Home Audio

Audacity is free digital audio recoding software that can be installed on Windows or Mac computer operating systems. With a soundcard on the computer and cable connections to a tape deck, Audacity...

Magnetic tape can be reused over and over, but if the tape is not thoroughly erased before reuse, undesirable artifacts, or traces of the old recording, can remain on the tape and interfere with...

The Technics DVD Stereo System is a powerful all-in-one home theater solution for those who want great sound, easy setup and an affordable price tag. It features a tape deck, a DVD/CD player, a...

The audio cassette tape was invented by the Dutch company Philips in 1963. Because it made audio technology portable, it was an invention that revolutionized the way people listened to music. The...

You can preserve recordings on LP records and cassette tapes by converting the audio signals on these old-school media to compact discs. A computer with a sound card and line-in jack enables quick...

A lot of analog media is still floating around that does not have digital versions available. Ripping these to digital format can be a huge convenience and can relive you of bulky stereo equipment...

Nature lovers everywhere enjoy the sounds of birds, crickets, frogs and other wildlife. But many just can't seem to get enough, and you might just be one of those individuals who want to capture...

Converting audio cassette tapes onto a computer involves transforming the analog audio signal from the tape into a digital signal that can be played and saved on your computer, or burned to a CD...

Tape recorders have evolved tremendously since first being introduced in the early 1920s. Adaptations and changes to tape recorder parts made later models more portable and applicable to record...

Convert your analog cassette tapes, which degrade and wear out over time, to timeless digital recordings. Using just a tape player, audio dubbing cable and some audio editing software, you can...

Although tape decks no longer come standard in most cars, some older vehicles have cassette decks. If you have a cassette deck in your vehicle and a tape becomes stuck, there are a few ways to...

Learning how to record a tape onto a CD is a rather easy enterprise, requiring almost no special hardware. Still, there are quite a few steps in the process if you'd like to get it done for free....

Hiding stereo wires in a wall is easier when you use a tool called a fish tape, which is available at hardware stores. A fish tape is a flexible, retractable metal band similar to a tape measure...

If you listened to music before the invention of the CD player, chances are your music collection consisted of tapes. These cassettes became quickly obsolete, however, as did their respective tape...

If you were an avid music collector in the 1980s and early 1990s, you probably own many cassette tapes. Tapes replaced records because they were lightweight and portable ways to carry music. As...

Running speaker wires under the carpet will give your home theater installation a professional look by eliminating clutter and potentially hazardous cables that can cause people to trip--or...

The cassette, invented by Philips in 1963, had an incredible run as a popular medium for music listening from the 1970s through the 1990s. Its use in the 60s was mainly for dictation. When audio...

Although cassette tape players have been considered "old tech" since the advent of the digital music format in the early 1990s, if you are into retro music formats, you might still have one or two...

There are many ways of demagnetizing magnets and magnetic equipment with uses in many industries. Some are more technical than others which, simply require brute force.

In 2009, you can still get a new cassette deck, and open-reel tape decks sell in a flourishing used market. People continue to use them professionally and at home, preferring the sound of tape...

While cassette decks and recorders have dwindled in popularity, many people still have old models that may be starting to see some problems, either with the sound or with parts, such as the rubber...

Tape decks are getting harder to come by now that audio cassettes are essentially an obsolete technology. So, if you still use a tape cassette player, knowing how to troubleshoot your equipment is...

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...

For many decades, magnetic tape has been an important medium for recording and retrieving audio, video and computer data. With technological advances in recording and storage, new types of storage...

Your RCA Home Theater system is designed to provide years of enjoyment watching movies in surround sound and listening to music. But if something goes wrong, there are strategies to troubleshoot...

Problems with open-reel tape decks fall into two main areas: mechanical and electronic. If the tape deck has trouble playing, stopping, fast-forwarding or rewinding, mechanical parts need...

Cassette tapes are made with a long strip of flexible plastic covered with a magnetic material. The strip is wound between two spools, so that when one spool winds the tape, it causes the other...

A data tape cartridge is sealed and self contained. You do not want to get water or any solvent type of cleaner near it. But, if it so happens that there is dust or a little dirt on the cartridge,...

Reel-to-reel or "open reel" magnetic-tape recorders were the first audiotape machines available to the public. This was before CDs and iPods, before cassettes and eight-tracks. The reel-to-reel...

There are two basic ways to connect a tape deck, depending on its intended use. The first way is to add a tape deck to a stereo component system for listening to cassettes and, less commonly,...

The cassette deck seems poised to join the reel-to-reel tape deck and the turntable as a medium that is nearly obsolete. The hiss produced by cassette decks was never fully eliminated, and digital...

The easiest way to amplify sound is to simply plug a microphone into an amplifier. If you don't happen to have electronic equipment lying around, however, you can use acoustic principles to...

One of the reasons CDs replaced audio cassettes was because CDs have no moving parts, thus making them more difficult to break. With audio cassettes gone the way of the dinosaur, fixing damaged...

Created to record audio or video signals, or to store computer information, magnetic tape is a memory device consisting of a long thin plastic strip coated with iron oxide and housed in plastic or...

Magnetic tape has come a long way since it was first invented. Surprisingly, it is much older than the 8-Track most commonly associated with it. Magnetic tape was first used for military purposes...

Threading speaker wire through a wall can give your home-theater a custom, professional look. Use this easy tutorial to learn how speaker wire can be threaded behind a wall without the expense of...

Did your computer speakers or headphones just die, and you don't have a lot of money to buy some new ones? A simple speaker can be made for about a dollar and will work well for listening to your...

When setting up a PA system, make sure to tape the cables to the floor in order to protect the safety of the audience. Tape down the PA system cables correctly with tips from a multimedia...

Speaker wires and component wires can be a mess sometimes. Running them around a room along the walls is, at the least, unsightly. This is a relatively simple way to hide those wires without all...

A long series of inventions made the audio cassettes possible. A cassette uses magnetic tape that is recorded with analog information for use in playback on a tape deck. "Cassette" comes from a...

All cassette tapes are based on a polymer material that is strung through two miniaturized reels. On this polymer, a coating of a metallic-based substance allows analog signals to be magnetized...

The heart of a subliminal tape is the message that is to be delivered to the listener. Virtually silent and indistinguishable amid the music on the tape, the message--which may actually be...

I teach a engineering class and we do this project as an example of electromagnetism. The home made speakers can be used for any purpose however.

Making a speaker box from a cardboard box may seem like an odd thing to do. But perhaps you need a small extension speaker in your garage or by your workbench and you don't want to take a lot of...

Many audio enthusiasts like having a graphic equalizer as part of their stereo system. A graphic equalizer lets you boost or attenuate specific frequency ranges within your audio system, allowing...

Bose 901 speakers are highly regarded by many critical listeners. An integral part of the 901 system is the equalizer that comes with the speakers. This must be connected for the speakers to...

Onkyo stereo receivers offer outstanding audio performance for the home audio enthusiast. Some listeners like to go a step further, and tune the output of their Onkyo stereo to match their room's...

Many audio enthusiasts enjoy having a graphic equalizer as part of their stereo system. A graphic equalizer, with it's ability to boost or attenuate specific frequency ranges, allows them to...

Analog technology dominated the audio industry for more than a century. Beginning with the first primitive analog devices of the 1870s, they were often the sole viable means of recording sound...

Cassette tapes have a long, plastic tape wound between two spools. This tape has a magnetic coating on it, which stores audio signals. The magnetic coating will align facing in different...