Home Audio Accessories

We don't usually think of speaker wire when we think of Romex cable. Romex is built for in-wall electrical wiring, after all. But Romex is tough, available in multiple gauges, and is relatively...

Four-way speaker switches are a great audio accessory for the homeowner looking to wire his or her house for sound. A four-way speaker switch accepts the output from a receiver or amplifier and...

The RCA audio cable is a standard that is universally used for transferring audio signals from one device to the other. It has been around so long that it is available at most places that sell...

When used with one of the three models of vacuum record-cleaning machines that VPI manufactures--the HW 16.5, HW 17 and Typhoon--VPI record cleaning fluid can clean old, dirty records thoroughly...

One of the most celebrated exports of Germany's Black Forest region, the cuckoo clock is an animated and very functional house ornament. At regular intervals, a small bird erupts out of the...

Instead of choosing to use something such as a satellite dish or cable, , many people instead install an antenna such as an HD antenna to boost their television reach. Using an antenna is a cheap...

Speaker cabinet grill cloths can deteriorate over the years, or perhaps your pet uses yours as a scratching post and has torn it to bits. Whatever the case, there is no need to have a professional...

Though available in rare cases elsewhere from the mid-17th century, cuckoo clocks ascended to popularity in southwestern Germany's Black Forest in the 18th century. They are now popular souvenirs...

When putting together a home theater system, far too few people take into account the room and furniture. Choosing proper home theater seating can add a true "movie-type" feel to your home theater...

The best FM signal for your stereo radio will always come from having a good FM antenna. A decent FM antenna does not have to be an expensive store-bought or manufactured kind. Instead, it can be...

Sound waves behave a lot like light waves, so some of the same principles that are used to focus or amplify light can be used to amplify sounds. A simple lens can be used to focus sunlight to a...

Video baluns work to convert a balanced electrical line to an unbalanced line and vice versa. Balanced lines have two conductors and equal currents in opposing directions, while unbalanced lines...

The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) compression formats consist of several layers such as M3U, MPG, MP3 and others. Each of these different layers is used to record a different part of a media...

The basic installation procedure for installing home stereo speaker wiring is the same no matter how your system is set up. Common configurations include: 5.1 surround sound (five speakers plus...

Every music producer has his or her own sound which is partly due to the studio instruments they employ. Korg sounds different from Nord leads. Your decision as to which to use will define the...

Every day something you hear, see, or pass by is created by using a mixing console. A console is used by the radio station you listen to, by the television station you watch, by the musician who...

FM radio signals are line-of-sight. The FM radio signal does not follow the curvature of the earth, as does the AM radio wave. Early FM stations broadcast in either a horizontal wave or a vertical...

Cut a piece of cheap 18ga to the length you need from the formula in the image, strip the ends and twist the conductors together. Find the center and cut only one side of the wire, pull out...

Speaker switches allow music enjoyment in multiple rooms, with some models enabling different styles of music to be heard in separate parts of a home. Whether your needs are for a simple two-pair...

AM radio antennas do not have to be outdoor types. You can construct an indoor antenna from some pieces of wood and 22-gauge insulated wire. The antenna can be placed anywhere indoors or on the...

A breakout box is a device that acts as a physical interface between audio equipment and your computer. It converts analog audio input into computer-friendly digital data that can be mixed and...

Whether listening to music thorough your quadraphonic hi-fi system or watching movies in 5.1 surround sound, audio cables make it all possible. Record players, Blu-ray disc players, tape decks,...

Speaker wire is measured by the American Wire Gauge (AWG) system, used since 1857 for the standardized measurement of wire for electrical conduction. Either solid or stranded core wires are...

Questions abound about speaker wires. Information disseminated by brand name advertisers, audiophiles, magazines and websites can often be overwhelming and sometimes contradictory. There are...

The high-end speaker wire craze has caught many audiophiles in it's grip. Specialty speaker wires and cables are marketed to the public with claims of increased performance and superior audio...

Professional and home audio has come a long way from the days when users had to screw down raw cable of varying gauges to make an audio system work effectively. Nearly every wire installation now...

Cassettes and compact discs have both been used for a number of different purposes in the past few decades, from studio-produced pre-recorded media such as music releases and audio books to blank,...

The quality of your FM radio signal is determined by the power of the station and the antennae Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT). Your radio's signal strength is determined by how far you are...

Wireless headphones offer unmatched privacy for those who watch TV late at night or have trouble hearing their favorite programs at normal volume levels. Unfortunately, choosing the best...

RCA audio cables are the standard composite audio (and sometimes video) cables used to connect various audio and video components. They carry electrical analog signals between the components and...

If you live in a small apartment or a dorm and you keep different hours than your partner or room mate using the wireless head phone is a way to keep the peace in your house if you know what I...

Cable splitters connect two electronic devices through a single wire, routing two devices into one. For example, a splitter can split signals for Internet and cable TV. The typical lengths of each...

RCA cables were introduced by the Radio Corporation of America, from which the acronym is derived, and were designed to be used to hook phonographs up to amplifiers. The cables have since come to...

Energizer offers 17 different product groups with many different component materials. The basic structure of cathode, anode and electrolyte may include exotic metals, poisonous chemical compounds...

Each product that uses an AC or DC power source is equipped with a voltage regulator. Let us assume that the desired power need of a laptop computer is 5 watts. When you plug your laptop to an...

Digital optical cables transmit sound signals by using fiber-optic technology, or strands of glass that transmit digital information to receivers. Digital optical ports are found on some music...

Most audio cables use a wire to transmit electrical signals. But optical audio cables use fiber optic communications to transmit light. This makes them immune to the electrical interference that...

While Sony markets the PS3 as an HDTV home entertainment device, many players actually want their PS3s to be integrated into their computer setups. This can give increased portability to gamers on...

An outdoor antenna, be it for television, radio or satellite radio, can improve signal strength and reception clarity for the devices you'll be connecting. Connecting an outdoor antenna should...

XLR microphone cables are a balanced audio cable with locking connectors that are used in professional audio applications. The cable was invented by James Cannon. It was originally called the...

Audiophiles and movie fanatics often use RCA cables to connect components together--a CD player to a receiver, for example. Sometimes the connectors on the equipment or cables can become dirty or...

Earbuds are the modern-day equivalent of stereo headphones. While headphones used to fit around your ears like ear muffs, they now are drastically smaller and fit inside your ear. This provides...

XLR cables are used in audio applications ranging from live shows to professional recording sessions. XLR cables have 3 pins, a circular connector and are used to deliver balanced microphone and...

If you have ever been at a rock concert and felt your ear drums ache, it's because the the audio of the concert is running a high level of decibels (dBs). A decibel meter is used to measure sound...

An RCA jack (also known as a female RCA jack) is an easy-to-wire audio interface that is used for numerous audio applications. A single RCA jack will transmit a mono audio signal, so this type of...

A silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) is a conditional diode. When forward-biased (i.e., positive charge to the anode and negative to the cathode), it will operate like a normal diode, passing...

Cable connectors are audio and visual connectors used to carry audio and/or video signals. These signals are either digital or analog. Cables and connectors are necessary to unite outputs and...

One of the key elements in getting the best sound out of your home audio system is ensuring solid connections between the components of the system. Of these connections, one of the most crucial is...

Any radio, television or other electronic form of long distance communication is based on the principle of resonance. Just as a tuning fork when struck can cause vibration in a second tuning fork...

For deep, rich bass response, subwoofers are an essential component to home stereo systems. The high cost of professionally designed subwoofers and enclosures, though, can be a deterrent to stereo...