Running wires to the rear speakers of a 5.1 or 7.1 system is always problematic. Several companies demonstrated wireless add-on devices, but the Link-Mount is the most unusual and clever solution I’ve seen so far. The wireless receiver/amp is built into a universal speaker wall bracket. A DC power cord is then run through the wall to a termination plate where you connect the wire to a transformer plugged into an electrical outlet. Since it’s DC running through the wall, no electrician is necessary. Pricing is in the $400 range for a pair of brackets and a transmitter.

Sometimes, as you wander the aisles and hallways of CES, a pattern or theme appears among the various demonstrations you see. In some cases, this is by design (if you were a real journalist and carefully planned out your day ahead of time). More often than not, however, it's from sheer dumb luck or an unavoidable preponderance of manufacturers chasing a particular, small segment of the market.

Call it a wireless musical gulleywasher. NuVo’s (accurately but very dryly named “Wireless Audio System”) uses both dual-band Wi-Fi and MIMO technologies to transmit up to 16 simultaneous audio streams at 600 kbps each, a feat that NuVo claims is the highest throughput of any Wi-Fi music network system. The system connects to home networks to play iTunes and Windows Media libraries and to the internet to access streaming services (Pandora, Rhapsody, SiriusXM, etc.) The system consists of three primary components, including two music player devices with built-in stereo amplifiers (P200, 60-watts x 2; and P100, 20-watts x2) and a network gateway (GW100). The P200 includes built-in aptX Bluetooth technology for wireless music streaming from tablets and smartphones. Each GW100 gateway has a range of about 300 ft (enough to cover an “average” 4,000 sq ft home), and multiple GW100s can be used in combination for larger homes. Prices are: P200, $599; P100, $479; GW100, $199. And, unlike when I first saw (and really liked) the system at CEDIA last year, NuVo says the Wireless Audio System is shipping now.

The idea for Wireless Audio Solutions Products (WASP) lineup of wireless speaker brackets and wallplates grew out of a custom integrators frustration with the lack of specific wireless audio distribution applications for installations involving more than setting a pair of monitor speakers and a wireless amp on a bookshelf. Several years of research and design have resulted in WASP’s LINK-Mount, LINK-Plate, and LINK-InWall products, each of which feature the use of tri-band wireless technology (2.4, 5.2, and 5.8 GHZ), 50-watt mono-block Class D amplifiers, wireless subwoofer outputs, retro-fit friendly designs, and uncompressed wireless audio transmission. The amplifiers inside the LINK devices use low-voltage power from external plug-in transformers (aka, wallwarts) that allow the mounts/plates to be installed without requiring an electrician. The WASP UWT-201x is a universal wireless transmitter for use with WASPs LINK plates and mounts, and it has selectable line- or speaker-level inputs, a subwoofer input with a choice of discrete or L/R summed wireless subwoofer output, as well as a 3.5mm front auxiliary input jack that automatically overrides the back panel input when you want to use a smartphone or tablet as a temporary local music source. WASP’s wireless audio distribution devices will only be available through authorized custom integrators. (In other words, don’t look for these on Amazon or at Best Buy.) Cool, cool stuff. Can’t wait to try it out and see how well it works in a real install. No pricing was available at CEDIA, though.