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In this episode of Sound Design Live, I speak with the president of the Wireless Speaker Association (WiSA), Jim Venable. We discuss the nuts and bolts of the WiSA wireless audio standard that is currently used in home audio, but has obvious future application in pro audio. We also talk about 802.11a, dynamic frequency selection, and marketing for sound engineers.
The primary purpose of the WiSA is to insure the integrity of the wireless link between the transmitting device and the receiving device.
The primary purpose of the WiSA is to insure the integrity of the wireless link between the transmitting device and the receiving device.Details from the podcast:
- All music in this episode by Daniel Sierra.
- WiSA on Twitter
- 802.11a (5.1-5.8GHz) – worldwide unlicensed band.
- AVB – audio video bridging
- The blog post I referred to in our discussion on marketing for sound engineers: Opening Up The Marketplace To Sound Engineers
- Quotes
- You’ll have to figure out how to market [your] reputation in a global space.
- This is what we call the spousal approval factor.
Interesting podcast about WiSA. The idea of a reliable wireless connection for the home theater is intriguing. But doesn’t this just shift things around? If the 6/8 audio-level signals are now being delivered wirelessly, then all the speakers need to be powered speakers. And this means they all need access to VAC power for those internal amplifiers. I’m not sure that this shift actually makes things fundamentally easier in a home setting.
Or am I missing something?
I can see the potential benefit on the pro side where you can probably safely assume the venue has power for the speaker stacks. But Jim’s primary initial push seems to be for the home.
Thoughts?
Hi Bruce,
Your concerns are all valid and are probably why this tech hasn’t moved forward faster. The way I see it, most homes are wired for AC already. So I put a speaker almost anywhere in the room or pick it up and plug it in outside, as long as the signal is wireless. If you are building a room from the ground up, probably better to just run the lines. Now, add batteries to that and all of a sudden I can setup all the speakers for a day-long event without cables. That’s what’s exciting for me.
In additional reply to Bruce: The point of active speakers is not only in losing the wires to all speaker locations (which is, as Nathan points out, some degrees more complicating than finding an AC outlet near a speaker position). At the same time, more importantly for some, you have the numerous advantages in SQ accompanying the principle of active amplification. All else being equal, an active speaker is superior to a passive speaker every time in terms of dynamics, cone control, crosstalk, constant response of the XO-filter (for lack of interdependence of respective passive circuit component response characteristics). The list of advantages goes on too long to elaborate on, but the bottom line to me is: wireless connectivity is a great bonus IN ADDITION to a wide array of sound quality issues.