With the home theater field piquing the interest of more than just the typical HTPC enthusiast, we have been seeing more manufacturers picking up on the trend, especially with MCE 2005 now out the door. While we have been looking at software PVR and HTPC solutions, we haven't spent as much time on the other knick knacks that often makes the home theater that much better; case in point, the Ahanix's D.Vine 4 HTPC case.

After our so-so experience with the Albatron Widio, Bluetake handed us their Bluetooth Hi-Fi Audio Station Kit. For those who aren't familiar with Bluetake, they are a spin-off from Thermaltake; thus, the similarity in the name and in the logo. And as their name suggests, they only (so far) produce products that deal with Bluetooth technology. Last time we looked, they released eight products with the HiFi Audio Station Kit being their latest and second attempt in the entertainment/multimedia field.

Bluetake's BT460EX BlueTooth Hi-Fi Audio Station Kit: Package

Seeing as this is a kit, and not just a product thrown into a box with a few accessories, we will be reviewing it as a kit, which means a review of a complete system.

The BT460EX retail box contains: BT460 Transceiver x1 BT460 Receiver x1 BT470 Mini Amplifier x1 Aluminum Cradle x 2 RCA Hi-Fi Plug Cable X1 (RCA male-to-3.5mm stereo jack female) RCA Speaker Cable X1 (RCA male-to-speaker bare wire) RCA Hi-Fi Jack Cable X1 (3.5mm stereo jack male-to-RCA male) RCA Cable X1 (RCA male-to-RCA male) Speaker Wire X2 (bare wire) BT460 Transceiver Power Adapterx1 BT470 Mini Amplifier Power Adapter x1 User's Manual

Kit Specs
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Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way first. There is one transceiver, one receiver, and one mini amplifier, all of which are housed within a combination of aluminum (top and bottom) and plastic (sides) materials.

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Click to enlarge.

The transceiver and receiver are exactly the same size with the same AC adapter and RCA ports (ports on receiver are output, transceiver is vice versa). The mini amp has 4 bare wire jacks with a power on switch, RCA inputs (source input), and a volume dial.

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Click to enlarge.

Included in the package are two stands for the transceiver and receiver (mini amp is too large to fit in stand).

Cables:

• 1 x Y cable - 3.5mm stereo jack female to RCA left and right male
• 2 x Y cable - bare wire speaker cable to RCA left and right male
• 2 x RCA left and right male to RCA left and right male (one short and one long cable)
• 1 x Y cable - 3.5mm stereo jack male to RCA left and right male
• 2 x bare speaker wires

The various cables are intended to provide a way to input from the source that you want to transmit to the receiver.

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Click to enlarge.

Bluetake's BT460EX BlueTooth Hi-Fi Audio Station Kit: Setup

In terms of form and overall physical design, the mini-amp, transceiver, and receiver are designed well to maintain a low profile. The only things that we didn't like were the antennas, which could only rotate 90 degrees, and the transceiver and receiver, which used the not-so-power-strip friendly AC adapter plugs.

Configuration is supposed to be so easy that you shouldn't even have to read the manual. The concept is simple: hook up main, rear, or other speakers without the use of wires.

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We set up the audio kit on our computer using the Y cable - 3.5mm stereo jack male to RCA left and right from the computer to the transmitter. On the receiver, we used the RCA left and right male to RCA left and right male to the mini amplifier; and from the mini amp, we used one simple bare speaker wire to our TransAudio speakers. If you don't want to use the mini amplifier, you don't have to, but the kit was intended to be used in this manner so that is how we are testing it.

Getting the system up and running is as simple as powering up the transceiver and receiver, and then hitting the pairing button (hold it down for 2 to 3 seconds). The mini amp should be powered on after this with the volume set on the lowest setting to avoid a very ear shocking jolt. The audio should be set up now with a blinking blue LED light on the transceiver and receiver to indicate active status. You can pause/resume the audio transmission by hitting the pairing button on the transceiver.

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Field Tested & Final Words

Like the Albatron Widio, we have a bit of a mixed conclusion with Bluetake's Hi-Fi Audio Station Kit. The problem with Widio was more a matter of approach in terms of how it should be used. Bluetake's problem is a bit different, as our problem stems from actual in-the-field use.

When we had the whole system running initially (it took less than 3 minutes for us), we had the feeling that the audio wasn't in sync with the video. People were moving their lips, but the audio wasn't exactly matching up. It is hard to see if you are just watching on a monitor (even on our 21" CRT) or using a low quality recorded video file, but we were absolutely sure that there was lag when we used our projector to blow up a high quality video file. It seemed to us that the audio lagged roughly about 0.4 to 0.8 seconds.

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We set up two simple tests and watched X-men (the first one):

• two PC systems, side by side, using two DVDs
• one PC system with the audio kit used on rear speakers and the generic computer speakers hooked up as the front speakers

Speakers fed by the audio kit were set about 15ft back from the monitor in both scenarios.

Sure enough, there was audio lag in both scenarios. It was hard to get a good scene to compare the audio lag, but we found it when Wolverine was just waking up in the X-Men mansion and grabbing Jean Grey. In that scene, Ms. Grey coughs 3 times. In both test scenarios, we heard the cough 6 times! You can almost compare it to a prolonged echo, or that incessant "stop copying me" game that you may have played with your sibling.

The only possible solution we thought of was padding the audio, which means forcing a delay in the audio to make the audio and video synch up. The only issue with this is that there weren't too many programs that we could turn to with our experiment. We tried to monkey around with padding the audio in Beyond TV 3.5, and the issue was basically solved. However, this still doesn't solve the problem when we were navigating My Computer, where a single audio click turned into almost two.

We haven't seen the audio station kit on either Pricewatch or on AT's Price Engine, but according to some links provided by Google, it runs around $229 to $239.95. At that price, we have to say that this product needs to undergo some improvements before you head out to pay out that much dough.

Bluetake's marketing strategy is to use this with the PC, Home Theater (TV, DVD player, etc.), or an audio player/system. For the PC, what Bluetake needs to do is include a program that can pad the audio for everything that you do on your computer. For the Home Theater and anything else that deals with audio and video, there needs to be some way to fix the audio lag issue. As for a purely audio experience, this works great, and we have no qualms about recommending this for that purpose, but the price tag is still kind of stiff, considering that it is contending with products like Creative's Sound Blaster Wireless Music and others of the like. Granted, this kit makes wiring rear speakers almost hassle-free compared to fully routing it via cables, which we cannot emphasis enough to those who need to punch through drywall, plus the audio quality sounds great. Nevertheless, you will still go nuts when you see people on the screen moving their lips while speaking on a skewed timeline.