For years, “wireless home theatre” felt like a contradiction. You could have convenience or you could have performance, but rarely both. Anyone who cared about sound knew the trade-off. Real power meant speaker cables. Serious bass meant thick wiring. A proper setup usually came with a rack of equipment and a quiet acceptance that your living room would never look quite the way you imagined.
That era is ending.
These days, thankfully, wireless is no longer a compromise. It is simply another way of building a high-performance system, one that happens to align far better with how modern homes are designed and lived in. Cleaner spaces, fewer visible components and systems that disappear when not in use are now fully compatible with sound that feels rich, physical and emotionally engaging.
The shift has been slow, but it has finally reached a point where the technology feels settled rather than experimental.
Why wireless finally feels trustworthy
A large part of the hesitation around wireless audio came down to trust. Early Bluetooth compressed too aggressively. Wi-Fi systems dropped out when pushed hard. Latency ruined movie dialogue and gaming felt disconnected. None of that inspired confidence.
What has changed is not one single breakthrough, but a series of quiet improvements stacking on top of each other.
Wi-Fi 6 has brought stability in busy homes filled with phones, laptops, TVs and smart devices all competing for bandwidth. Bluetooth 5.3 has improved efficiency and consistency, especially for short-range listening. More importantly, modern wireless speakers now rely far less on raw transmission alone. Smart buffering, local processing and better internal clocks mean audio stays locked in sync even when networks fluctuate.
Most high-end wireless systems today are also fully active designs. Amplifiers, DACs and digital signal processing are built specifically for the drivers they control. Nothing is generic. Nothing is mismatched. That level of optimisation was difficult to achieve in traditional passive systems without significant cost and complexity.
The result is sound that feels intentional rather than adapted.
Here are some of the best wireless stereo speakers/systems available today:
Sonos: simplicity that actually sounds good
Sonos has played a major role in normalising wireless audio, but recent products show how far the platform has matured.
The Sonos Move 2 is a good example of where wireless now sits. It is not a purist hi-fi speaker, and it does not pretend to be. Instead, it focuses on versatility done properly. Dual tweeters and a dedicated woofer give it real stereo presence, while automatic Trueplay tuning adapts the sound whether it is sitting in a living room or out on a balcony.
With Wi-Fi and Bluetooth onboard, long battery life and dust and water resistance, it blurs the line between indoor system and lifestyle speaker. In a modern home theatre context, it works well as a secondary zone speaker or part of a broader wireless ecosystem rather than the main event.
Sonos remains strongest when convenience, reliability and multiroom integration matter most.
Devialet: wireless without restraint
If there was ever a brand that proved wireless does not have to mean polite, it is Devialet.
The Phantom Ultimate 108 dB, especially in its Opéra de Paris edition, is unapologetically bold. It delivers staggering output from a single enclosure, with deep, controlled bass and a sense of scale that feels almost unreasonable given its size. Hand-applied gold leaf panels turn it into a visual centrepiece rather than something to hide.
Bowers & Wilkins: audiophile thinking, modern execution
Bowers & Wilkins has approached wireless from a more traditional audiophile angle, and it shows in the Formation range.
The Formation Duo is a true wireless stereo system built around the same design principles found in the brand’s passive speakers. Carbon Dome tweeters, Continuum mid and bass drivers and high-resolution streaming support give it a refined, open sound that rewards careful listening. It feels like a high-end two-channel system that simply happens to avoid speaker cables.
Bang & Olufsen: when speakers become artifacts
Bang & Olufsen has always understood that for some people, how a system looks matters as much as how it sounds.
The Beoplay A9 is a perfect example. Large, circular and deliberately sculptural, it reads as furniture first and speaker second. Multiple drivers and substantial amplification allow it to fill large spaces with ease, while room compensation keeps things balanced.
It is not designed for critical listening in the traditional sense. Instead, it suits homes where a single statement piece needs to deliver both presence and performance without visual clutter.
In a wireless home theatre setup, it often works best as part of a broader design-led system rather than a conventional surround arrangement.
Invisible speakers and disappearing screens
Wireless technology does not stop at the speaker cabinet.
One of the most interesting developments in recent years has been the rise of invisible or disguised speakers. These can be plastered into walls or ceilings, finished to match surfaces and effectively disappear once installed. Paired with wireless amplification and control, they allow sound to exist without obvious sources.
Retractable projection screens follow a similar philosophy. When not in use, they vanish into ceiling cavities or furniture. Combined with ultra-short-throw projectors, they create cinematic scale without a permanently dominant display.
The common thread is choice. Technology adapts to the room rather than the other way around.
The appeal of fewer boxes and fewer decisions
Remove an AV rack from a room and the space changes instantly. Furniture placement becomes easier. Walls feel calmer. You stop planning your layout around cable runs and power points and start thinking about comfort instead.
For many homes, especially apartments and open-plan living spaces, this matters deeply. A wireless home theatre setup today might consist of a pair of active speakers, a discreet subwoofer and a display or projection system that blends into the architecture. Control lives on your phone or tablet. Updates happen quietly. When nothing is playing, the technology recedes.
That sense of effortlessness is what has pulled wireless into the high-end conversation.
A different relationship with technology
These days, going wireless is not about rejecting traditional hi-fi values. It is about refining them. Reducing friction. Letting sound and image take centre stage without the visual noise that used to come with serious performance.
For anyone who wants a home theatre that feels intentional rather than engineered, this is the moment when cable-free finally makes sense.
Find out more about wireless speakers on our website and contact our AV specialists if you want more information about them today.
