Wireless A/V Audio is 7.1, uses new 5.1-5.8Ghz band

Reported on TWICE, an A/V marketing newsletter, manufacturer Focus Enhancements will debut a "Summit" multichannel wireless-audio technology for direct-to-customer release via distributor Aperion Audio in Q2 of '10.

The Summit line transmits uncompressed 48kHz/24-bit PCM over the air, using FEC, and uses the 5.1-5.8GHz U-NII band. The 23 channels in that band are non-overlapping and are an ITU standard for unlicensed use not interfering with the 802.11a/n wireless-network band.

Focus plans to upgrade the technology to deliver 96kbps PCM audio over the air in mid-2010.

Other features are spread-spectrum OFDM modulation, four-antenna tuning, dynamic frequency selection (automatic channel hopping), up to 10ms of interpolation to fill in dropped packets, and automatic speaker discovery and channel assignment for easy setup.

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