http://www.ecoustics.com/latest/articles Latest articles, updated every five minutes http://www.ecoustics.com/hemag/articles/21395 The solution for an exceptionally large theater: towering speakers and towering amplifiers, all artfully concealed. Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:03:11 -0500 http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/568486.html Thu, 14 May 2009 05:07:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/23648/ I travel some and have a hard time hearing my music and videos on the airplanes. What I have found is that with a simple Portable Audio Amplifier I can amplify and enhance the sound quality to a much better level. There are a couple of different options when it comes to Portable Headphone Audio Amplifiers. One is the Boostaroo , which has the ability to will double the available volume from your audio player and separate the audio signal into individual stereo channels to drive 3 separate sets of headphones or speakers. Naturally it will depend on the ohm rating of your headphones, but the Boostaroo can increase the volume of your player by 100% with no more than a 0.3% harmonic distortion. If you are watching or listening to something that two or tree people want to hear I highly recommend the Boostaroo . If you are looking for something that improves the sound quality for MP3 MP4 Players Computers or Mobile Phones when using earphones or headphones and not so much into sharing the audio with others and are wanting a more quality for an awesome personal listening experience right between your ears I recommend the FiiO... Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:45:09 -0400 http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/509712.html Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:18:00 -0400 http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/504371.html Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:24:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/18306/ In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, we discussed many things: the standby power supply, main power supply, horizontal and vertical deflection circuits, degaussing, and tuners. In Part 3 of this series, we will discuss the IF (Intermediate Frequency), AGC (Automatic Gain Control), sound IF, sound amplification, and the remote control circuits of the basic television set. IF (Intermediate Frequency) Circuits The most important feature of the IF amplifier is selectivity. Selectivity is the process of allowing only the desired frequencies to pass, while rejecting all others. There will be about three or four separate amplifier stages in a color TV IF circuit. By amplifying the signal in stages, the amounts of distortion in the IF signal waveform are reduced. The IF stages of a color TV set are fixed-tuned to a single IF frequency. Both the video and audio IF signals travel together through the IF amplifiers. The IF amplifiers need to have a bandwidth of at least 4.5 MHz, if amplification stages range from 41 MHz to 46 MHz. Traps through the circuits are used to attenuate transmission of the video carrier of the next higher channel, sound carrier of the current channel, and the sound carrier... Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:30:05 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/talk/228 We are in the final countdown to this year's Consumer Electronics Show, one of the largest trade shows in the world. Here are a few products that look to be hot at the show. We will be writing more about them as they are announced next week. Automotive ElectronicsThis is where you go to see really crazy stuff. Traditionally in this part of the show they have cars that are rolling showcases of audio and video technology. In past years I’ve seen 4x4s with flat panel displays on the axils and in the wheels, cars where the engines have been removed and replaced with amplifiers, and things that looked like they once were cars but now look like some sort of mutated Transformer. Whil... Fri, 04 Jan 2008 03:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/14696/ Many car amplifiers are incorrectly diagnosed and sent in for repair/returned because of incorrect hookup. Sometimes the amp itself really is at fault. Here are a few common problems and what can be done to troubleshoot, as well as fix them (my fixes are the most common. They are not definitive in any way. Your amplifier could have a... Sun, 13 Aug 2006 12:50:04 -0400 http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/109138.html Sat, 13 Aug 2005 07:35:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/11336/ While a thermostat may seem like a pretty mundane consumer electronics device, it was a great addition to my home theater. The thermostat in my family room is mounted on the same wall that my home theater system is on (TV, speakers, components, etc.). The thermostat is less than 12 inches away from my amplifier, which has been known to put out a little heat from time to time. This would wreak havoc on the temperature in the room. When the amplifier was on, the room was too cold. If I adjusted the thermostat to compensate, the room would be too warm when I had the amplifier off.Of course, the obvious answer would be to move the thermostat. However, the only interior wall (which is where all thermostats should be placed) is the wall my home theater system is on, and it takes up the entire wall. Instead of attempting to rewire the thermostat to a new location (and patch the wall where it was moved from), I turned to technology for a solution.There are a couple of remote control thermostats on the market for residential use. The one I purchased is Carrier branded thermostat. However, I believe I ... Thu, 09 Jun 2005 23:39:47 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/11131/ Setting up an audio system is a lot trickier today than it was many years ago. In the past, speakers were designed to reproduce bass frequencies, so the need for subwoofers were non-existant. When the size of speakers began shrinking, the need for subwoofers to handle bass increased.In learning The 'Bassics' of Bass Management, you'll discover that receivers figure out what speakers should get bass digitally, and send the appropriate bass information to a powered subwoofer using a line-level connection. But before receivers were digital, bass management had to be handled by the subwoofer using a age-old technology. Subwoofers have undergone some serious change in the past decade. Intitially, most subwoofers were passive. A passive subwoofer does not have its own amplifier built in, and is therefore connected with speaker wire between the front or all speakers. What makes it more confusing is that even newer powered subwoofers can be connected passively, which means that it is still connected in the same manner as a passive sub. This method of subwoofer hook-up is very common for those that use Bose speaker systems, or anyone with a passive subwoofer. In the ReceiverThe receiver's "yes" or "no" setting for the subwoofer ... Sat, 07 May 2005 13:05:28 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/10674/ Question: Why does my new audio system for my tv say "protect" and then shut its self off? -submitted by mtnman Answer: Receivers can go into a protect mode for a few reasons. The most likely is that the positive and negative wires on one of the speaker lines are touching. This causes a short, and the receiver will turn off to protect the amplifier from blowing up. This commonly happens when your receiver or speakers uses five-way binding posts like those shown in the image. Verify that the positive and negative wires aren't touching at the back of the receiver and all speakers. It is possible that one of the speakers is blown. Try disconnecting one at a time until the receiver no longer turns off. If one speaker is the problem, it is either blown or there is a problem with the wire connecting it. Ifyou have more than one pair of speakers connected to a single output at the same time, this can often cause a receiver to go into protect. If this is the case, do not connect both pairs to the same output. In the worst case, the receiver will shut down even ... Tue, 22 Feb 2005 15:15:06 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/10309/ It's no secret that it takes a lot of knowledge to truly understand the world of home audio, which is littered with confusing numbers and terms. Wattage, current, distortion, frequencies, and impedance are just a few of the specifications anyone looking for an amplifier of home theater receiver is going to come across. With the thousands of choices in each category, it takes a little bit of background to use these specifications to make a great choice. In steps the watt... Evaluating and stating the wattage of an amplifier has become the single most important number to the amplifier shopper. Unfortunately, wattage is a highly misunderstood specification, which dupes people into buying products with a level of performance much lower than what is anticipated. 100 watts seems to be the magic number for most, thinking that as long as you have 100 of them, and no less, they'll be fine. However, even passenger side www on your car states that things aren't always as they appear. To be fair, wattage is an important number that can give a clear understanding of an amplifiers performance. A Watt, named after the British scientist James Watt, is a unit of power. And ... Tue, 14 Dec 2004 10:13:18 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/10047/ Why better cables?In 1979, a man named Noel Lee made a discovery. He determined that different cable materials impacted the sound when used to connect speakers to amplifiers. Noel used his discovery and crafted a special speaker wire using the name Monster Cable. This cable had a profound effect on the audio world. At the time, speakers were connected with the same wire used in household electrical appliances known as lamp cord. Today, Monster Cable has become a generic term for high quality cable, similar to the Kleenex brand of tissue. Since the inception of quality cable, hundreds of manufacturers have evolved to research and design quality interconnects for audio and video equipment. Without Lee and his efforts in the research and design of quality cables, the performance of your electronics would never be fully realized.Devices you buy for your home A/V system don't work if you just plug them into the wall. They need to be connected to the rest of your components in order to carry the output signals to where they need to go. Take a VCR for example: VCRs have an audio and video signal that goes out when you play a tape. These signals leave ... Tue, 14 Dec 2004 10:13:14 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/hemag/articles/4479 The pursuit of perfect sound in the home has given birth to towering speakers, cables of garden-hose girth and amplifiers that draw more power than a standard wall socket can provide. Mon, 01 Sep 2003 08:00:00 -0400