Customer Reviews

Sony SRS-RF90RK Wireless Speaker System with Built-in Rechargeable Battery

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I don't think there can be much of an argument that the sound quality is well below a wired speaker system but its not an unreasonable tradeoff to give up a little sound quality for the freedom to put the speaker anywhere.

I'm going to send it back for three reasons:

1.) There is an audible hiss which, depending on how far away from the base station you are and how much wireless interference there is can be extremely loud. For me, the sound quality tradeoff is too much. I tried the noise reduction feature and switching betwen the 3 channels the base station offers but couldn't get an acceptable audio result. It could be my crazy neighbor who has a massive HAM radio polluting the airwaves. Your mileage may vary.

2.) Needs more speakers. There is only one speaker and when you place it in a room the first thing you notice is the lack of a stereo sound. I think the speaker itself may actually be stereo and the curvy plastic piece is attempting to spread the sound around but it fails for me. I wanted another tower.

3.) The battery life on the speaker is really poor. It charged all night and worked for all of 15 minutes before I had to plug it in. Maybe there is something wrong with mine because this seems impossibly bad.

Its too bad because this is a great idea and if you're like me and all your music is now stored on the hard disk of your computer, it would be a great way pump music anywhere in the house.

The prouct itself is really quite beautiful and has this blue light that makes it look like a piece of art but I was looking for a higher quality audio result.

I don't want to totally discourage you from trying it out especially if you have a small place and you're not a total audiophile but if you like your high quality sound, beware.

HORRIBLE is the only word I can think of to describe this product. I'll preface my comments by saying that I do not consider myself to be an audiophile. I am an average guy who wanted to be able to listen to my Sirius Sat Radio or iPod throughout my house and in my backyard while relaxing or entertaining. Here was my experience with these speakers -

I received them on Friday, they were very easy to setup, and connected easily to my Sirius receiver in my Office. The first thing I didn't like about the speakers was that even when connected to the power supply they were not very loud. At max volume in a quiet office, they were at a decent volume but not what I consider to be loud. More of a background ambience level, not a pure listening volume.

I then took the speakers into my backyard. I set them on my patio roughly 20 feet from the transmitter, but outside of my brick house. The sound quality was HORRIBLE. Lots of popping, hissing and drop outs, while only 15 feet from the transmitter. I opened my windows in my office, tried all 3 of the avaialble channels, nothing improved the reception. When I could hear these speakers, at full volume they were barely loud enough to hear about 10 feet away from the speakers. It was impossible to hear them at all in the furthest corner of my yard. I tried moving the speakers to that corner of the yard and completely lost the signal from the transmitter about 50 feet from my house - nothing but static at that point.

This morning I took the speakers into my Kitchen - roughly 40 feet from the transmitter with 2 walls between - the only place I could get a signal on the speakers was sitting them on top of my Fridge. While there was no popping while in the Kitchen, the hissing was considerably more pronounced in the house. The volume was good while in the kitchen and could be heard anywhere within that area - but that also includes hearing the hissing throughout the entire space.

This morning I contacted Amazon to return these speakers since they did not meet my expectations. To add insult to injury Amazon will be charging me to return the speakers as well as the shipping to send them to me. Since they were over $25 I got the "FREE" Super Saver shipping. I guess it's only "FREE" if you keep the item, if you return it Amazon will charge you. Therefore, it's going to cost me about $20 to find out these speakers are HORRIBLE!

As a solution for all of you who are looking for the ability to hear your music in every room of your house. Do an Amazon search for "Whole House FM Transmitter Gold". For less than these speakers you can buy a Whole House FM Transmitter and pick up your Sat Radio, iPod, TV, etc off of a crystal clear FM Signal. I received one of these units yesterday as well and I am keeping this. It produced a signal I could pick up on every radio inside and outside of my House including my Basement. I will replace these Sony wireless speakers with an under cabinet radio for my Kitchen and a Boombox for my backyard.

My recommendation is to AVOID these HORRIBLE SRS-RF90RK speakers!

Just tried this system out and can barely hear the music over the static. I live in a dense area of San Francisco and so have a really noisy radio spectrum here. The 150 foot range probably reaches a dozen neighbors, most of whom have cordless phones, wifi, etc. Maybe these will work for you if you live in a "quieter" area, but they're unusable here so I'm returning.

I've owned these speakers for about a month now and am very pleased. I purchased the main unit with the transmitter and three additional units to spread the sound throughout my home.
I agree with just about every review posted on this item; good and bad. However, I think some people give up on these speakers too easily. I experienced most of the issues that the other reviews complain about. It takes some trial and error to get these speakers to work without hissing, cracking, and breaking up. What I have found is that if you place the transmitter and speakers up high, you will have more success than failure. I placed the transmitter on top of my entertainment center. The recieving speakers are placed up high also like on top of my kitchen cabinets, on top of my book shelves in my study, and on top of a china cabinet. This fixes two problems for me. One, you can not see the speakers and you can just hear the music. Two, I get clear sound with no intereference. I've found that some of the interference comes from people walking in between the transmitter and the receiving speaker so by placing the units up high, this fixes that problem.
The challenge with placing these speakers is that it seems like there are "sweet spots" where the speakers work exceptionally well. Moving the speakers just inches one way or another makes a big difference and that is where the frustration lies. Not to mention, one day they will work fine and the next they won't. I have worked through those issues and they are now very reliable.
The complaints that some people have about the speakers just shutting off is true but only happens when you have the volume so low that the transmitter does not detect the signal and shuts off automatically which is explained in the manual. I don't see the problem.
Do understand that it takes a lot of time and patience to get these to work well but if you spend the time and troubleshoot the problems, you will come to like these speakers.

I read the many not so glowing reviews here before making my purchase of this item. I have been on a small quest to find a useable means to listen my mp3's or internet radio - wirelessly around my condo- all streamed from my desktop computer. I've messed with other devices with no luck - returned them all due to much the same reason mentioned here by others - static sound, bad signal, etc...

Well I ignored the negative reviews of this sony speaker, and went for it , just because I normally love sony products and this one just looks cool too. Luckly, I was surprise to find this set up to be totally usable!! sound leaves a small amount to be desired in terms of freq. range ( not the widest - does not really produce BASS - more like low-mids there)

But the wireless range is enough to use in any room in my 1000sq ft place, static is minimal and does not cause me to NOT enjoy the music.

I do wish it had a direct input ON the speaker as well, to be able to use the speaker as a normal rechargable speaker if wanted - IE - plug your iPod right into to - but it does NOT - you have to plug into the base sender to get any audio into it.

I think this technology is simply not yet a mature one, but with so many options for music from your computer from the web. Things will only improve over time.

for now this is my chosen device to get my music around my place wirelessly. Starting to really love this thing ( sony stuff will do that to ya sometime )

Before buying this product I had read some pretty concerning reviews on here regarding the sound quality. The slick look and promised value from Sony encouraged me to make the purchase none the less.

I must say I am beyond pleased with the product. The quality is amazing for an all-in-one speaker. The product description offered by Sony is right on the money.

I can only conclude people rating this product poorly have it misconfigured or are in an extremely noisey (wirelessly speaking) enviornment.

I would recommend this product to anyone.

I purchased this on Dec 28, even though some of the reviews stated that it didnt work well. But I hooked it up to my XM satelite radio and it worked! No playing with it, no tuning and I didnt have to re-position the transmitter. I found the sound to be excellent considering it is wireless and on the few and far between, it does break out for a split second, and I mean split second.
I paid 109.00 and I think it was well worth it and Im considering buying extra speakers for other areas of my home.
Note-it does state on the box that if you have a 900mhz telephone it will not work properly. So check that out before purchasing to avoid this problem.
Anyone who complained about this product, either it be range or sound quality, they are wrong...

The design is exceptionally attractive, Amazon has the most favourable price I have found anywhere, but the sound quality of the speaker is very poor.

To be fair to Sony, low sound quality and high interference are inevitable with 900Mhz technology. The 900MHz band is low power and is crowded by a vast number of appliances (it is the most common frequency for cordless phones and baby monitors).

Moreover, although the sound quality of this speaker is comparable to a lower-end cordless phone or a higher-end baby monitor, it is no worse than that of any other wireless speakers I have tried.

On the positive side, the battery life is above average, the built-in recharger is an inspired idea, the tower design makes it quite compact, and the aesthetics are without equal.

My bottom line advice is that you should not buy any wireless speaker as a replacement for your wired speakers. However, if you are going to buy wireless speakers (e.g., you must move your speakers frequently or you are otherwise willing to sacrifice a great deal of sound quality for mobility), then this is currently the best choice.

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I bought this wireless unit for the kitchen to fill in the sound from the wired Bose speakers in my living room (which is on a different floor of the house). Before I connected the unit I could hear the Bose from the kitchen sink, but I had to turn the volume up really high. Now that I've connected the Sony, I'm satisfied, but only just. The sound isn't great, but since i'm using the unit to fill in sound, I suppose it's okay. But I would never want these to serve as my only speakers! Uffff.

With some fiddling I was able to eliminate the hiss (by repositioning the base unit and experimenting with frequencies) but there is still the occasional 'click' or 'chirp'--especially when a mobile (cell) phone rings. I had assumed the unit would connect directly to the speaker 'out' of my amplifier, so I was a bit surprised to find that I had to use a spare REC OUT. (There are a few other options for connection as well--but those really should be better explained in the technical specs online). Anyway, it's up and running and looks way too cool on my cluttered kitchen counter. If only it sounded so good . . .

A big disappointment

I wanted to have a good portable speaker that I can use to listen to my various music sources including a stereo system, Comcast digital TV and music, iPod, etc. A wireless speaker seemed ideal!

Unfortunately, I ignored all the bad reviews on this board. Thinking that I could adjust any signal interference, and since I live in the suburb, there shouldn't be much. Boy, was I wrong! I couldn't get rid of a clearly notable background hissing noise no matter I did. I tried turning off and removing all my wireless phones. I tried moving the speaker right next to the transmitter. Nothing worked. Besides the background noise, the speaker also seemed very sensitive to any movements around the speaker, a touch to the speaker by hand, or a small shift in location or orientation, by making a loud popping noise. It is almost unusable.

I'm convinced, as some already stated, that the wireless technology today is just not good enough yet. I've returned it and got an iPod speaker instead. Now, I'm much happier!