Rocketfish: How to Set Up Your Rear Speakers Without Wires

THE ISSUE
For the past few weeks, I was searching for a way to set up the two rear speakers of my entertainment system in the living room. My front speakers and center channel were not an issue as there was no foot traffic; however, the two rear speakers were a problem. I was concerned about running wires across the floor, where someone could possibly trip or possibly have an accident. I considered running the wires around the walls of the room as an option, but was unsure if I wanted to take that approach.

THE SOLUTION
While searching online, I came across the Bestbuy.com website and read reviews on the Rocketfish Universal Wireless Rear Speaker Kit. The Rocketfish, I learned, is Best Buy's own brand, which I thought was interesting. Based on the information I read, I thought I would give it a try. Since I was a Best Buy Reward Zone member, I had a coupon for 12% off along with some gift cards. The system cost a total of $99.00 plus tax, and taking into account the coupon and the gift cards, I paid around $45.00. The package came with a Sender, Received, Receiver Stand, 2-2 foot sections of speaker wires, AC adapter for the Sender & User Manual.

What I first noticed was that the Rocketfish's speaker wires were very basic. I was aware of this from prior reviews of the product. Luckily, I had enough of my own speaker wire and planned to use that instead.

The Rocketfish sender was hooked up with the speaker wires to the back of my home theater receiver. The unit was clearly showed where the speaker wires would be placed, marked by the red and black colors. The back of the unit also included the proper place to plug in the AC adapter. Afterwards, the AC adapter was plugged into an outlet. Once the unit was plugged in, the sender light blinked red (stand-by mode) once the adapter was plugged in.

I proceeded to hook up the Rocketfish receiver to the two rear speakers with speaker wires. The Rocketfish receiver was a larger model and included the spots to hook up the wires. I opened the bottom of the unit in order to expose the plug. The plug was unraveled from the bottom of the unit and into the wall. I placed the receiver in the receiver stand. The finished unit was placed on the bottom of my right speaker stand. Once both units were plugged in and operations, the sender light turned a steady red. According to the instructions, this meant that the units were communicating with each other.

THE RESULT
I turned on my home theater receiver and put in a DVD of the Fantastic 4 to test the Rocketfish system. I had to turn up the volume on the Rocketfish receiver as it initially was set to the lowest level. Once the volume was turned up, I sat to hear the speakers. Overall, the sound quality is good. I could hear both speakers clearly and was pleased that the entire system was now operating.

I did notice that when I turned off my stereo receiver, there was a slight hum from the rear speakers. I did read about this hum in other reviews. All I had to do at that point was to turn down the volume on the Rockerfish receiver. Otherwise, I would just power off the sender and receiver when not in use.

I am so happy that I did not have to run any wires across the floor. The only thing I had to do was run speaker wires from both speakers to the Rocketfish receiver unit and deal with an outlet plug. Overall, I am pleased with the performance of this product, especially for the price paid.