For your listening pleasure: The quick audio questions megathread!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > For your listening pleasure: The quick audio questions megathread!

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Hippie Hedgehog posted:

Seeing as those are analog media, the SNR etc will vary from brand to brand. "Resolution" is really not objectively measurable on analogue signals (they're continuous, not sampled), but the medium might add distortion, I guess. I'm sure there are some analog geeks here who will chime in with specifics on SNRs.

Let's use frequency response instead of resolution. The digital "staircase" waveform isn't seen on the output because the system will filter the higher frequencies that produce the sharp edges. A CD gives us 20kHz, assuming a less than perfect reconstruction filter. If vinyl beats that, it won't on the second play.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2007 02:10

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 04:12

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

ThrillKiller posted:

I recently got inherited a record player. The problem is that I'm away from home for the next 2 months and I have it set up in my dorm room, so I'm away from my home stereo setup. I thought I could just buy a cheap set of speakers at radioshack to tide me over, but when I plugged them in the music was really quiet.

I'm guessing that is because they are not properly amplified. What is the cheapest, simplest solution to amplifying these lovely speakers until I can move back home and properly hook that poo poo up?

Old stereo receiver from a thrift store or garage sale. Make sure you plug your turntable into the phono plugs.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2007 16:02

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

ThrillKiller posted:

I was thinking... Since the speakers use an 1/8" stereo connection, would it be feasible to use a headphone amp like those CMOY ones I've seen? Would that be stupid?

Power should be no problem, but you will still want a phono input. If you can't find one on a headphone amp, you'll have to get a phono preamp as well. I think they also make them in mint tins. Both would be integrated in a stereo receiver.

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA_equalization, the only good thing to come out of the RIAA.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2007 00:04

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Down Is the New Up posted:

I have a Dell Dimension PC which has an onboard 7.1 sound and a headphone jack up in the front of the tower. Currently I'm using a stereo 1/8" plug->RCA adapter with the RCA cables going from the adapter to the audio receiver. PC headphone jack to receiver.

It feels wrong.. is there any better way to do this? Is there anything wrong with this, or if this is the way to do it, is it better to get the actual 1/8"->RCA cable then have an RCA cable plugged into the adapter? Is it best to get some kick rear end soundcard with some magic PC OUT jack?

Some people will tell you to drop the cash on another card, but as long as it sounds good to you, right? The only thing I can suggest is using the plug on the back of your case so you don't have cords everywhere. Those 1/8" -> RCA cords are cheap and come in handy (own an ipod?) so pick one up if you want. You won't hear a difference though.

If you have a receiver that takes a digital input, your best bet would be to get a chaintech av710 for cheap and let the stereo handle the DAC.

# ¿ May 28, 2007 20:52

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

DonnyOsmond posted:

Hi, I have a 5th generation 30Gb iPod video and I bought this case for it:

The case has a magnetic clasp used to keep the main flap closed. My question is this: will this magnet affect the battery in my iPod and/or reduce the longevity of its battery?

No. Even if magnets did negatively affect batteries, the type used in this sort of application have barely any strength.

# ¿ May 29, 2007 08:12

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Boner Slam posted:

But it is.

Totally with you, Boner Slam. Nonbelievers, have you ever looked up speaker specifications? Everything is measured in percents, not fractions of percents.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2007 15:39

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

rckstar79 posted:

Sorry, if this has been asked ad nauseum. I searched and had no luck.

I have a fairly inexpensive bookshelf speaker set (two speakers + sub) hooked up to my TV. When watching DVDs, the dialogue is hard to hear and the music is crazy loud. Is there a setting in my DVD player I'm missing, or is this just an issue with DVDs and stereo speakers?

Try switching audio tracks? I watch dvds on my computer with normal stereo speakers and the mixed down 5.1 channel and the 2 channel tracks sound vastly different.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2007 21:21

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Rolodex Propaganda posted:

Stupid question, but what exactly is the purpose of having A/B speaker selection on an amplifier? Could I theoretically hook up 4 sets of speakers and position them around my room, switching between the 2 pairs when I want?

Yeah, or run the B speakers to your bathroom and rock out in the shower.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2007 17:56

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Mysterious Aftertaste posted:

Are subwoofer RCA cables the same as normal L/R audio RCA cables in terms of impedance?

edit: Follow-up: will it even matter? Can I use one half of some audio RCAs?

Cable impedance is only an issue at RF frequencies. Go for it.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2007 23:03

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

I won a Technics 1200Mk3D on ebay. It came without a headshell or cartridge, so I need to pick one up. I am NOT DJing, and I am definitely not scratching. I don't want to damage my records anymore than I have to. I don't buy into audiophile stuff, so I'm not going to spend a fortune.

Any recommendations?

# ¿ Jul 20, 2007 20:57

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Snafuel posted:

In the off chance the speakers have very low impedance, check if your amp has a switch to choose between 4ohm/8ohm speakers. If it has one, try with 4ohm setting. I very much doubt the impedance in those speakers would be that low.

Yeah, it sounds like the amp has an overcurrent protection circuit built into it. How powerful is the amp?

# ¿ Aug 4, 2007 16:46

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Zand posted:

OK, probably one of the last questions here, can anyone recommend a decent receiver now for around 100 bucks (or cheaper)? 5.1 support would be nice in case I wanted to upgrade Really though it isn't necessary, should I just check places like goodwill/thrift stores and get an older receiver/integrated amp?

Yeah, that's what I would do. Make sure it has the inputs you want and the power range you're looking for. If you want to know my secret, but a non-working amp from craigslist or something and put in new fuses. I got two that way.

As people move to 5.1 or higher, you can find some decent deals at thrift stores or second hand. Personally, I don't think the benefit is worth hassling over more speakers and a new amp, so I'm sticking with my top of the line early 90s stereo receiver that cost 5$ and two 500mA fuses.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2007 05:28

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Zand posted:

Why does my RCA RT2250R receiver turn itself off after like 1 minute of doing nothing? I thought the speakers were causing it to short, but it still just turns off even when no speakers are plugged in. Is this unit just broken, or is there anything I can do?

Checking the fuses would be a good way to start troubleshooting.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2007 22:46

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Zand posted:

how do I do this? and also sometimes the receiver does not power itself off and it is confusing. It has been on and fine for like an hour now but before it was being all hosed up and shutting down repeatedly.

edit: also it appears that the DVD/SAT things on the receiver dont give any sound

Take off the cover and look for fuses, probably near where the power cord comes in or your speakers go out. Mine did the same thing (albeit after 10 seconds) before I discovered two burnt fuses, which is how I got it for $15. If the fuses are blown, just replace them with the same current value and type.

They look like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Fuses.jpg

They should have a piece of metal or wire connecting the two sides or they're bad. If you have a multimeter with a continuity tester, use that.

I guess I should also tell you to be careful with power. Coils and capacitors will retain a charge, so don't touch anything.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2007 01:15

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Zand posted:

could burnt fuses also cause my inputs to not work? only 2 of 6 inputs work on this used receiver

It's a very distant possibility, hell anything can happen when you get enough electronics connected together.

You're probably looking at a more seriously busted receiver though.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2007 03:56

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

imonlyapuppet posted:

You'll have to excuse me because I'm pretty ignorant about A/V stuff.

Just moved into a new apartment and we've got our TV and video games set up, but we need some speakers. Radioshack had a set of two bookshelf speakers on sale, so we thought about buying them. What do we have to do to get these things set up with our TV? Here's what I know:

- We have a TV with the RCA (right? It's the Yellow/White/Red cable connections) in front, as well as back, along with Red/White Audio-In on the back.

- We have a switch that has three RCA inputs/output/whatever that has our DVD player and video game system plugged in.

- The speakers just have those wires hanging out the back.

Can we:
1) Get a cheap no-solder adapter to connect the wires of the speakers into the rear Audio-In (red/white) in the TV?
2) Is there any way to hook an ipod up to this connect?

3) Do we need to buy a reciever to do all this? The speakers were on sale for like $30 but we're trying not to spend a lot of money, especially if a reciever is an accesory not a necessity.

If you need more information, let me know, I tried to be as specific as possible.

Just grab an old receiver from a thrift shop or garage sale. Everything will work perfectly. Pick up a 3.5mm stereo minijack to RCA cable adaptor from a dollar store and plug it into the tape input on the receiver. Switch between ipod/tv with the tape/aux selector.

It'll be cheap and modular enough that you can upgrade it as you please in the future.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2007 23:25

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

IntoTheNihil posted:

Very small question here. I bought a new soundcard with negates the use of the front slots on my PC where I normally plug in my headphones. Is there some kind of audio extender that I can plug into the back of the computer and then plug my headphones into to work?

What you really want to do is open your computer and trace the wires from your front panel connector, unplug them from your motherboard and plug them into your new soundcard.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2007 12:20

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Boywhiz88 posted:

I recently got a 5.1 system with receiver from my brother. It's a JVC from early 2000s, but the thing is I'm in a dorm. I'm wondering if setting the receiver on its side would have any negative effects on it or if I need to lay it flat.

It should be fine, but you might want to watch that it doesn't get too hot because the hot air is not rising through the vents in the top of the chassis any more. Then again, people stack up a bunch of components and stuff them in cabinets all the time, so you should be good.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2007 21:38

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Noxville posted:

Question for anyone who's knowledgable about old speakers:

I recently salvaged all my dad's old 70s-era hi-fi seperates from his attic, including a pair of Celestion Ditton XR 15s. I need to know, will I have any problem putting these in close proximity to my LCD TV or my computer?

When a friend of mine first got a really cheap surround speaker set they weren't magnetically shielded and they hosed up his picture permenantly - I don't really know the first thing about speakers and I want to be 100% safe concerning the rest of my stuff before I position them.

Your computer should be safe as well as your LCD television. Obviously I can't say this 100%, but I wouldn't hesitate. CRTs screw up because they use magnetic fields to deflect the electron beam. LCDs are just switching transistors on and off. I wouldn't be too worried about the hard drive either. I've rested a portable phone directly on one without any problems in the past, and a portable phone will screw up a CRT monitor.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2007 20:07

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Can I use the tape out connection on my receiver to get a line level and RIAA equalized version of my phono input?

# ¿ Dec 12, 2007 05:49

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

chmieloweic posted:

So I'm curious as to opinions on these products or any alternatives for ripping vinyl to mp3s. Any thoughts?

You have an existing turntable, stereo and computer? Get a $2 3.5mm <-> RCA cable and plug the tape out from your stereo to the line in on your computer. Switch your amp input to phono, open any audio program and go.

# ¿ Dec 20, 2007 03:33

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

IntoTheNihil posted:

Hmm. What about using a pair of speakers? I've got a pair of desktop speakers.

Yeah, go for it. You'll need an RCA female to stereo miniplug female cable or adapter.

Your headphones might work with the same cable, depending on how much power they need. Adjusting the volume will be a problem though.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2008 07:45

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Am I right in assuming delivered power will be cut in half if I use 8 ohm speakers with an amplifier that was tested with 4 ohm speakers? Also, what are some average ballpark figures for floor-standing speakers? I have two pairs that aren't labeled and will probably stick with similar speakers in the future so I want to know what sort of output rating to get for for my power amp. Thanks!

# ¿ Jan 22, 2008 21:26

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Alfajor posted:

I'm looking for a 3.5mm stereo cable, male to male, to use in my car.
I have an AUX input (Scion xA), and an iPod. I've been using a lovely cable that I grabbed from some computer speakers, but I can't put up with the background noise anymore, it's too much when I pump up the volume.
I have no idea what's good and what's just fake, so I'm not sure what I should be getting, or if I'm looking at the wrong thing altogether. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated

Do you get background noise when you pump up the volume on both your ipod and stereo at the same time? I could see this being a problem if you were only cranking your stereo, but leaving your ipod relatively low or something similar.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2008 01:31

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

butterthatbacon posted:

There's some really nasty noise coming through the headphone port of my macbook pro. When I open a program, not only do I hear the hard drive spin up from inside the computer, I hear it on my speakers through the amp. And not just then, there's a lot of "ambient" noise as well as strange buzzes and clicks that correspond to basically every moving part in the computer. This is really annoying when I'm trying to listen to something that's soft and has a lot of silence in it. Is there anything I can do about it?

Try momentarily muting your microphone input or turning off whatever option loops it back and out your speakers. If that works, you can try turning down level on your mic. I've found that skype (under linux at least) will unmute the input momentarily, so I can leave it off because I only use it with that application.

edit: Maybe line in and others like it as well, although the mic input will be the worst quality and have the highest gain.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2008 07:24

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

...! posted:

Really dumb question: I bought a set of banana plugs because I'm tired of dealing with the bare speaker wire. These are "crimp" plugs. I've always thought of crimping as taking a pair of pliers and squeezing the wire end of the plug so that it stays in place. When I try that with these, they shatter. What am I doing wrong?

It's hard to tell without seeing them, but the banana plugs I have snap into the plastic casing if you press down hard enough from the back. The "crimp tool" I used was a metal ring that you insert the metal tip into but only made contact with the plastic casing and a blunt awl to push from the back until it snapped into place.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2008 20:19

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Reichstag posted:

Okay A/V arena, question time.

Components:
-Technics SL-BD27 turntable (Has a new cartridge, seems to function fine)
-Logitech X-530 speakers
-Laptop

Setup:
I have it set up to route my PC sound (laptop, no 5.1) through Front R/L via the 3.5mm on my laptop, and turntable to Rear R/L and center channel via an RCA to 5.1 converter. I want to maintain this arrangement, but the volume of the turntable is very low. I know there needs to be an amp of some kind in the mix somewhere.
What do I need?

Phono preamp inline with the output from your turntable.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2008 05:50

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Hollis posted:

I was not realyl sure where to ask this but I figure I should not make a thread. I want to get into playing vinyl records (lol hipster wannabe human being).

Anyway I am just utterly confused when it comes to these I mean what should I buy I would just like a nice simple set up nothing fancy nothing to convert to CD just something that plays different types of vinyl records and is easy to use and sounds great .

Anyway thanks a bunch.

If you don't have a component stereo system already, you're probably looking for a USB turntable. I can't help you pick out which one, but it should help you line up your options.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2008 08:34

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

TesticledRat posted:

Is there a free program out there to join multiple mp3 files into one large file? I need a program where I can create a bulk audio file to listen to my audiobooks on my iPod.

Can you just tag them so they show up in order as a single album?

# ¿ Jul 3, 2008 21:47

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Dominoes posted:

10dB is doubling.

In voltage, yes, but not power.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2008 04:13

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Anunnaki posted:

Question regarding ripping CDs in FLAC:

If I'm ripping a CD in FLAC format in Winamp, what's the difference between the Encoder Options? Specifically, is "Fast Encoding" going to be better quality than "Best Compression"? The terms are rather vague.

Edit: Also, I noticed that all FLACs have fluctuating bitrates, and I assume the compression factor has something to do with it. I know that uncompressed WAVs always have a bitrate of 1411 Kbps. Maybe I just don't know how FLAC works, so could someone enlighten me?

And for that matter, is there a difference in quality between WAV and FLAC? I would naturally assume WAV to be higher quality, since it usually yields a higher bit rate and larger file sizes, but again, I'm not sure.

Flac is completely lossless. When you play it back and it's decoded, it resembles the original wav file bit for bit. Think of it as a zip file optimized for audio. Fast encoding and best compression will result in the same quality (the original file). The only difference is file size and length of time it takes to encode.

Since it's an archival format, I'd recommend putting it at best compression. The encoder will spend longer looking for ways to make the file smaller once, but it'll take up less disk space for as long as you have it.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2008 18:35

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

gninjagnome posted:

I recently purchased a Samsung LCD TV, and was starting to look into an audio set up for it. A friend gave me a Denon DRA-325R receiver he no longer needs. Anyone know if it's worth hooking up to my TV and tracking down some speakers, or if I should just look into something newer ? I know basically nothing about home audio, so any advice would be appreciated. One catch is that my TV is in the corner of the great room of my house, and the couch is at a diagonal across the middle of the room.

Yeah, it looks like a decent receiver. Grab some $20 speakers from craiglist or a garage sale and upgrade later if you're not satisfied with it.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2008 06:34

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

wormil posted:

Wandering around Circuit City today I found an orphaned center speaker from a Samsung HTQ70 HTIB. They let me have it for a couple of bucks and I want to use it as a center speaker for my television. It has two small speakers inside and each speaker has a terminal but of course my receiver only has one output for a center speaker. The speaker is rated for 3 ohms. I can only guess that is 3 ohms for each speaker. Putting sound quality aside, can I actually use this thing, maybe with a little rewiring? My receiver is only rated for 6 or 8 ohms.

Wire the speakers in series, so from your TV to one speaker, from that speaker to the other, then back to your TV to make a 6 Ohm equivalent.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2009 16:21

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

wormil posted:

This was my idea from googling but I wanted to double check. Unfortunately my Polks are 8 ohm so I don't see this working out.

You should be OK. Leave the Polks alone and wire the centre channel through the two new speakers in series. Maybe I don't understand what you're trying to do.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2009 00:18

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Fragmaster posted:

Well yes which is why is this a problem, everything works for 5.1 except center so... not a lot of dialogue.

Maybe I should have explained better: center won't even play a test tone, but all the other speakers do.

Maybe the fuse for the center channel blew at some point? They're pretty easy to locate, test and replace if that's the case.

# ¿ Apr 6, 2009 07:17

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Omegaslast posted:

Unless the center channel has an amp in it then theres not going to be a fuse to blow.

So one channel might be passively amplified then?

# ¿ Apr 6, 2009 16:16

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Monoprice is having another sale on banana plugs, so I'm wondering if I should switch over. Can I use banana plugs in my existing spring clamp style connectors, or should I get some female sockets and bust out the soldering iron? I eventually will own a stereo with better sockets, but in the meantime it'd be nice to get by.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2009 22:29

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

TheMadMilkman posted:

That is an interesting little issue. It's not too uncommon to have noise issues with on-board sound, but to only have it when you're using the mouse to scroll up and down? Definitely odd.

I had that on an old motherboard once. Must have run the USB traces next to the sound card. Maybe try different a couple different USB ports?

# ¿ Oct 10, 2009 09:03

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

That AC adapter looks like a pretty normal universal adapter. It should handle US mains with no problem. It sounds like your power supply is entering some sort of protection mode. Could be a bad PSU that screws up when loaded or it could be the DAC drawing more current than it should be. Any way of testing the DAC with another AC adapter? Or powering another device with your supply? Maybe I'm a bit of an electronics nerd, but I have one kicking around that I'm using to power my router. You may have one too.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2010 02:25

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 04:12

yippee cahier: Mar 28, 2005

Ashex posted:

I generally pull it out by the jack (should mention that sometimes the phone slides off the seat onto the ground which might jerk the cable) and leave it sitting on the seat. I've been using standard computer audio cables since they're a bit thicker which I figured would help. Odd thing is when I had a cassette adapter I used the same one for 5 years before I got this stereo now I'm replacing cables every 1-2 months

Maybe you broke the plug in your stereo or something? That seems really crazy.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2010 04:18

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > For your listening pleasure: The quick audio questions megathread!