store (several phones, networks, printers, etc.) and it seemed to do fine with other interference. I'm not sure they were quite worth the $150 CAD we were charging for them but a fun product nonetheless.

Re:Marketing Hype

[jrockway]

Maybe not. 1 good AA battery is 2.5AH @ 1.5V = 3.7Wh. 4 of these makes 14.8Wh. Over 24 hours, these batteries would last with a 617mA load. The amplifier draws probably no more than 70mA, so it's possible that the speakers would produce something resembling sound for 24 hours on one set of NiMH batteries. I'm not sure how audio power correlates with electrical power... but I do know that most desktop listening is under 1W (of audio power)... so, like I said, the quoted figure is possible.

Introducing the new Slashdot!

[bcat24]

Now with 100% more ads!

Wireless Electricity

[otisg]

I've got wireless speakers at home, have had them for about a year, and I love them. Now I'm waiting for wireless electricity and I'll be set! I'm not joking. Batteries are ok, they last a few months, but they get weak with time, so you have to keep turning up the volume.

Re:Wireless Electricity

[Bill_Royle]

"Now I'm waiting for wireless electricity and I'll be set!"

I recommend that you rent "Back to the Future" for pointers on how to get yourself going there. Doc had a pretty good flux capacitor modded up, not sure if you can get it still, though. Maybe try Newegg?

Re:Wireless Electricity

[chrismcdirty]

Perhaps you can continue whatever work Nikola Tesla had started before being shut down by the government.

Re:Wireless Electricity

[rob_squared]

The problem comes with energy density though. In order to use standard electronics, especially speakers, you'd probably need a microwave beam, not something you want to stand in the way of, even from a comfort standpoint. What you'd need is some sort of super low energy device like RFID, which can be powered by lower intensity EM waves.

So you either end up with being boiled slowly or low output speakers, and if you're spending that much for speakers, you probably want high quality.

What I'd much rather like to see is a standardized 2.5/3.5mm bluetooth jack so that any device can output audio to bluetooth headsets.

Re:Wireless Electricity

[ironman_one]

How about solar cells charged batteries? I charged the batteries in my salingboat with solar cells. It was enough for lanterns, radio and internal light. You obviusly have to have your speakers in a light environment and not run for full effect all the time.

Obvious feature missing...

[PFI_Optix]

Headphone Output. Seriously, I don't understand why anyone manufactures PC speakers without a headphone jack when you can buy a pair for $5 that has it.

Re:Obvious feature missing...

[Rob T Firefly]

As much as I'd love to walk around the house with dangling a set of wireless speakers from my wired headphones, I think bluetooth headphones are probably the way to go for that sort of thing.

Awesome. Now do the same for headphoens.

[deathbyzen]

For now, the headphone market seems something like this: wireless, portable, stylish. Pick two.

Re:Awesome. Now do the same for headphoens.

[DrXym]

For now, the headphone market seems something like this: wireless, portable, stylish. Pick two.

Problem is that "wireless" headphones require yet another dock / charger cluttering your desk in order to work. So they're not really wireless at all. And those rechargeable batteries make the head set bulk. Look forward to strange looks as people wonder if you're attending a Dr Who convention dressed as a cyberman.

Obligatory MirrorDot link

[bcat24]

It looks like we just killed the server. MirrorDot has a copy.

Improvement

[Saiyine]

Does it come with an audio output - bluetooth adapter? It would be really cool if it has.

Think of the posibilities! Think of the children!

Compulsory RIAA message

[Cygnusx12]

You can't do that with your music either. Sincerely, --RIAA

Re:Compulsory RIAA message

[whodunnit]

Correction:

You can't do that with OUR music either. Sincerely, --RIAA

Re:it looks terrible

[PFI_Optix]

I don't see a lot of use for this now that I think about it.

On the desk, you can get a comparable 2.1 speaker set and a keyboard with media controls for a lot less than $100. For remote listening, I have a better idea: 802.11b.

I'd like to see a device like this that would either access a shared folder or use proprietary sharing software (so a complete novice could set it up without creating a security risk). The software would make more sense, because then you could stream sound from a CD or some other audio source if you wanted to. Then the PC would just have a service running in the background and wouldn't have to launch a media player to operate. Surely you could pull that off for not much more than $100.

I might have figured it out...

[LodCrappo]

All those times I have read:

1) Do something
2) ????????????
3) Profit!

I think I finally figured out step 2. It's advertise with a "story" on Slashdot.

Techno lingo

[Fr05t]

"made a stong impression"

I just can't keep up with all this new technobable lingo. I have no idea what a stong is!

Bluetooth is pretty awesome

[TubeSteak]

In case of Slashdotting, break mirror
http://www.networkmirror.com/2SqNKxarnLb0hJVl/www% 2Ebigbruin%2Ecom/reviews05/review%2Ephp%3Fitem%3Ds aiteka250%26file%3D1%2Ehtml
(Mirrordot only mirrors the first page)

[Plug]
A free and OSS proggie for computer/cellphone Bluetooth stuff is Float's Mobile Agent
I run my computer from my phone with it :O)
[/plug]

Bluetooth IS Wireless, last time I checked

[ziani]

Does "wired" Bluetooth exist? Maybe I missed a press release.

Just wondering.

Airport Express

[Midnight Thunder]

I got an Airport Express for this sort of thing and it also doubles as a wireless router. You will need a Hi-Fi or some set of powered speakers, but it works well enough. Depending on your set up you may experience a bit of lag.

I don't get the hoopla surrounding far ranging BT

[Illbay]

If I want something that has an extensible range, I'd go with 802.11x. To me, Bluetooth is more useful when its range is only a hundred feet (okay, 30 meters) or so--if even that.

I mean, aren't the problems with so-called "bluespamming" and "bluesnarfing" bad enough without allowing the punk kid in his bedroom across the street access to all your stuff?

Re:NO, Not bluetooth!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

You are completely an utterly wrong on this point. Google for "a2dp."

they're not that good, they have a terrible flaw

[neverland0]

The advertised wireless range is not accurate, I get sound with lot of hiccups even 5 feet aways, and then 10 feets away I get good quality, so the sound quality varies a lot and the speakers are kind of picky. Also the 24 battery life must not be true. I use rechargable batteries, that may be 6 months old, but they die pretty soon while being inside the speakers (9-11 hours). The one thing that really annoys me is that I HATE the fact that the remote controls doesnt work unless the application is opened and is the current window. If for some reason something takes over (like screen saver) they wont work. That sucks, every multimedia keyboards that I know can pause and play music even if the music player is minimized and youre doing something else.

"True digital-delivery" ?

[MasterC]

From the specs:

True digital-delivery 2.1 stereo through 2 main drivers and an active sub-woofer

I'm fairly up to speed on signal processing and such, but what exactly is "true digital-delivery"? How does it differ from "false digital-delivery" (if there is such a thing)? I can't say that I have *ever* heard this phrase before.

My guess as to what it means is that it's a digital transmission instead of analog transmission (e.g., FM radio). But big freakin whoop!

37 results on google and at least half are for this product. What's it say about you when your marketers confuse people that are in-the-know by making up buzzwords? I know, I know: then they wouldn't be marketers.

Re:"True digital-delivery" ?

[titzandkunt]

"...I'm fairly up to speed on signal processing and such, but what exactly is "true digital-delivery"? How does it differ from "false digital-delivery" (if there is such a thing)? I can't say that I have *ever* heard this phrase before...."

Waall, it's quite simple, really.

Your true digital delivery is the preferred, high-quality system used by well respected manufacturers like Sony, Marantz, Technics, Panasonic etc. In this system, a true value is represented by a "1", while a false is represented by a "0".

This is not the case with disreputable and lesser manufacturers such as "Tecknichs", "Somy", "Panisonic" - you know, the real dregs who prey on folk with poor reading skills (ie. US high school graduates). Well, they are too damn cheap to license true digital delivery technology and so they're forced to use the inferior false digital delivery. In the false system, a false is represented by a "1", while a true value is represented by a "0". This is obviously backwards and wrong, hence the reduction in sound quality when compared to the far-superior true-delivery system.

T&K.

This product dioes NOT support Bluetooth

[kindbud]

Nowhere in the article, nor on Saitek's website, is there any indication that this speaker set uses the Bluetooth wireless protocol. In the article there is the parenthetical quip "think bluetooth" that is used when describing how it connects to the PC, but the device is not a Bluetooth audio client, and Saitek makes no such claim anywhere on the product website.

Re:What a crock.

[mythosaz]

WTF is "neodymium speaker technology?"

It means the speakers are made out of rare earth (neodymium) magnets, and, as such, can pack a stronger magnet into a smaller place. If you haven't played with a strong rare earth magnet, you dont know what you're missing...makes hard drive magnets look like toys.