A few of the heavyweight electronics manufacturers flirted with wireless speaker systems a while back — most notably Panasonic, Sony and Samsung. A few have even stayed in the game, though the systems didn't generate much enthusiasm from the buying public. It's not clear why; severing those long-running cables from the front of the room to the surround speakers in the back would seem like a winning concept (especially if the speakers are lamps), and new wireless techs can ensure a clear connection. Could it be that home theater systems in general just aren't selling that well?

Don't tell that to KEF. The high-end speaker maker has just debuted its own wireless speaker system, the KHT5005.2W, which lets you cut the cords on both the front and the rear speakers of the 5.1-channel system. Well, cuts them free from your home theater receiver, anyway — you'll still need to tether them to the wireless receiver (the little thing on the round subwoofer in the pic), but it's tiny and you get two of them with the system: one for the front and one for the back. Not sure if that makes this option more attractive than previous wireless efforts, but the price ($2,600) certainly doesn't. Fortunately, you can get the wireless kit separately for $600. — Peter Pachal