Wireless Speaker and Audio (WiSA) Association Opens Its First Authorized Test Center

The WiSA Association, an industry group dedicated to bringing reliable, high-performance, interoperable, wireless, surround sound audio products to the home theater market, today announced the opening of its first authorized test center in Sunnyvale, CA.  The authorized test center will be managed by Simplay® Labs, the leading provider of development tools and interoperability testing services and solutions for the global HD connectivity standards HDMI and MHL, with testing centers in the U.S., China and Korea. The WiSA authorized test center is now operational and in the process of receiving, testing, and certifying Association members’ wireless products for the home theater market in accordance with the WiSA Compliance Test Specification. The authorized test center is set up to evaluate products ranging from receiving devices like wireless speakers and sound bars to transmitting devices like Blu-ray Disc™ players, set-top boxes, HDTVs, A/V receivers, gaming consoles, and media hubs.  

The testing program gives assurance to both the manufacturer and the consumer that the wireless link between transmitting and receiving devices is compliant to the test specification and certifies the devices’ interoperability with other WiSA-compliant products. This significant accomplishment was achieved in only 18 months since the formation of the Association. Credit for the fast tracking of this goal is due to the cooperation and commitment of the Association’s member companies and the industry’s acceptance of the need for compliance testing for wireless home theater products. 

“The Association learned by the mistakes other connectivity technologies made such as rushing products into the market only to see them fail because they had not created their own testing and compliance organizations,” said Jim Venable, president of the WiSA Association. “We knew from the beginning that instilling confidence in the consumer that WiSA-enabled products will work ‘out of the box’ when they get them home is critical for our overall success. “

Companies who wish to know more about the technology and investigate joining the WiSA Association can go to http://www.wisaassociation.org/ to download the white paper and click on “becoming a member” for additional information.  If you are already a member of the Association and would like to learn more about the certification process or submit your products for testing, you may log in to the members only section of the website to review the Compliance Test Specification (CTS), the Interoperability Requirements Document (IRD), and the Compliance Declaration Form (CDF).  If you do not have a login, please send a request for a login to info@wisaassociation.org.