Introducing the rocketfish Universal Wireless Rear Speaker Kit: It's a problem as old as speakers: finding some way to hide the nasty wires that exist as a necessary evil, giving you the sound you crave. Up until the advent of wireless technology, the best you could do was expensive soffit mounting - a fancy way of saying you hid the wires (and most of the speaker) in the walls. However, now there's a new option: no wires at all, a strategy embraced by the Universal Wireless Rear Speaker kit, made by Rocketfish, a Best Buy house brand. Is Rocketfish's brand of wireless worth the $99.99 Best Buy is charging? Find out after the jump...

Specifications:

• Sends CD-quality audio via 2.4 MHz wireless signal
  


• Has a range of one-hundred feet
  


• Receiver has multiple mounting options and includes mounting stand
  


• Kit comes with transponder, receiver, stand, instruction manual and two lengths of two-foot speaker wire
  


• Kit includes spring terminals to accept all bare wire connections
  

Pros:

• Excellent sound quality
  


• Easy to install

Cons:

• Kit should use two receivers instead of one to be truly effective
  


• CD-quality transmission may mean a lessening in sound quality in some higher-end systems
  


• Both transponder and receiver need to be turned off when system is not in use
  

Installation: Installing the Universal Wireless Rear Speaker Kit is easy: connect the transponder to the speaker ports on your amplifier using the included wires, connect the receiver to your speakers using two additional wires (or vice-versa - whichever is more convenient), then plug both units in via the included AC connectors. The receiver, which is about the size and shape of a hardcover book, includes a mounting stand that allows you to stand it up on a shelf and built-in mounting brackets so you can hang it on the wall, a nice piece of flexibility that should make installation easier. Turn on both units by pressing the clearly marked power buttons and you should be good to go.

Installation went quickly and without problems, but installing the kit does underscore the one major design flaw with this system: by choosing to use one transponder and one receiver, Rocketfish doesn't eliminate the wire problem, they merely modify it. A better design would feature one receiver per speaker, perhaps in a setup that allowed you to plug the receiver directly into the speaker, removing the need for additional wires. This system would eliminate the need for any wires, which is the whole point of this exercise.

Sound Quality: I don't happen to own a surround system that would work with this kit, so I used my existing two-speaker setup (Bose Series 301 speakers, Kenwood AR5070 stereo receiver, Kenwood CD-203 CD player) to test out the Rocketfish speaker kit. Despite the product's emphasis on rear speakers, there should be no functional difference between testing two speakers in a surround system and two speakers in a stereo system.

The kit's wireless connection synched up instantly, which was very nice to see. I started up the amplifier and the CD player, loaded up Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger and listened to the result. The conversion seems flawless and after playing with both the bass, treble and volume controls on the amplifier and the volume control on the back of the kit's receiver I can honestly say I can't tell the difference between the wired and wireless versions of the same sound. The wireless conversion is completely transparent, neither adding nor subtracting anything from the speakers' sound, just as you'd expect. However, keep one thing in mind: the kit's specifications list the sound quality as CD-quality, which typically means 44 KHz, 16 bit sound. If your amplifier generates sound at a higher level of quality, you will lose something in the translation, which could be a big issue for audiophiles.

After I turned the CD and amplifier off, I noticed another small flaw: the kit generates some nasty digital noise that buzzes through the speakers until you shut off either the transponder or the receiver. Both units mount the power button on the back, out of easy reach and chances are you won't want to shut either unit off on a regular basis. Some sort of auto-off system or at least a built-in filter to cut the noise would have been a much better design.

Verdict: Overall, if you're desperate to remove some wires from your speaker setup, you'll probably find some real value in the Rocketfish Universal Wireless Rear Speaker Kit. Despite its flaws, it does an excellent job transferring audio from the amplifier to the speakers and will certainly remove some wire clutter, especially if you use it with the two rear speakers in a surround sound setup. However, given the high price, the limited number of wireless receivers in the system and the potential quality conversion issues, you might be better off looking at other wireless speaker kits.

Company Website: http://www.rocketfishproducts.com/