Klark Teknik Air Link DW20T/DW20R Quick Review and Measurements
This is a quick review of the Klark Teknik Airlink DW20T/DW20R. This was purchased by me for wireless subwoofer use although it is intended for full range use. The unique feature of this system is that it has XLR balanced in/outputs. The combo runs about $200.
The transmitter is rated at handling up to 10 dBU (2.45V rms) and the receiver is rated at producing up to 15 dBU (4.36V rms). However this is at an advertised performance of 0.1% THD+N (60 dB SINAD)!
Official Specifications
Frequency response 20 Hz to 20 kHz (±1 dB)
THD + N (distortion) 0.1% @ 1 kHz
Signal-to-noise ratio >90 dB
Transmission frequency 2.406 - 2.475 GHz
Wireless range Up to 30 m (100 ft)
Transmission power 12 dBm
16-bit/48 kHz bit-depth/sampling rate
~14 ms latency
You need to re-link the devices if you lose power.
One transmitter can send the same stereo signal to 4 receivers.
Reliability
I bought an open box, looks-new receiver with Sweetwater warranty and had massive drop-outs. After discussing with the retailer, they shipped me a brand-new receiver unit! The replacement unit worked perfectly. So, if you buy one used/demo, make sure there is a trial period to make sure it's not defective.
Test Setup
The wireless transmitters were about 15 feet apart from each other in a home environment with mesh Wi-Fi 6. What makes testing this difficult is that the two units have an analog attenuator knob. Having the input too high can cause distortion even though it's lower than the 10 dBU advertised spec and doesn't show the red "clipping" light. I quickly settled on putting the receiver at maximum volume and the transmitter at 50% volume. This roughly gave me unity gain such that 2V going into the transmitter resulted in 2V going out from the receiver. It is likely that the transmitter is attenuating and the receiver is amplifying but it wasn't easy to set the knobs evenly while walking back and forth 15 feet each time. I then tried attenuating the volume on both, with the knob at the 9 o'clock position which was successful in reducing the high frequency distortion. I ran the initial set of tests using my Monolith HTP-1 outputting at 2V.
Measurements
You can see in magenta that there was a lot of noise introduced at the higher frequencies when running at input settings that I chose, but attenuating both resulted in the orange line. There is likely some ideal setting between the transmitter and receiver if you are running this full-range and I was likely running into some sort of clipping or potentially wireless interference.
This translates into this distortion profile for the volume setting #1 vs #2
Here are the measurements at the louder volume setting.
Compared to the REL
After doing my measurements, I re-read @amirm 's review of the REL wireless subwoofer. I tried to match his 30 Hz at 1.6V input, targeting 1.8V output. Using the HTP-1 setting of 1.6V nominal, I adjusted the input gain until the signal was flickering between green/red (green = signal, red = clipping) and then adjusted the receiver until I got 1.8V out. This was about the 1 o'clock position on the transmitter.
SINAD is 87.3 which beats the 74.4 dB of the REL device. Running the input to a solid green instead of flickering red/green had a SINAD in high 86 dB's so this was a bit better.
It might roll off the bass slightly more than the REL, but -0.5 dB is ~10 Hz or so instead of 6 Hz. This may also be the E1DA Cosmos ADC or the HTP-1 as signal generator.
Distortion is impressively low as a subwoofer wireless transmitter.
I then tried running a 2.4GHz wifi speed test while running Multitone 30 Hz at 128 repeats and didn't see a big difference. My laptop was in between the transmitter and receiver but lower, but the access point was in the same room about 10 feet away and out of line of sight.
Conclusion
The official spec is 0.10% THD+N, and in my testing, a 1 kHz test tone was 0.01% THD+N. When used as a wireless music transmitter to active PA speakers which often have high-gain, you're typically using voltages that are pretty low and do not run into clipping. Certainly, your mileage may vary when it comes to distance. Figuring out the right input/output levels is a challenge since the analog potentiometer is very sensitive.
Still, for my intended use as a wireless subwoofer transmitter/receiver, this is great. The bass frequencies are where the unit seems to work the best. Looking at the 60 Hz test tone, we can see that the first harmonic at 120 Hz is -106 dB which is pretty good and for the 30 Hz test tone, the harmonics are also in the range of -95 dB or better. Most subwoofers have much more distortion down low.
While this unit seems better than the REL, it's hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison since the test environment is different. Ergonomically, losing the pairing of the two when you lose power is annoying and while the antennas improve reception, the units are less attractive than the sleek black unit of the REL. That said, as far as I know, this is the cheapest XLR enabled wireless transmitter that seems suitable for wireless subwoofer duties.
EDIT: I ran this in stereo mode. I will test the transmitter in mono mode to see if that improves anything in the future.
This is a quick review of the Klark Teknik Airlink DW20T/DW20R. This was purchased by me for wireless subwoofer use although it is intended for full range use. The unique feature of this system is that it has XLR balanced in/outputs. The combo runs about $200.
The transmitter is rated at handling up to 10 dBU (2.45V rms) and the receiver is rated at producing up to 15 dBU (4.36V rms). However this is at an advertised performance of 0.1% THD+N (60 dB SINAD)!
Official Specifications
Frequency response 20 Hz to 20 kHz (±1 dB)
THD + N (distortion) 0.1% @ 1 kHz
Signal-to-noise ratio >90 dB
Transmission frequency 2.406 - 2.475 GHz
Wireless range Up to 30 m (100 ft)
Transmission power 12 dBm
16-bit/48 kHz bit-depth/sampling rate
~14 ms latency
You need to re-link the devices if you lose power.
One transmitter can send the same stereo signal to 4 receivers.
Reliability
I bought an open box, looks-new receiver with Sweetwater warranty and had massive drop-outs. After discussing with the retailer, they shipped me a brand-new receiver unit! The replacement unit worked perfectly. So, if you buy one used/demo, make sure there is a trial period to make sure it's not defective.
Test Setup
The wireless transmitters were about 15 feet apart from each other in a home environment with mesh Wi-Fi 6. What makes testing this difficult is that the two units have an analog attenuator knob. Having the input too high can cause distortion even though it's lower than the 10 dBU advertised spec and doesn't show the red "clipping" light. I quickly settled on putting the receiver at maximum volume and the transmitter at 50% volume. This roughly gave me unity gain such that 2V going into the transmitter resulted in 2V going out from the receiver. It is likely that the transmitter is attenuating and the receiver is amplifying but it wasn't easy to set the knobs evenly while walking back and forth 15 feet each time. I then tried attenuating the volume on both, with the knob at the 9 o'clock position which was successful in reducing the high frequency distortion. I ran the initial set of tests using my Monolith HTP-1 outputting at 2V.
Measurements
You can see in magenta that there was a lot of noise introduced at the higher frequencies when running at input settings that I chose, but attenuating both resulted in the orange line. There is likely some ideal setting between the transmitter and receiver if you are running this full-range and I was likely running into some sort of clipping or potentially wireless interference.
This translates into this distortion profile for the volume setting #1 vs #2
Here are the measurements at the louder volume setting.
Compared to the REL
After doing my measurements, I re-read @amirm 's review of the REL wireless subwoofer. I tried to match his 30 Hz at 1.6V input, targeting 1.8V output. Using the HTP-1 setting of 1.6V nominal, I adjusted the input gain until the signal was flickering between green/red (green = signal, red = clipping) and then adjusted the receiver until I got 1.8V out. This was about the 1 o'clock position on the transmitter.
SINAD is 87.3 which beats the 74.4 dB of the REL device. Running the input to a solid green instead of flickering red/green had a SINAD in high 86 dB's so this was a bit better.
It might roll off the bass slightly more than the REL, but -0.5 dB is ~10 Hz or so instead of 6 Hz. This may also be the E1DA Cosmos ADC or the HTP-1 as signal generator.
Distortion is impressively low as a subwoofer wireless transmitter.
I then tried running a 2.4GHz wifi speed test while running Multitone 30 Hz at 128 repeats and didn't see a big difference. My laptop was in between the transmitter and receiver but lower, but the access point was in the same room about 10 feet away and out of line of sight.
Conclusion
The official spec is 0.10% THD+N, and in my testing, a 1 kHz test tone was 0.01% THD+N. When used as a wireless music transmitter to active PA speakers which often have high-gain, you're typically using voltages that are pretty low and do not run into clipping. Certainly, your mileage may vary when it comes to distance. Figuring out the right input/output levels is a challenge since the analog potentiometer is very sensitive.
Still, for my intended use as a wireless subwoofer transmitter/receiver, this is great. The bass frequencies are where the unit seems to work the best. Looking at the 60 Hz test tone, we can see that the first harmonic at 120 Hz is -106 dB which is pretty good and for the 30 Hz test tone, the harmonics are also in the range of -95 dB or better. Most subwoofers have much more distortion down low.
While this unit seems better than the REL, it's hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison since the test environment is different. Ergonomically, losing the pairing of the two when you lose power is annoying and while the antennas improve reception, the units are less attractive than the sleek black unit of the REL. That said, as far as I know, this is the cheapest XLR enabled wireless transmitter that seems suitable for wireless subwoofer duties.
EDIT: I ran this in stereo mode. I will test the transmitter in mono mode to see if that improves anything in the future.
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