Accessories

This solid pair of black boxes, from speaker manufacturer Teufel, will let you send two channels of audio wirelessly. This is a handy concept if you can’t run wires to rear speakers, or simply want hassle-free, multi-room music. The cigarette box-sized transmitter sports a couple of phono sockets, which are fed with the relevant outputs of your AVR or audio system. Rather larger is the receiver, the internal amp of which can drive speakers directly. A nifty circuit automatically switches the RearStation 4 into standby in the absence of audio. Additional receivers can be bought for £180 and any number can be partnered with a single transmitter ‘within range’.

A range of 20m should cater for most applications. Up to three RearStation 4s can be used and controlled independently via the supplied handset, making the system ideal for convenient audio distribution. Many AVRs with ‘zoning’ capabilities can drive the RearStation transmitter directly using the appropriate phono outputs.

The 2 x 30W amplifier built into the receiver unit is good news for anyone whose AVRs only offer line-level outputs for certain surround channels, because they lack the full complement of internal amplifiers. l The incoming audio is converted into digital for transmission, ensuring excellent channel separation and freedom from the hiss and crackles associated with analogue FM ‘senders’.

Wireless, the communication between transmitter and receiver may be – but you’ll still need to locate mains sockets for the transmitter and receiver.

While the output power is perfectly adequate for second room use, it’s limited compared to what most AVRs offer and the resulting imbalance will yield an unpleasant ‘grittiness’ from the RearStationed pair of channels – certainly when your home cinema is driven hard.

Teufel RearStation 4
Price: £270 Approx

Overall: 4/5