Current testing methodology is v1.2
September 16, 2020
$189.99
WSA-5RP
4.29 lb
9 x 9 x 5 in
Convert and make your wired surround sound speakers wireless
I’ve been pretty obsessive about a decent wireless surround sound solution for a long time. I researched endlessly to create the original write-up on the wireless surround sound options when I landed on the Amphony wireless setup.
Dynasty ProAudio WSA-5RP Wireless Speaker Kit
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TL:DR;
The WSA-5RP is an excellent solution if you want to convert your speakers to wireless. This might be making your surround sound speakers or even Dolby Atmos height speakers wireless. The audio signal is clean, strong and punchy. Multiple frequency options for tranmission, a good inclusion of accessories and the option to use it to make your subwoofer wireless make this an excellent and flexible choice in wireless speaker kits.
The Specs
- Speaker Type: Surround Sound, Subwoofer, Bookshelf
- Connectivity Technology: A/V Receiver
- Signal-to-Noise Ratio: > 80dB
- Latency: Less than 17ms
- Total Harmonic Distortion: – 90dB
- Receiver Amplifier Speaker Output: 2 x 50W RMS @ 4 Ohms (2 x 25W @ 8 Ohms)
What’s in the Box?
- 1 x Transmitter
- 1 x Receiver (built-in amplifier)
- 1 x 9V AC adapter (for transmitter)
- 1 x 24V AC adapter (for receiver)
- 2 – for a pair of speakers x 6-foot speaker cable
- 1 x Owner’s Manual
- 2 x Stand
Stuff I like
- Easy to set-up
- You connect your speaker wire to from the back of your amp with the transmitter
- Two Bluetooth signals available
- One power outlet to power it
- Only one volume control for both surround speakers
- Auto mutes with no signal
- Fuller, tighter and punchier sound
Stuff I like less
- Speaker outputs are suitable for screw-type terminals
Where to get it
That was about 3 years ago now and recently my poor Amphony surround sound setup developed a popping sound in the back left speaker. Up until this time, it performed very well with no popping and only the occasional dropout when I had too many things in the line of sight of the unit.
The recent popping in the rear left speaker meant it was time to let it go and focus on researching the best ‘new’ unit to buy when converting a stereo speaker to a wireless setup.
This post speaks specifically to people with unpowered rear speakers, or any unpowered speakers or subwoofers. The Amphony unit powered my Fluance surround sound speakers, with 80 watts of power for each channel and that was plenty.
After extensive research, I have now tested and landed on a new unit that uses much improved updates to provide excellent sound to make your passive speakers wireless.
Introducing the Dynasty ProAudio WSA-5RP wireless surround sound kit. Let me tell you why this won first place in my living room to power my Fluance surround from a Denon x4500h HiFi Amp.
How do wireless speaker kits work?
Specific to this unit, and not dealing with other options like Bluetooth, we’re simply talking about Wireless audio transmission.
Most units transmit audio at a similar frequency to the wireless router in your home. That being 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz. These frequencies have been tested and approved so are easy to reuse for audio transmission.
If you imagine the amount of data you can put through a WiFi connection, you can appreciate that it’s possible to send a decent amount of audio-only signal across the same wireless connections.
Speaker Connection
There is a transmitter, which you connect your speaker wire to from the back of your amp. It’s simple, just take the speaker wire that would normally run to your speakers, surround speakers, or similar, and connect it to the back of the transmitter.
Then take the speaker wire from your surround sound speakers, or other speakers and connect it to the back of the receiver and that’s it.
Subwoofer connection
If you are connecting a sub then you would ideally use your LFE RCA plug from your amp to the transmitter and then connect your subwoofer to the receiver using a similar LFE RCA/Subwoofer cable.
Frequencies
A lot of wireless units use Bluetooth. Not a fan – distance causes issues and Bluetooth isn’t there yet. A lot of other ones use WiFi, as does the Dynasty ProAudio but they use the 2.4Ghz frequency. It has 106 RF channel auto selection to avoid other pesky 5Ghz signals.
This can be a problem when you have a house crammed with 2.4Ghz signals that can potentially conflict or crowd out the WiFi audio transmitter.
The Dynasty ProAudio WSA-5RP has two signals available. One is 5.2Ghz which is relatively uncrowded in any house and the other is 5.8Ghz which is also relatively quiet. This makes for a perfect solution for your wireless audio.
When you plug in the transmitter and receiver you can click the M button on the back the unit will switch between each frequency so you can choose which works best.
One has a nice blue light and the other is a nice green light. These are bright but you can always put some gaff tape, electrical tape, or something similar to mute the light. I leave it on – looks kind of nice as far as LED lights go and you forget it’s there quite quickly.
So, frequency set, you’re good to go.
It’s important to note that you should ideally have a line of sight with these units but I’ve not really worried about the line of sight and had zero dropouts.
Setting it up
Set up is easy. The Amphony unit has 1 x transmitter and 2 x receivers at the back of the room. Good if you need to have separate receivers based on how your speakers are physically located. Like this question from the Mississippian on our youtube channel:
My speaker system and living area setup needs one transmitter (that goes into the AV amplifier) and two separate receivers for each surround back speaker. I currently have a 5.2 with a wired setup, trying to add extra two speakers in the back but it’s hard to run speaker wires all the way back of the living area. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.
The WSA-5RP only has one rear unit that powers both rear speakers with 50w per channel. This is plenty even if your amp is outputting more wattage. Keep in mind surround is predominantly ambient sounds and supporting music/audio tracks.
I love this for a couple of reasons:
- Less wires behind my couch
- Only need one power outlet to power it
- Only one volume control for both surround speakers makes it easier to balance the signal levels
The other benefit of the Dynasty ProAudio is that it auto-mutes with no signal. This makes for no crazy signals, hiss, or noise when the unit isn’t in use. For future versions of the WSA-5RP it would be nice if it could go into an auto-standby mode.
Anyway….we were talking about set-up…
Essentially, connect your speaker wire (or subwoofer cables), power them up, turn them on and you’re done. You can switch channels but they sync up really fast and that’s it.
Good to go!
What speakers does it power?
As mentioned earlier, this unit is for passive speakers. Dynasty ProAudio has another unit if you have powered speakers that you want to make wireless. That is the WSA-5TR.
The WSA-5RP can power two passive speakers, most commonly people will choose surround speakers or Atmos height speakers for this.
I can also send a signal to make a wireless Subwoofer with the subwoofer in and out RCA type plugs. It won’t power your subwoofer so you’ll need a powered sub.
You can’t run surround speakers AND subwoofer at the same time as whatever audio signal you feed the transmitter gets sent to all the outputs on the receiver so this means you will be playing the same audio through your sub and your surrounds, for example.
Sound Quality
This unit is 24-bit 48Khz audio quality which is essentially CD quality. This is where it really excels.
Immediately after swapping out the Amphony I immediately felt, despite the lower wattage, that the sound was fuller, tighter, and punchier. Part of me wondered if this was just that I had the signal louder on the unit but with more testing, I concluded this unit punches harder.
Surround sound effects, music and ambient sound just felt like a part of Denon’s powerful output like I hadn’t experienced before.
There was no feeling that anything was wireless – it all felt as though it was fully wired in.
It was quick, efficient, and enjoyable.
Again, I have to say, the Amphony was really good – the WSA-5RP just seemed better.
Price
It’s cheaper than some competitors but is still a decent investment. But, that investment overcomes the reluctance of your partner or spouse to let you run cables down your living room/home theatre space.
It solves physical issues that many rooms throw up making it, at times, impossible to get surrounds or Atmos speakers where they need to be. It could even be you need to run some bookshelf speakers and the Amp is on the other side of the room.
Accessories
Another big thumbs up here. Not only do you get the units and the power adaptors, but you also get speaker wire (looks like AWG 16 gauge which is fine for the power and distance most people will be running).
There are included stands that allow you have these sitting horizontally or vertically.
Conclusion
There are some things about this as a unit to convert your existing speakers to wireless.
One is that the transmitter has an input for the subwoofer, line-in, and spring-loaded speaker cables (I’m using a 12 gauge speaker wire).
But, the receiver has speaker outputs that are suitable for banana plugs? Screw-type terminals. I think it would be good in the future for the transmitter to also support banana plugs if you prefer to use those, which I do.
Essentially this unit has been flawless in its operation. It took 5 minutes to set up and hasn’t so much as sneezed since. This is what you want – wireless tech that works.
The sound quality is improved and so are the aesthetics, which matter if you decide to have this somewhere where they can be seen.
I’d welcome any and all questions you might have about these.
Bottom line – these are the current best picks for wireless surround sound, or any wireless speakers you want to run in your home or home theatre setup.
Comments / Questions below.
Endless hours of experimentation, professional work, and personal investment in Home Theatre, Hi-Fi, Smart Home Automation and Headphones have come to this.
Former owner of Headphones Canada, a high-end headphone specialty retailer.
This post was last updated on 2023-03-21 / Some images from Amazon Product API & some links may be affiliate links which may earn us a commission from purchases.
Thanks for this very informative and helpful review. Based on your writeup, I bought this Dynasty unit to power the rear speakers in my new home theater system. Set up was, as you predicted, a piece of cake. I was worried for a few minutes when I discovered initially that somehow when the Dynasty unit was on my wifi speed in my theater room got knocked down close to zero. But a quick change of the Dynasty to its other frequency quickly solved that problem — and I like the green light better than the blue light anyway! 😁 I’m using it to drive two ELAC wall mounted rears in an all-ELAC system with a Sony AVR. The sound is perfect!
Thanks Harold – That’s awesome to hear. I expect, as I would have been, that it was a bit scary with the conflict on that frequency and router. I’m guessing your wife’s router was using a 5Ghz band. I’ve had similar with the Amphony wireless unit I used too.
I agree the sound is very good. The lights are bright, I also use the green frequency. If people don’t like them they can always put some black tape over them to keep them muted.
So glad they worked out for you!
Where can I buy the dynasty pro audio wsa 5rp in the uk
Hi Chris – you can buy from the US and have it shipped to the UK. Just use your UK address at checkout. Here: https://amzn.to/3p2sGeU
It’s going to cost a little more with shipping but I’m not sure it’s available anywhere in the UK directly.
hope that helps!
Thanks for the review 🙂 I purchased a set; but noticed that my speakers still hiss when my AVR is off. Do you know how long you need to wait for the auto-mute to kick in?
Hi Mark. I ordered this product based on your glowing review. Unfortunately, the transmitter does not power up. I’m in the UK and it cost a hefty amount to purchase and import. Have sent feedback through Amazon, but have heard nothing. Can’t seem to find West Port Premium Audio’s contact details. Can you help, please? Has anyone else had a problem with these units? Cheers, Scott
Hi Scott – oh no! That’s not good. I definitely stand by my review on these and am considering another set for my sub. It sounds like you have purchased from a reseller, which is fine if they are official. It’s possible Dynasty ProAudio might not ship outside the US from Amazon. You have a lot of protection from Amazon on your purchase so you will, one way or another, get a replacement unit or refund.
A couple of thoughts:
1: Most countries now have a free returns agreement with Amazon. Even as far as NZ. So it’s possible a carrier in the UK will accept the return. Not sure what carrier they use there.
2: You can contact Amazon directly to complain if the seller doesn’t reply to you and they get in a lot of trouble. Amazon also have the power to refund you if they choose.
3: You can also email Dynast ProAudio support directly. I’ve always had a good response from them although I expect the BFCM weekend has them run off their feet. They have always replied with in a couple of days.
So, you’re money isn’t lost and there will be a solution even if it is a refund. I appreciate it’s frustrating paying all those duties to ship outside the US.
If you do try again, I trust you will get a solid unit – mine is into the years now and still unwavering. Also double check you are using a 120-240v compatible adaptor. Mine is as I live in a 240v country but if yours is only 120v that can toast it.
The fine print is on the adaptor itself. It will have 120v~240v if it is. Sorry if you know that – not trying to make anyone suck eggs. Just trying to cover all the options!
Thank you for your review – after writing my comments below it sounds critical and they are actually well intended – I enjoyed your presentation – so wanted to add this preface.
I was a little disappointed there was no actual demo of them – even though the received audio for the viewer listener would have been through whatever local device they had! But it would have at least given some perception of quality/distortion.
My concern is the available power on the receiver amp – The amps are 50W, sure but this is at 4 ohms – most speakers are more commonly 8 ohms, so only 25W available for those. What speakers did you actually put these to? I think I heard Fluance BiPolar which, when I look them up, would be 8 ohms; so 25W max into these out of the Dynasty. (Also you mentioned 80W if running 8 ohms at ~5.20 in – that would not be the case, think you are a bit confused over the power vs impedance thing) I suspect you are likely under-driving those Fluance (but you did say happy with the sound, so that is what matters)
I do love the fact that these have the speaker level inputs – again not to nitpick, but constructive input for both you and your readers, 12ga is not at all necessary for the input – there is very low power going in there, not like a true speaker level current into 8 ohms. So especially with those type of terminals, small gauge wire would be fine. (I could also argue that 12 ga is WAY overkill even for the output at only 25W and 16 ga is good for about 48′ and given that you are using this system in the first place, I suspect is only a fraction of that)
So I’m still on the fence – unfortunately my Marantz amp has no pre-outs for the surrounds, so need speaker level input; so it’s either this set with the limited power out, or go with the non-amp version which then would require an additional line-output-converter for input plus an amp for the speakers (or powered speakers which reduces the options further. If you’re reading, Dynasty, PLEASE make a line-level non-amped version (or better, an higher power amped version) 🙂
Your 100% right. Good point. I was a little lazy in clarifying the impedance, assuming 8 Ohms. I feel like I’ve always said to people that I wouldn’t power primary speakers with these, rather their use for surrounds and height speakers is good as you’re only really driving ambient sound. I was surprised how good they did sound with audio through the Fluance, which are underpowered, but wouldn’t put my Concept 40 or similar on them as a primary driver. This is also a consideration for Subs as well, if they are power hungry (w). Volume and output plays in here too I believe, based on how loud you want to go?
Thanks for your addition D’Ecosse, great thoughts and always enjoy clarifications! It’s probably not great news for you but Dynasty ProAudio are meant to be releasing a 2 x 50w at 8 Ohms this month. This can also be bridged to be a 100w mono channel. I haven’t seen it released but might already be around.
I’m hoping to get a review set to demo. Fingers crossed.
Thank you for your generous reception of my observations Mark.
That IS indeed great news on impending release of the Dynasty product at 2×50@8ohms – I wonder if it has speaker inputs similar to the current transmitter, or if it will have only pre-out inputs? Yes, timing may not be ideal and potentially just too late (It’s actually a project for a friend, so will have to see if he wants to wait or press on!). The current one just might be enough, especially based on your own observations – he has MartinLogan primary speakers and found that they have some nice offerings for Atmos and Surround that are only 4 ohms!
For those who might prefer them, Dynasty ProAudio sells black colored units in addition to white, and both colors are currently listed for $169.00 with free shipping to U.S. addresses.