from KY

Long story short...I was looking to set up my 7.1 surround system in the living room in my new house, but had no options to run any number of rear surround speakers.

I bought 2 of these kits, one kit for the surround left and right channels, and another kit for the surround back left and right channels. After taking the kit(s) out of the box(es), I noticed that they had sort of a cheap feeling to them, as in they just feel lightweight and almost just like a plastic shell, BUT...don't let that deter you. Here's why...

I connected one unit to the side surround speakers, and the other unit to the back surround speakers. NOTE: It does not have to be done that way, you could connect one unit to both left surround speakers and the other unit to the right side. All that matters is that you pay attention to which speaker you connect to each side of each unit. NOTE: In my opinion, it makes more sense to connect the sides to one unit, and both surround back speakers to the other unit. This is because the receiving units have a volume control (which was a nice surprise). I would rather be able to control the volume for each matching set of speakers, than control the volume for each side instead.

In any case, after getting everything hooked up, I turned on one sender, and then one receiver and it connected almost immediately. Same thing for the other unit. I was initially concerned that the units may try to connect to one another, but they are paired at the factory, and even after trying to see if one sender would connect to the opposite receiver...I confirmed that they would not connect to the incorrect unit.

I powered everything up and put in a Blu Ray, adjusted some of the speaker levels on my home theater receiver, and the volume on both of the units, and I couldn't be happier with the results. I was expecting perhaps some slight, but noticeable delay, and after watching some scenes from Avatar and Terminator 2, I am completely satisfied with the results!

The term "wireless" seems to confuse some people and I'd like to clear this up to help out. There is no such thing as a completely wireless system. Speakers need power to function. You WILL have to run wires from the receiving unit to the speakers and you WILL have to be able to connect power to the receiving unit(s). NO, you cannot use 1 sender with 2 receiving units. This is a great solution if you don't want to run wires around the perimeter of a room, in front of a fireplace, etc. If you're trying to mount speakers to the ceiling, this is probably not going to help. In my case, I originally had wires running around the perimeter of my living room in my apartment to all my surround speakers. Now, at my house, I cannot do that, because they would be in front of a fireplace. So, I still have 7.1 surround sound now, without wires in front of a fireplace, and all you see is about 2 feet of an extension cord running underneath my sofa.

I hope my review helps you make a decision and clears up any questions you might have!

What's great about it: Easy to use and set up

What's not so great: Sort of cheap feel to product

I would recommend this to a friend!

Features

Ease of Use

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Customer Rating

Great for not running wires, poor for audiophiles.

on December 7, 2010

Posted by: CarterfromCOS

from Colorado Springs, CO

This product looked just right to solve my problem. I bought a great TV (Samsung 55" Series 8) and the matching Samsung HW-C700 A/V 3D receiver to match back in March. Along with a great picture, I am a musician and audiophile. I have a very good ear for music and the quality thereof. So after making my initial purchase which also included front towers, center channel, and subwoofer (all Polk Audio), I wanted to complete my surround sound by adding two rear speakers. I got a great deal on a couple Polk bookshelf speakers on a Black Friday sale, but I didn't want to run wires from my A/V to the back since I have vaulted ceilings and hiding the wires would be a lot of work for me. There's my situation and this product look like a great solution for me in my room.

Setting up the wireless system (installing the wires [which I used monster 16gauge wire] and hiding them) took me about 30 minutes and calibrating it with my A/V receiver was really easy. I had previously worried a lot about the signal latency (15-20ms published, which is right on the money) which I had feared would create an echo. It may for you, if you don't have an A/V receiver that can automatically or manually set signal delay or sync for your individual speakers. I was about to get it all synced up and made the entire setup and calibration under 45 minutes.

After listening for a while to various forms of media, I could hear something wasn't right to my ears. I listened to lots of high quality music and blu-ray high def audio and in these trials something just didn't sound right to me. My troubleshooting approach was to A and B the speakers with one connected directly to the A/V receiver and one connected to the wireless rocket fish. A few minutes of listening I could tell what the problem was and I later confirmed it in the specs.

The Rocketfish Wireless Rear Speaker Kit's manual stats that it transmits and receives Stereo, 16-bit, 48Khz uncompressed audio with a bit-rate of 1.465 Mbps. The Signal to Noise Ratio is 87dBs and output power is 2 x 25W RMS (in 4 ohms).

Okay? So, the transmitter has to down-sample my 96Khz PCM high-def audio that my A/V receiver is sending. That is one of the differences in quality. Another is the RMS, my receiver can give 120 Watts RMS per channel (at 6 ohms). Also, It's no wonder that there is a slight hiss produced due to the signal to noise ratio. It is most recognizable when the Rocketfish receiver's volume control is cranked.

For me, the Rocketfish solves the problem of hiding wires across a room at a cost of quality and hiss (the hiss isn't terrible and may not be noticeable in your environment. It can also be controlled with some trail and error, but you'll sacrifice volume and headroom).

Of course, I'm comparing this to my A/V receiver which is awesome in comparison and rightfully so! The differences make the quality of sound noticeable to me, but not my non-audiophile wife.

So. Audiophiles beware, but if you aren't an audiophile that can pick out slight discrepancies in the signal, this product is really great. I am halfway tempted to keep it because I'm dreading the day's job (and money spent) of running the wires to the back of my home theater. But, for me, high quality audio is an ever elusive beast that I hope to one day capture.

What's great about it: Ease of setup and no running wires across the room.

What's not so great: High-def quality for audiophiles.

I would recommend this to a friend!

Sound Quality

Range

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Customer Rating

Sounds Great BUT can interfere with WiFi

on December 29, 2009

Posted by: GeekInTexas

from Austin, TX

Let me start by saying it works as advertised. It is easy to setup, install, and sounds great. We have it spanning 50 or so feet to power rear speaks in our kitchen leading to an open plan living room.

What I don't like!!! I spent three days and then purchased a 2.4GHz spectrum analyzer to discover my WiFi interference was due to this speaker system. The trace shows a strong RF signal and when I switch off the transmitter it all goes quiet. Plus the speaker system shifts frequencies randomly, presumably to avoid interference, so don't be fooled into thinking your WiFi is fine after install. I noted two traces, presumably for left and right channels, at WiFi 4.5/12 and then it shifted to 6/14. Good luck :-)

What's great about it: Sound Quality, Easy to Setup, Range

What's not so great: Horrible WiFi Interference around channel 11 and sometimes 6

I would recommend this to a friend!

Sound Quality

Range

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Customer Rating

Does the job but needs more power

on April 17, 2017

Posted by: BJB11

Verified Purchase:Yes

I'll start by saying that I read almost every review available for this unit before purchasing and what I decided is that I need to buy it for myself to really make my own conclusions. (remember that you can always return it if you don't like it)

My system consists of the following....

(Fronts) Klipsch RP-280fa
(Center) Klipsch RP-450ca
(Rears) MartinLogan Motion 4's
(Receiver) Marantz SR-6011

I have to admit that I wasn't expecting much from this wireless kit as it's only putting out 30 Watts into 4ohms which is nothing to get excited about but since this unit is meant for the rear speakers, it is acceptable in a small to medium sized room (mine is 16x13).

After all the cabIes were hooked up, I made sure the wireless receiver and wireless sender were within viewing distance of each other and setting the volume on the rear wireless receiver at Max. Then I ran the Audyssey EQ calibration on my receiver and was surprised to see that it worked perfectly. You don't need to have a calibrator on your receiver for this unit to work as it is a plug and play system.

Once the calibration was complete, I used Mad Max: Fury Road (dolby atmos) to demo the setup. I wish I could say it was amazing but my rears lacked the low end that can be provided by a more powerful amp but the highs were present and were allowed to shine. Now given the size of my room, I am not even using a subwoofer as my towers have dual 8" woofers so the bass is more than enough to make up for what I may be lacking in the rear.

Some important things to note....

1. Follow the directions exactly as they are explained in the instruction manual.
2. Understand that if you do not have a dual band wireless router then you may experience interruption and delays in either your speakers or your wireless speeds to your devices ie. smart phone, tablets, media players etc. I have all my devices connected to 5ghz and let this unit take over the 2.4ghz so that I am assured no issues.

As long as you are not expecting audiophile performance, I can happily recommend this system to anyone that is looking to go wireless.

I'll say it again.....you can read all the reviews there are but you won't really know until try it yourself.

My Best Buy number: 0587189990

I would recommend this to a friend!

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Customer Rating

Great sound. Tons of WiFi interference

on June 18, 2011

Posted by: ryan0130

from Duluth, GA

I bought the rocket fish about 1 1/2 months ago in order to avoid paying someone to come out and replace some worn rear speaker cables. It installed easily, and it has great volume output with an excellent sound quality.

I WOULD NOT purchase this product if you are dependent on WiFi like I am. From the moment I installed the rocket fish, my internet speed plummeted. At first, I thought it was my router because it was old. I upgraded to a well known, high performance wireless N router. I also upgraded all of my WiFi dependent equipment to wireless N as well. My internet speed was still terrible. After reading on the rocket fish website as well as other websites, I turned off my rocket fish and isolated my strongest WiFi channel on my router (speeds between 17-20Mbps). I went downstairs and turned the rocket fish on and it went back down to 2-3Mbps. I conducted multiple speed tests with and without the rocket fish turned on and I got consistent results every single time.

This product DOES NOT run interference free as advertised. It WILL interfere with your WiFi.

What's great about it: Great sound. Easy to set up.

What's not so great: Chronic WiFi interference. Does not perform as advertised.

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

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Customer Rating

Great product for the price

on July 11, 2010

Posted by: ax77tx

from TX

Great buy and makes the wife happy. what more would u want.

What's great about it: NO wires from the front of the room to the back

What's not so great: nothing

I would recommend this to a friend!

Sound Quality

Range

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Customer Rating

product customer service stinks!

on March 15, 2011

Posted by: disappointed10000

from Home

We bought this because we were tired of looking at the rear speaker wires & were excited about the wireless option. super easy set up & worked good for about 6 months. Then it started cutting in & out and made popping noises that worried us about damaging our speakers. Didn't do it all the time so we waited. The receiver was only about 12 feet away & in direct vision so there really shouldn't have been any interference. There wasn't any other electrical equipment nearby either. Although sporadic, we had no idea what was causing the issues. Then, it went out completely. Wired the speakers directly & they worked fine. Reset the receiver several times = nothing. We waited till the weekend to trouble shoot & called the customer service line & discovered we were 3 DAYS past the one year warranty. Would they help? No. Would they discount a new system? No. Could they do ANYTHING? No. Our request for replacement/repair supposedly went to an "upper authority" for review & was given 7 business days for a response. 2 days later the response was, Sorry - can't help you. Didn't offer to fix or even a discount on a new system. So now we are $160.00 in the hole for an unusable product.

What's great about it: set up was pretty simple

What's not so great: Rocketfish doesn't stand behind product

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

Sound Quality

Range

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Stalker007

kentucky

Warranty??

June 4, 2011

Just read your issue you had with this device. I had been thinking of buying it but I decided to order a wirless reciever designed specifically for my home theater and I am glad I did based on your review. My question tho was according to the specs this should have been under warranty as it list one year parts and labor and you said it had only been 6 months?

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Customer Rating

3 Units... All stopped working after a year...

on December 13, 2013

Posted by: fthatch

from Seattle, WA

I've bought three of these units and every single one has died within a year or right after the lapse of a year. It's ridiculous to keep having to buy a new one, just to eliminate the hassle of not running wires 20 or 30 feet. I could have saved myself a bunch of time and hassle had I just done it from the first place. It'd be great if BestBuy actually stood by their products, but even after contacting customer support I was basically told that I'd have to buy another one ... that they would do nothing... I've quit buying from Best Buy because of support like this.

My Best Buy number: 2504473151

What's great about it: No wires...

What's not so great: They don't last more than a year.

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

Sound Quality

Range

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