Photo: Jens Mortensen

The two biggest hassles with setting up surround sound: cables and calibration. The Aperion Intimus 4T Summit Wireless 5.1 system fixes both, with audiophile-friendly uncompressed streaming and ingenious sweet-spot technology. Where most wireless setups squeeze everything until Top Gun on Blu-ray comes out sounding like Airplane on VHS, Aperion uses the same high-speed frequencies as radar systems to stream audio in all its uncorrupted glory. Each individually powered speaker houses multiple amps and crossovers, so you can ditch the A/V receiver along with the cables. Place the speakers wherever you want and a hub unit (not shown) auto-calibrates it all. Then hit the MyZone button on the remote and the sweet spot shifts to wherever you’re sitting. You can hear it move.

WIRED Uncompressed 24-bit, 96-kHz audio. Sweet spot moves to you, not the other way around.

TIRED Line of sight required between speakers for accurate calibration. Seven power cords to plug in around the room.