Home Audio

There are many options when fashioning a home stereo system. In many ways, the only limitation in creating the system of your dreams is your available space. When striving to make your home...

This is an outline of the methodology and equipment needed for wiring a quality sound system into a church or house of worship. The instructions and suggestions here are more than achievable by...

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...

When shopping for an amplifier or a preamplifier for your home stereo system, you may run across the term "line level." Power amplifiers are designed to take line level signals and amplify them...

Many of us have a stereo, CD player or MP3 player in our home. But these devices would be of little use to us without attached speakers. Sometimes the speakers that are attached to these devices...

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...

Everyone needs to know what time it is. Fortunately numerous clocks that are very accurate surround us. We have clocks in our cars, clocks on our phones, and even clocks on our microwave ovens. ...

When purchasing a home audio system that is not one single self-contained unit, it can be challenging to understand what each of the separate components is and what it does. In general, components...

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...

Pro audio cables and devices deliver higher quality audio over longer distances than consumer-level audio products. Audio engineers use them for live performances, high-end audio installations...

An audio amplifier produces and delivers power through speaker wires to drive audio loudspeakers in a stereo or home-theater setup. The power setting, better known as volume control, allows you to...

FM radio, one of the cultural explosion elements of the 1960s, came into its prominence in the 1970s. FM stands for frequency modulation, which described how the signal you receive in your radio...

Quality audio wire is the umbilical cord that brings music to life through your speakers. The best loudspeakers money can buy will not sound their best with cheap wire. Different gauges of wire...

Cordless microphones have all but replaced the older, wired microphones of days gone by. They allow for more flexibility with movement and, with the constantly improving technology, are becoming...

Today's televisions offer a bewildering array of hookups on the back of the set for bringing video and audio signals to the screen. Connections range from standard "RF" cable connectors to S-VHS...

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...

The elements of a condenser microphone were first conceived and invented by Alexander Graham Bell for use in his invention of the telephone. Since then technical advancements have vastly improved...

When wiring your audio or video system, there will be occasions when you want to have a single source (cable) supplying two or more outlet devices. Rather than run two cables or modify your...

The stereo amplifier and receiver are two devices that are often part of the home stereo system. The most basic stereo systems rely upon a receiver, while component systems include an amplifier...

Audio transformers are specially-designed for audio circuits. They block radio-frequency interference. They also block the DC components of an audio signal. They also split or combine audio...

An A/V signal sender can be a valuable tool in helping you to get your subwoofer into the area you desire. An A/V signal sender sends audio over a 2.4 ghz radio signal between a transmitter and a...

A signal generator is the most generic name for electrical generators that are used for designing, testing, fixing and troubleshooting electronic devices.

High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cables are audio/video cables that transmit high-definition data in a digital format. HDMI cables connect media sources, such as cable boxes, DVD...

The first thing you should do when troubleshooting a malfunctioning wireless rear speaker transmitter is to make sure the speaker itself has batteries and that they are not dead. As the rear...

An electric amplifier (or simply "amp") is used, as its name suggests, to increase the amplitude of sound waves produced by a source, such as an electronic instrument. The frequency (or number of...

High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cables are audio/video cables that transmit high-definition data in a digital format. HDMI cables connect media sources, such as cable boxes, DVD...

Amplifiers are components in several devices, such as stereos, television and computers, which allow sound to be produced through speakers. Normally, the "amplifier" term is associated with...

Wireless speakers operate in essentially the same way regular speakers do but with the small addition of a transmitter, as opposed to wires, that carries a signal from the source to the speakers....

Digital surround sound can make a regular DVD-watching experience more akin to seeing the movie in a theater. With pounding bass and a spatial soundtrack, the audio pulls you into the picture and...

Whether you're talking AM/FM radio or any of the many other devices that operate using radio waves, the basic science of radio technology is the same. A radio wave is a naturally-occurring...

A stereo receiver is actually three individual devices manufactured in one, clean box. Therefore, the stereo receiver handles a lot of the responsibilities of the stereo system, including...

Given that some audio speakers can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, you might think that the science behind speakers is equivalent to rocket science. While meticulous design and engineering...

While a subwoofer may sound like a fancy peripheral, it's actually just a large speaker, often with its own built-in power supply. The subwoofer uses a large woofer to replicate only the lowest...

The two primary types of stereo systems are those that use a stereo receiver and those that use separate components (preamplifier and amplifier, and possibly a processor and tuner). Both of these...

Stereo receivers are produced by a number of different companies with countless different brands, ranging from expensive top-of-the-line models to simple dilettante types with a minimum of extra...

You're shopping for stereo equipment and all the terms have gotten confusing. Pre-amplifier, amplifier, tuner, receiver; what's what, and more importantly what do you need? While the terminology...

Before considering how a stereo works, it's important to become familiar with the components of a stereo system. A stereo system must contain an audio source, such as a CD player or MP3 player. ...

A receiver-based home theater system consists of a receiver and a group of speakers which are arranged in a particular manner around the room. The speakers will typically be of a mid range type to...

In order to understand the particulars of FM radio, we must start with the basic science behind radio technology. Radio waves are capable of transmitting more than just sound. They are the basis...

Recording analog signals on tape was never a perfect process, largely due to limitations of the tape itself. It did, however, fill an important gap between earlier recording mediums and the...

Using your computer as a multimedia powerhouse can be easily accomplished with a few components. Installing a high-quality video card and adding a LCD computer monitor and generous storage space...

An integrated amplifier may sound complex to the neophyte, but it's really a simple concept. Think about integrated amplifiers as stereo receivers without built-in radio tuners. The integrated...

Even the most sophisticated speakers are relatively simple things. At the core, the speaker driver is an electromagnet, a coil of wire. That electromagnet sits on top of a conventional magnet. The...

Both AM and FM radio use electromagnetic radiation to broadcast sound information. Radio transmitters produce what is known as a carrier signal. A carrier signal is a high frequency signal on a...

The only difference between a wireless home theater system and a regular one is the inclusion of two added components. There is a transmitter built into the back of your stereo receiver, and there...

There are many different types of radio receiver circuits, and all of them work in different ways. The primitive crystal radio receiver is so simple that it can be easily built by a child, while a...

The term preamp is short for preamplifier, which is one of the key components in a stereo system. The preamplifier performs a range of functions and is the most active, responsible part in your...

Audio-video distribution systems work very much like a computer router. They receive a signal and distribute it to different locations in your home. The system revolves around the distributor...

A graphic equalizer is a way to control the dynamics of a sound wave. Most sounds aren't just simple tones consisting of a single frequency. Instead, they have many different frequencies playing...

Any stereo system features various components that allow it to replicate and amplify sound from a source like a CD or radio signal. In many systems, some or all of these components are included in...