Las Vegas –Wireless Speaker and Audio (WiSA) technology made gains at International CES, where Klipsch and Enclave Audio revealed plans to ship their first WiSA-certified active speakers and the WiSA Association announced six new members.
The Klipsch and Enclave products will join certified speakers already available from Bang & Olufsen and Sharp’s Blu-ray/SACD player with high-resolution music decoders.
WiSA technology is promoted as delivering interference-free, wired-quality wireless audio in the 5.2-5.8GHz U-NII band to stereo and home theater speakers in a room up to 9 by 9 meters (29.5 by 29.5 feet). WiSA technology delivers up to 7.1 channels of 24-bit/96kHz uncompressed audio.
The technology is promoted as eliminating cable clutter, enabling more flexible placement of speakers by eliminating speaker-cable runs, and overcoming the sound quality, interference, latency and cost challenges associated with other wireless technologies designed for multichannel home theaters, WiSA has said.
Klipsch plans third-quarter availability of its Reference Premiere Wireless Home Theater speakers, consisting of a tower speaker, monitor speaker, center speaker and subwoofer. The speakers receive audio wirelessly from a distribution hub that connects to up to audio sources via HDMI, digital optical, and analog inputs. The hub also features stereo Bluetooth with aptX. Pricing wasn’t disclosed.
For its part, startup Enclave Audio plans May availability of a 5.1 home-theater speaker system and hub through its web store. It’s positioned as a mass-market system said to deliver high-end sound at an affordable price.
The Klipsch and Enclave products are on display with other WiSA products in the WiSA suite at the Venetian Towers Hotel, room 30-226. Other products on display there are from Bang & Olufsen, Claridy Audio, Fostex, and Sharp. Information on shipment plans by Fostex and Claridy were unavailable.
The association’s six new members are TVLogic’s Aurender audio brand; Gold Peak Electronics, the maker of KEF and Celestion speakers; Vifa, a Danish speaker maker; WASP, the wireless in-wall speaker company; components manufacturer LG Innotek; and Digital TV Labs, the media and device-testing company;
Association membership now exceeds 35 brands from global consumer and pro-audio speaker companies, CE manufacturers, ODM and OEMs, guitar manufacturers and others.
