JBL’s On Air Control 2.4G wireless satellite speakers, mentioned on this very site at the end of January, promised to add some stereo audio to your life without all the necessary wiring required for standard sats. Well, turns out the speakers are about as wireless as something with a lot of wires.
See, like all other “wireless” speaker systems currently available, the On Airs still need power and to be connected to each other and to have some sort of transmitter connected to the audio source.
CNET has a full review of the speakers, but the short of it is they are kinda wireless and kinda good. The set can be used as surround channels, as a primary system for anything that has stereo, line-level or headphone outputs or, if your receiver supports it, as a set for another room or “zone.” (It will not connect to normal speaker inputs, however.) A small wireless transmitter connects to your audio source and wirelessly sends audio to the speakers, up to 70 feet (or more according to the CNET review) and it doesn’t need to be line-of-sight, hence the ability to put them in another room.
As far as performance goes, I’ll just leave you with this quote: “we’re happy to report the $350 JBL On Air Control 2.4G’s operation was glitch-free, and the sonics were nearly the equal of any decently designed wired speaker of its size and price.”
JBL On Air Control 2.4G [cnet]