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I just started using the AUX input in my 2011 Mitsubishi Lancer and noticed there some horrible noise on that input. Even with the engine off and no cellphones around and nothing plugged into the AUX input, I get a horrible oscillating sound that comes through. It goes away when I switch the source to radio or BT or something else so its only on AUX. Again, nothing even plugged into AUX. The AUX input is factory and is a pair of RCA jacks in the center console. Could this be a ground loop issue? edit: Ok its a known issue with my car. Still not sure whats causing it. edit2: found a work around. I was plugging an old pro tape deck into it (don't ask) and for some reason the headphone out would totally kill the noise once plugged in but the RCA line out would not. Maybe because the headphone line had a common ground and the line out didn't? Shaocaholica fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Aug 10, 2013 |
# ? Aug 10, 2013 09:06 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 14:46 |
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I am looking for an mp3 player to replace my Sansa Fuze. My ideal player would be something
The last two features are optional, although I do like Rockbox. So far I have two less than optimal options: sansa clip with bluetooth dongle (since no built-in bluetooth), and a nano with one of those tiny plug in mics (since no built-in mic). (I could also replace my Fuze's dying battery instead of getting a clip, but a clip is only like $21 refurbed.) I'd be willing to pay a premium to get all the features I want in a single unit. Any suggestions would be appreciated. (Hopefully I'm posting in the right place, I didn't see any dedicated MP3-player thread.)
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# ? Aug 10, 2013 22:23 |
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bitt3n posted:I am looking for an mp3 player to replace my Sansa Fuze. My ideal player would be something Use your phone with an armband and ideally some Bluetooth headphones.
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# ? Aug 11, 2013 00:27 |
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berzerker posted:Use your phone with an armband and ideally some Bluetooth headphones. That would solve everything but the tactile part (and being kind of large). Buttons are pretty important because when I listen to audiobooks I have to be able to rewind the track 15 seconds whenever the traffic gets too loud (eg a subway car goes by, which is fairly frequent). Another problem is that it's going to get covered in sweat and possibly rained on for an hour a day, six days a week. (My rain jacket isn't 100% waterproof because that actually makes it wetter inside on account of sweat.) I have to scrape the corrosion off my headphone plug with an Exacto knife occasionally to keep it functional, and the port that connects the Fuze to USB is so corroded that I have to add new music via a micro SD card. It also tends to get banged around a lot. Thus I'd prefer to use some <$150 player rather than my phone if possible. From searching around a bit, it seems like the market has become Apple at the high end, and then a lot of super-cheap products like the Clip, with nothing in between. A Clip with bluetooth would be perfect. bitt3n fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Aug 11, 2013 |
# ? Aug 11, 2013 00:37 |
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I had a weird idea just now to use bluetooth earbuds for PC games, since I play them from the sofa away from my PC. Is that the dumbest idea ever or is there some merit to it? I don't like external headphones at all, never have, so that just leaves earbuds. How much endurance do those things get for games, versus music? About the same, ~5 hours or something? Also, an even stupider question: can bluetooth devices be connected to more than one host device at the same time, or if I want to use it for my iphone or something do I need to manually switch it over every time? I don't have that much experience with bluetooth devices.
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# ? Aug 11, 2013 01:00 |
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Samurai Sanders posted:Also, an even stupider question: can bluetooth devices be connected to more than one host device at the same time, or if I want to use it for my iphone or something do I need to manually switch it over every time? I don't have that much experience with bluetooth devices. Some can, some can't. I have one set of headphones that will pair with two devices. I have another that I have to go through the full pairing process every time I switch devices. Multiple-pairing is sometimes an advertised feature.
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# ? Aug 11, 2013 01:12 |
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eddiewalker posted:Some can, some can't. I have one set of headphones that will pair with two devices. I have another that I have to go through the full pairing process every time I switch devices. Multiple-pairing is sometimes an advertised feature.
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# ? Aug 11, 2013 01:15 |
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Mine won't, at least. I can cycle between two paired devices. The closest I can get is if I'm listening to my laptop, and my phone rings, it'll switch over automatically.
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# ? Aug 11, 2013 01:25 |
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eddiewalker posted:Mine won't, at least. I can cycle between two paired devices. The closest I can get is if I'm listening to my laptop, and my phone rings, it'll switch over automatically. I've been trying to find a headphones for using in my apartment solution for many years now, every time there has been something that has made me abandon it and just go back to using speakers.
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# ? Aug 11, 2013 01:28 |
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bitt3n posted:That would solve everything but the tactile part (and being kind of large). Buttons are pretty important because when I listen to audiobooks I have to be able to rewind the track 15 seconds whenever the traffic gets too loud (eg a subway car goes by, which is fairly frequent). Samurai Sanders posted:Yeah, looking on Amazon I found one device that remembers up to eight devices, but REMEMBERS, that's all. Maybe there's no such thing as basically a make-it-so-every-sound-producing-electronic-device-in-your-room-only-goes-directly-into-your-ears-wirelessly device. Unless I connected everything through a central stereo setup or something anyway. ...well there's another possibility but it depends on your setup, but basically run the PS3 audio into the PC input, passthrough the audio, and just use the BT headphones with the PC. I did something similar with my consoles going through my TV to my computer a while back.
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# ? Aug 11, 2013 10:05 |
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I want one or two wireless speakers. I don't have a large appartment (52 square meters/560 square feet), but I'd love a wireless speaker in my kitchen, and maybe in my bedroom. Also, it would be nice to be able to control things through a tablet or similar sometime later, since I don't have a tablet at the moment. What are the options? I have an Onkyo receiver that I bought new last year and I'm very happy with it. I've looked at Sonos, but it seems pretty expensive and buying something that can play 32 difference channels when you just want 1 or maybe 2 extra speakers seems like overkill. Are there other good options?
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# ? Aug 12, 2013 20:35 |
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Sjonkel posted:I want one or two wireless speakers. I don't have a large appartment (52 square meters/560 square feet), but I'd love a wireless speaker in my kitchen, and maybe in my bedroom. Also, it would be nice to be able to control things through a tablet or similar sometime later, since I don't have a tablet at the moment. What are the options? I have an Onkyo receiver that I bought new last year and I'm very happy with it. What about Apple AirPlay? There are a number of speakers with wifi that will show up as AirPlay outputs. iTunes will output to multiple destinations, then you can control iTunes with an iOS device, or an iOS device can play audio directly to one. If you want your home theater involved too, add an AppleTV or AirportExpress. It works very well. A random "best of AirPlay speakers" article: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406177,00.asp
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# ? Aug 12, 2013 20:58 |
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Does the receiver support AirPlay by any chance? You'd be limited to iOS and Mac sources but it's probably the best option if you happen to use that already. Then for another wireless speaker you can then get an AirPlay speaker (which was pretty costly last I saw) or just use any speaker and hook it up to an Airport Express (or AppleTV with a bit more work), and you can save a bit by buying refurbs off the online Apple Store. Bluetooth might be another option but the configurations I can think of off the top of my head wouldn't be as nice.
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# ? Aug 12, 2013 21:16 |
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Thanks for the suggestions, but my work (which supply me with phone, laptop and hopefully tablets soon) is stricly Android/Windows, so AirPlay isn't an option unfortunately. I should have specified, sorry for that.
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# ? Aug 12, 2013 21:19 |
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There's Windows and Android software that can output to Airplay. Some of it costs a little bit, but it definitely exists. eg http://www.airsquirrels.com/airparrot/
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# ? Aug 12, 2013 21:47 |
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There's also bluetooth thingies that you can connect to whatever speakerset/amp+speaker combo, if your soundsource is always going to be music from a laptop/smartphone/tablet It's a bit lower tech than the other solutions and sound isn't going to follow you around automatically or whatever, but it works allright with, well, anything that has bluetooth and anything that accepts a line level input.
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# ? Aug 12, 2013 22:51 |
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I realized the other day that I have a receiver and decent speakers in the living room that I rarely use because it's a pain to plug my ipod in to them and then get up every time I want to switch songs/albums. I also realized that I could use my Nexus 7 to play mp3's stored on my desktop in shared folders and then send the audio to bluetooth receiver attached to the receiver. No reason that shouldn't work, right? Looking around Amazon, this one seems like a nice fit since it has NFC that should work with my N7 and Nokia 920. Anyone have any thoughts on it? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009OBCAW2/
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# ? Aug 12, 2013 23:32 |
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How much power in an amp is required to run a given pair/set of speakers? How can I know I'm matching the amp to the speakers? How much output power from the amp is too much?
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# ? Aug 13, 2013 00:37 |
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BeastOfExmoor posted:I realized the other day that I have a receiver and decent speakers in the living room that I rarely use because it's a pain to plug my ipod in to them and then get up every time I want to switch songs/albums. I also realized that I could use my Nexus 7 to play mp3's stored on my desktop in shared folders and then send the audio to bluetooth receiver attached to the receiver. No reason that shouldn't work, right?
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# ? Aug 13, 2013 01:27 |
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Flipperwaldt posted:There's also bluetooth thingies that you can connect to whatever speakerset/amp+speaker combo, if your soundsource is always going to be music from a laptop/smartphone/tablet This is pretty interesting, since the soundsource will pretty much always be either my laptop/phone or a tablet. Can you give me a few pointers to what brands/equipment I should look for? I know pretty much nothing about this, but I'd love to read up on it.
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# ? Aug 13, 2013 08:42 |
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signalnoise posted:How much power in an amp is required to run a given pair/set of speakers? How can I know I'm matching the amp to the speakers? How much output power from the amp is too much? Power wise I'm not really sure though, particularly since there's some BS numbers in advertising. From what I'm seeing now from some quick searching is a loose rule about 2x the speaker's RMS rating (assuming the amp is rated for the impedance you'll be using it at). And just a wild guess here, maybe you can go higher as long as you don't go crazy with the volume. Sjonkel posted:This is pretty interesting, since the soundsource will pretty much always be either my laptop/phone or a tablet. Can you give me a few pointers to what brands/equipment I should look for? I know pretty much nothing about this, but I'd love to read up on it. I'd say pairing would be the biggest issue, but looks like receivers can do multiple devices these days, albeit I'm not sure of the details in actual use. I guess main issue then is if you want to do multiple zone outputs, like kitchen + bedroom as you mentioned, because I have no clue if it's possible to transmit multiple BT audio streams from a single source. I could think of some slightly clunky workarounds involving audio splitters and multiple sets of BT dongles but I don't know how well that'd work in practice, like if there'd be noticeable lag or interference. Alternatively if you don't need the sound everywhere at once, since a lot of BT stuff is portable you could just sneakernet things around, whether it be a portable BT speaker itself, or moving a receiver dongle from a speaker setup in one room to another. Also range is limited but might be enough for your apartment going by the square footage you mentioned. One issue I've had when using BT is wifi causing interference, I don't think it's a problem with light transfers (like most regular browsing) but I've had audio stuttering when doing stuff over the LAN. No clue how 2.4 vs 5ghz or different channels have an effect on that though. tl;dr - eh might as well try it out...particularly cause it can be done cheaply. The top three that came up in a search all seem to be well reviewed: Belkin for $22.18 - note the reviews that mention taking it apart and removing a metal plate to improve performance...and I'm not sure it does multiple pairing, that blurb might be referring to the newer HD version. Amazon should've kept them completely separate. Logitech for $37.65 - the reviews mention switching between devices, sounds kind of annoying. HomeSpot for $27.99 - ... but it's generally reviewed well. Might have the same multi pair usage annoyances as the Logitech, that might be a BT thing in general though, at least on these cheaper devices.
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# ? Aug 13, 2013 09:32 |
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japtor posted:I'd say pairing would be the biggest issue, but looks like receivers can do multiple devices these days, albeit I'm not sure of the details in actual use. When I want to play music from my laptop through the bluetooth thing, I open the bluetooth control panel on the laptop and push a 'connect' button and that's it. Basically the exact same thing from my phone. japtor posted:I guess main issue then is if you want to do multiple zone outputs, like kitchen + bedroom as you mentioned, because I have no clue if it's possible to transmit multiple BT audio streams from a single source. japtor posted:I don't know how well that'd work in practice, like if there'd be noticeable lag or interference. japtor posted:Alternatively if you don't need the sound everywhere at once, since a lot of BT stuff is portable you could just sneakernet things around, whether it be a portable BT speaker itself, or moving a receiver dongle from a speaker setup in one room to another. Please note that these things need power and have their own wallwart. I'm not sure what happens if you unplug the power from it, but you'd probably have to go through pairing or at least connecting again anyway. Might as well buy a second one then. japtor posted:Also range is limited but might be enough for your apartment going by the square footage you mentioned. One issue I've had when using BT is wifi causing interference, I don't think it's a problem with light transfers (like most regular browsing) but I've had audio stuttering when doing stuff over the LAN. No clue how 2.4 vs 5ghz or different channels have an effect on that though. japtor posted:Belkin for $22.18 - note the reviews that mention taking it apart and removing a metal plate to improve performance...and I'm not sure it does multiple pairing, that blurb might be referring to the newer HD version. Amazon should've kept them completely separate.
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# ? Aug 13, 2013 11:01 |
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signalnoise posted:How much power in an amp is required to run a given pair/set of speakers? How can I know I'm matching the amp to the speakers? How much output power from the amp is too much? How much power is required depends mainly on two factors: speaker sensitivity and how loud do you like it? * Check the sensitivity of the speakers (measured in dB/W @ 1m). There are formulas for calculating how loud a speaker with known sensitivity gets, given a certain input power from the amp. I'm sure jonathan will weigh in, but you can check the OP of this thread for some basics about power and speakers. This article also has pre-calulated some values for you and seems pretty well-informed: http://www.chuckhawks.com/speaker_spl_amp_power.htm The tables assume that you don't want louder than 90 dB, which seems reasonable in most home settings. If you want louder, I'm sure you can find the formulas somewhere. The article doesn't mention impedance, but japtor has it right that the amplifier must be rated for playing at the impedance of the speakers, otherwise you risk blowing it up. Remember that it's much more common for someone to blow their speakers by using an underpowered amp than an overpowered one. If you apply too many watts to a hifi speaker of reasonable quality, usually your ears will be really sorry before you hit the upper limit of however many hundred watts the speaker can handle. An underpowered amplifier, however, will start clipping when you crank it up, and that's when speakers really suffer. You'll either damage the cone from too high excursion, or melt the voice coil by passing what amounts to DC though it. Not to mention that clipping sounds like poo poo. * Also: indoors/outdoors, room shape/size, listening distance etc. Hippie Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Aug 14, 2013 |
# ? Aug 13, 2013 11:52 |
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I have a question, although more of an audio+video question: I currently have a projector on my ceiling, using a long HDMI cable. Sound goes through a Sony BDV-E870 system, which can accept audio in via a standard minijack, or optical. See here for specifics: http://www.sony.co.uk/product/hch-systems-with-blu-ray-disc/bdv-e870/technical-specifications#tab Anyways, I have an N64 and a dreamcast I'm interested in playing again. i am utterly baffled as to how I would get this to work. Here's a boiled down version of what I'm facing here: Any advice greatly appreciated.
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# ? Aug 13, 2013 23:27 |
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Flipperwaldt posted:For me it goes like this: there's an initial pairing process where you have to hold a button on the dongle thingy, so it becomes bluetooth-discoverable. After that, paired devices are remembered. quote:Please note that these things need power and have their own wallwart. I'm not sure what happens if you unplug the power from it, but you'd probably have to go through pairing or at least connecting again anyway. Might as well buy a second one then. RF? Is HDMI the only option on the projector or could you run some other cables too if it comes down to that? My first hunch would be digital adapters/converters but I have no clue how laggy the different ones are. If you can't get answers here I'd suggest the Retro Gaming Megathread. They should be able to get you hooked up and at the highest quality (and perhaps spending on a bunch of other poo poo you want but probably don't need ). japtor fucked around with this message at 00:09 on Aug 14, 2013 |
# ? Aug 14, 2013 00:06 |
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japtor posted:Do you have to disconnect one before connecting the other? I've had that issue with my Jambox, it remembers 2-3 things and automatically connects (and sticks) to the last device so it can be slightly annoying when I want to use another source. But my bluetooth thing doesn't auto-reconnect anyway. If I go out of range, I have to reconnect manually. Which suits me fine.
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# ? Aug 14, 2013 00:44 |
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Manny Calavera posted:I currently have a projector on my ceiling, using a long HDMI cable. Sound goes through a Sony BDV-E870 system, which can accept audio in via a standard minijack, or optical. See here for specifics: I don't have either of those consoles, but according to some cursory googling, the N64 and Dreamcast both have composite video and/or S-Video outputs. Most projectors should accept one of those, I'd have thought. Like japtor, I'm wondering what you mean by RF. Both definitely have some way of getting stereo analog audio out through RCA cables. Edit: Seems like you could also order a VGA adapter for the Dreamcast, if the projector has VGA input. Hippie Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 10:35 on Aug 14, 2013 |
# ? Aug 14, 2013 10:33 |
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Do keep in mind that not all Dreamcast games are compatible with the VGA adapter without doing some weird stuff.
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# ? Aug 14, 2013 16:51 |
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signalnoise posted:How much power in an amp is required to run a given pair/set of speakers? How can I know I'm matching the amp to the speakers? How much output power from the amp is too much? The more the better. If you want max volume out of your speakers with clean, distortion free sound, you will want an amp that can sustain 4x the max rated power handling of the speaker. If you aren't trying to squeeze every last decibel out of your speakers, a good rule of thumb for most of us is match your speaker's max rated power handling to your receivers advertised peak power per channel. If you're not trying to reproduce concert venue volumes in home (115db +), you will get clean output with the more conservative method. It takes 10x the watts to go 10db louder, and 100x the watts to go 20db louder. On the flip side, as mentioned, turning up an underpowered amp too loud will overheat a speaker's voicecoil. Its far easier to damage a speaker by overheating its voicecoil than it is to damage it by overpowering it to the point of mechanical failure (xmech). The latter gives you much more warning.
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# ? Aug 14, 2013 20:51 |
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jonathan posted:The more the better. If you want max volume out of your speakers with clean, distortion free sound, you will want an amp that can sustain 4x the max rated power handling of the speaker. So my understanding on this then between this post and the last post quoting me is An amp is a variable output box that sends electricity to the speakers. The speakers have a set amount they can handle, as does the amp. While the amp can vary its power, the speakers do not, so you're better getting an overpowered amp and sending very little power to the speakers than getting too-powerful speakers and having your amp struggle to keep up. Basic understanding is you will know when you're sending too much power to speakers because they'll get too loud and pop. You won't know you're sending too much from your amp until it blows up. Is that right?
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# ? Aug 15, 2013 17:58 |
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I asked earlier about wireless speakers, and I've pretty much landed on going for Sonos. I'll start with the Connect and a speaker, and go from there as needed. With this setup, I'll have the Connect in my living room where my stereo is, and the wireless speaker in my kitchen. I also have my computer in my bedroom/office, but won't have any Sonos speakers there. So my question is, for those with experience with Sonos: From my computer, can I play music both to my PC speakers and to my Sonos Connect at the same time, and that way get the same, synced music in all 3 rooms? I do understand that this isn't possible if I use my smartphone or something similar to control it, so I'm asking if controlling it specifically from my PC.
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# ? Aug 16, 2013 12:24 |
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signalnoise posted:Basic understanding is you will know when you're sending too much power to speakers because they'll get too loud and pop. You won't know you're sending too much from your amp until it blows up. Well, almost. (It's not too-powerful speakers you want to watch out for, it's too-inefficient ones, but let's not focut on that.) The amplifier has limits on how much power it can deliver. The more power you feed the speaker, the further the membrane will move, and the louder the sound will be. Your speaker cone (membrane) has limits on how far it can move in and out without tearing loose or knocking into stuff. You'll probably notice if you're driving the speakers too hard (too much power), because the music will sound like poo poo. (Also, you'll be going deaf rapidly from the LOUD noise, probably.) If, on the other hand, the amp has too little power to drive the speakers to the volume you want, as you turn it up, you'll very quickly notice it sounds distorted without necessarily being extremely loud, due to the signal clipping. The speaker is not moving the full distance, but it's being fed a signal with the peaks cut off, which again sounds like poo poo. Keep that up, and the speaker will be harmed. The amp will usually be fine and not blow up, because amps usually have an overload detection that shuts it down automatically, but your speakers may already be destroyed by then. More info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PF32APSjrk (Ignore the stuff about gain control and cars.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipping_%28audio%29 Hippie Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Aug 16, 2013 |
# ? Aug 16, 2013 22:02 |
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Sjonkel posted:I asked earlier about wireless speakers, and I've pretty much landed on going for Sonos. I'll start with the Connect and a speaker, and go from there as needed. With this setup, I'll have the Connect in my living room where my stereo is, and the wireless speaker in my kitchen. I also have my computer in my bedroom/office, but won't have any Sonos speakers there. So my question is, for those with experience with Sonos: From my computer, can I play music both to my PC speakers and to my Sonos Connect at the same time, and that way get the same, synced music in all 3 rooms? I do understand that this isn't possible if I use my smartphone or something similar to control it, so I'm asking if controlling it specifically from my PC. No, the desktop application doesn't play any audio either. It's only a controller for the Sonos devices.
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# ? Aug 17, 2013 22:33 |
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Think this is the right thread. Got two old (but I have no idea how old as they've been sitting in a store room for an unknown number of years) Cerwin-Vega AT-10. So while watching a movie earlier today, one of my speakers was giving distorted sound on some deep rumbling bass. Popped off the front and the foam circle lining (I think that's what it is?) appears to be coming off and just touching it causes it to break. I'm guessing in all the days they were stored, since they weren't being used ever, the lining just sort of dried out and is now breaking apart on the vibrations. So, couple questions: 1) I'm guessing it's bad to use these till I fix this? Or can I use the damaged speaker linings still without harming the actual speakers as it does sound better than the TV speakers so long as I turn down the bass and not let it go too loud. 2) How do I go about getting this fixed? The lining has to be replaced on both speakers, but I think beyond that, it seems fine as the sound isn't distorted or anything so that means the cone is fine? It's my first set of speakers, so I'm a little unsure of exactly what I'm doing here and I really don't want to lose them so soon after getting them. Master_Odin fucked around with this message at 23:06 on Aug 23, 2013 |
# ? Aug 23, 2013 23:04 |
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Master_Odin posted:Cerwin-Vega AT-10 I don't know anything about these guys or whether their repair kits are good.
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# ? Aug 23, 2013 23:13 |
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The foam is shot. It happens. Look at partsexpress.com --I hear they do good work with their mail-in repair service, or sell kits to do it yourself. I have a guy locally where I take mine, but I might think about trying it myself on a speaker I wasn't very invested in.
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# ? Aug 23, 2013 23:47 |
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What kind of store would I look for to do this for me if I was so inclined and how much would it cost? Seems to take some of amount of time that I'm unsure I have. I'm additionally guessing I have to take the speaker out of the cabinet which hopefully isn't that hard. I am invested enough in the speakers that if I gently caress things up, I'm going to have to go a while without new speakers so it might be better for a professional to do it.
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# ? Aug 23, 2013 23:57 |
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My place just repairs speakers and build custom cabinets for bars and bands. I'm sure their yellow pages listing would be "speaker repair." I'm sure you can get a quote from the Parts Express website. I'm also sure they've got suggestions on how to mail a driver. Removing it from the cabinet will involve removing the screws around the face of the driver, pulling it forward and unplugging two wires.
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# ? Aug 24, 2013 00:10 |
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I'm looking for an mp3 player like bitt3n, but I'm not averse to touchscreen controls. I'm thinking of getting a cheap prepaid smartphone (seeing as how I need a phone anyways and don't care for the latest and greatest I can get away with a cheap one). I guess my question is which is better for playing music and videos, windows phone 8 or android?
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# ? Aug 24, 2013 06:57 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 14:46 |
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As Nero Danced posted:I'm looking for an mp3 player like bitt3n, but I'm not averse to touchscreen controls. I'm thinking of getting a cheap prepaid smartphone (seeing as how I need a phone anyways and don't care for the latest and greatest I can get away with a cheap one). I guess my question is which is better for playing music and videos, windows phone 8 or android? I like using Vanilla music for Android. Also the stock Google Play Music app works well. Supports FLAC etc.
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# ? Aug 24, 2013 20:52 |