Home Audio

XLR connectors are balanced line connectors. They are also known as Cannon connectors, based upon the last name of their inventor, James Cannon. The most common Cannon connectors, or XLRs, each...

Audio adaptors are useful for a variety of situations when connecting home audio equipment, recording gear or musical instrument amplifiers to other performance components. While most people buy...

The LED (light emitting diode) is a solid state light source. Although LEDs require a DC power source and cost more than fluorescent lights, LEDs have become popular because of their low...

Scratching, audio peaks, buzz, and cutting in and out are all signs that your volume control may be damaged. Volume is controlled with an electromechanical potentiometer, and from time to time...

One of the most common ways to wire a potentiometer, or rheostat, is as a volume control. By wiring one of the terminals to ground, it allows this standard variable resistor to have a position...

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...

With today's advances in electronics and communication, signals bouncing everywhere, it's no wonder your FM radio station is hard to pick up. Having the right FM antenna will make all that noise...

Pulling in that favorite FM station can seem frustrating, but with a great antenna trimmed, and tuned the headaches will soon disappear. An FM antenna will allow you to scan the airwaves for your...

Ohm's Law states Voltage = Current times Resistance (V= IR). Most circuits have a fixed input voltage, and resistors and other components break the voltage (and therefore the current) down to...

A pickup is a piece of electronic equipment that allows you to amplify a normally acoustic instrument, such as a guitar or violin. Here's an easy way to create your own, home-made pickup with just...

Setting up a component-based home audio system is fairly straightforward. There are a couple of tips, however, to ensure that you gain as much enjoyment as possible from your audio system. To get...

When your guitar cable, or any audio cable, creates static, it is usually a bad solder joint within the cable. I will show you how I fix Guitar cables instead of buying new ones.

Alligator clips have a variety of uses in the electronics field. This can range from science experiments and connecting batteries to connecting audio or video devices. To use an alligator clip...

Electronic audio jacks (RCA jacks) are used for low-voltage connections between audio components. A common example of an audio RCA jack is an audio output on a CD player. While durable, it's...

RCA connectors are versatile and easy to use. They are common in many electronic devices, like CD players and VCRs, and can be used for a variety of video and audio applications. The male end of...

RCA cable is the most common type of audio-video cable. This simple cable is used for a variety of audio and video equipment connections. Developed more than 70 years ago, RCA connectors are still...

Wiring a Banana plug is a very simple task if you are properly equipped. In order to make a good connection follow these simple steps.

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...

You may need to wire a rheostat for your audio electronics projects, like stereo volume control and amplifiers. It's a straight-forward process, just apply the proper soldering technique used to...

When people speak generically of "audio cables" in home audio, the RCA cable springs to mind. Pairs of RCA cables generally carry stereo (right and left channel) signals from the outputs of...

Component video cables consist of three RCA cables, bundled together, and are used to attach video sources like a DVD player to video displays like a monitor or HDTV. To use component video...

Component video cables are used to send high-quality video signals from video sources, like DVD players, to video displays, such as HDTVs. A component video cable consists of three wires, each...

Video graphics array, or VGA, cables are the basic connection used to link between a component and a monitor. The computer you're using right now has its own: the cable used to link the monitor to...

The RCA connector, or plug, is an ubiquitous feature of audio systems. The RCA plug was developed by the RCA company in the 1940s to connect turntables to RCA radio sets and has since become...

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...

Despite current trends toward increasingly digitized and synthesized media, niche groups of music lovers opt to simplify music playback with the raw, vintage sound of classic LP record pressings....

The RCA connector was developed by the RCA Company in the 1940s as a way to allow turntables to be plugged into RCA radios that featured an input. The simple design and robust construction of the...

The RCA plug is one of the most common types of electronic connectors. Originally developed by the RCA company as a connector for hooking up phonographs to radio consoles, it is commonly used for...

RCA connectors, also known as RCA plugs, are used for a variety of audio applications. You'll find RCA connectors on audio and video cables that are used with a wide range home audio products,...

Speaker wire can operate poorly for a variety of reasons ranging from degradation of the wire casing along the length of the wire, which can cause wire wear and fraying, to fraying at the end of...

FM radios are still popular and widely used even in our modern Internet age. FM radios can be used to listen to radio music stations or even talk radio programs as well. You can build one of these...

Because of the increasing demand for out-of-production guitar pedals, some classic pedals are selling for hundreds of dollars. Many guitarists have chosen to build their own pedals. Not only is it...

Powered subwoofers used in home theater systems use a very specific type of cable for connection to the home theater receiver. This cable carries a mono signal from the receiver to the amplifier,...

RCA cables are two-conductor cables with male RCA connectors at either end. They're used for a variety of audio and video applications in home and car audio systems. Typically, you see them in...

Most speakers are not wired to RCA jacks. Instead, they typically are connected to speaker terminals, and the connections to the speaker are made via this connection. However, there are certainly...

RCA cables are versatile cables used for a variety of home and car audio applications. They frequently carry audio and video signals, and the design is so ubiquitous that it's a rare piece of...

Converting speaker wire to RCA plug connectors can serve two purposes. First, by adding RCA plugs onto speaker wire you can make your own high-quality RCA cables for a relatively inexpensive...

An RCA cable--a length of wire with a male RCA connector at either end--usually comes premade. These cables are almost ubiquitous in home and car stereo systems. They're used for connecting audio...

This article describes the basic steps to build your own crossover network from predesigned schematic specifications.

Solder audio cable to make the connections strong and static-free. Speaker cable can be connected to plugs or jacks for easy connection to stereo receivers. Soldering these connections ensures...

Building speakers can be a rewarding pastime for DIY enthusiasts. The measure of success for these hobbyists is when the speaker works, even if its audio quality and the appearance are not...

Believe it or not installing Fender pickups is not as daunting as it may seem. Fender has several kits available to allow you to simply remove the pick guard of your current ax and replace it...

Audio patch cables come in many varieties and costs from the RCS cables included with your CD player to the high dollar boutique cable. Despite what many would have you believe, it's difficult to...

You have tested everything trying to determine why your home theater suddenly has no sound. One of the first things to check is your audio cables, which wear and break over time. Rather than...

Hearing a scratchy noise while you turn up the volume of your vintage audio system? The problem is most likely caused a dirty potentiometer. A dirty potentiometer can cause problems in volume,...

Soldering is a form of welding used to secure electronic components to printed circuit boards. The process of fusing unlike metals with a third liquid metal is difficult and requires practice. ...

It's easy to make mistakes when soldering through-hole components. In order to correct them, it's best to completely remove all solder from the solder joint and start again. Desoldering can also...

Professional musicians everywhere know just how easy it is to kill an audio cable. They also know how expensive the cables are to replace and how the sound is affected with each new cable. That is...

Preamplifiers, more commonly known as "preamps," have become fairly simple devices allowing you to add rooms to a Surround Sound system, install peripherals such as microphones and turntables or...

A spherical speaker array is a set of speakers mounted into a ball. Spherical speaker arrays rotate the sound to give you fuller, bolder tones. This special speaker array is made for much less...