Multi-Room Audio: You Have Many Options

Why Choose a Whole House Audio system? Most people choose to have a whole house system because it allows them to take their music and audio with them regardless of which room they happen to be in at the moment. A whole house system allows you to carry on your life without being plugged into an iPod. You can have conversations with your children, spouse, and guests while listening to the ball game or your favorite tunes. What is on your honey do list for this weekend? You have to clean out the garage. No problem. You can take your music with you. You have to do all of the yard work too? No problem, take the game outside and listen while you work. A whole house system allows you to go about your life and still be able to do the things you want to do like just listening to the ball game.
What are my Choices?
The two big choices are single source systems or multi-source systems. Those can be set up as a wireless audio system or hardwired. The biggest difference is in the quality. The quality of the audio you receive goes up tremendously with professional installation. One consideration is the fact that every room in your home has different audio needs as each room responds differently to sound. A professional will be able to recognize the acoustic requirements of every room in your home.
Features include wall mounted volume dials that allow you to instantly adjust the volume of your audio specifically for that room. Most systems allow you to turn rooms on or off with a remote. No use waking your neighbors up at 3 am when you start to watch Jurassic Park and the outdoor system is streaming dinosaurs fighting. Streaming music is another option with built in iPod docking stations that allow the contents of your iPod to be played over your whole house system or multi-room audio system.
Components:
There is a variety of complete audio packages. These pre-configured systems include speakers, wire, keypads, and everything else you need to set up a multi-room audio system. You can build your own system or allow one of our pros to help you select components that fit your audio needs. Start with an Amp and Keypad package or individual components. From there, you can add in power amplifiers to build a custom sound. Speaker selectors allow you to control which rooms receive audio and when. These allow you to control the overall sound throughout your home. Speakers are another area where choice plays a large part in the quality you receive. A professional installation will allows you to add speakers in your ceiling and even add in-wall units. The type of speakers that you choose makes a difference. Wireless setups allow you to broadcast audio without installing wires. These can afford an advantage to really customizing speaker location. Abus Audio components allow seamless streaming of audio via Cat5 cables.

New Builds and Retrofit
It is obviously easier to install a multi-room audio system during construction, but most of us are not building a new home. That means either using a wireless audio system or installing wires. That is where a professional installer comes in handy. Not only do they understand how to run wires the correct way, they know where wires should go and how to hide them. They can also make sure that all of your components are installed correctly and that all systems are working. They can even give you an overview of how to use the system.
There are a lot of advantages of having a whole house system. The systems range from simple to complex, but the grade of sound should always be professional. When you decide you want home audio choose your components carefully. Working with a professional can make a huge difference in the quality of the audio you receive. Understanding that not every room in your home is going to respond the same way to audio is important. By customizing speaker selection to each room, you gain a huge advantage in the quality of the audio that each room receives. No more popping and crackly connections. As you begin to explore all of your options feel free to ask for our guidance, we are always happy to answer your questions or show you what a component does.

Home Audio Furniture for Beginners

There are many choices in home furniture for a home theatre. Some choices are better for your needs than others. In order to get the best furniture to meet your needs, you should have a clear idea of what you need, seek out a reputable company, and have clear knowledge of what all options are.
The most important concept in buying furniture that many people often overlook is the idea that the furniture should be not what's best, but what is "best for you." The most expensive furniture does not always yield the highest satisfaction. However, furniture that was purchased after a well-thought-out decision will often leave the buyer with a higher degree of satisfaction. Remember, while it is a good idea to take other's opinions into consideration, the important thing is that the furniture works for you.
In order to know what you need, you should have an accurate idea of what goals you want to achieve with your home theatre system. If your goal is a state-of-the-art home theatre experience, then your furniture should reflect your systems. Comfortable chairs and high-quality tables can enhance the home theatre experience. Consider every detail, including the color of the furniture. The most appealing home theatre systems often have a color scheme that is very pleasing to the eye. Always get second opinions when deciding on colors. Depending on the type of speakers you have, you might also want to have something special to hold the speakers in. Some of the best home-theatres have surround sound. This effect can be achieved by spreading the speakers around high quality furniture. Depending on what you want, you can decide beforehand how much money you are willing to spend on your home theatre arrangement.

Additionally, before one goes to make a purchase, the layout of the room should be measured accurately. This can be done very simply with measuring tape. You could possibly mark spots on the walls where the furniture will go. It is always a good idea to draw plans and view multiple arrangements. Some furniture takes up a significantly higher amount of space than other furniture. Therefore, knowing how much room you have to work with can make the furniture choice much more efficient and enjoyable.
The final thing that you should consider before buying furniture is the company. There are lots of furniture companies out there, and some of them have lower quality furniture, and bad service. The best companies will be willing to invest their time in order to help you create the best home theatre possible. It is always a good idea to get recommendations from friends about a certain company. Some companies may offer bad advice or try to convince you to spend more money on furniture that will not best fit your needs.
Buying furniture for a home theatre can seem like an extremely daunting task. However, it can be efficient and enjoyable if you take the time to educate yourself about what options are available, what exactly you are looking for, and what are the best companies out there. Well-educated decisions are always more rewarding than decisions made with a severe lack of knowledge. If you inform yourself, your home theatre system will surely be the envy of your friends and family.

How To Stream Audio Through Your Home

A large number of wireless audio transmitter products have emerged over the years. They promise to cut the cord to your audio equipment. We will examine the impact of new technologies on the performance of these products. Also, we'll examine if they keep their promise of eliminating the cable clutter.
The first form of wireless audio transmission was in the form of AM and FM radio stations. While still being popular today, FM radio is now being replaced by new technologies including HD radio, satellite radio and DAB broadcasts. A range of today's wireless consumer products cut the cord such as wireless surround sound kits, baby monitors, wireless microphones and Bluetooth transmitters.
Setting up speakers in another room and distributing music throughout the house are some of the applications of wireless audio. Many homes are not wired for audio. The technologies used today all have pros and cons as we will examine.
FM transmitters are using the most traditional technology in which audio is sent by changing the frequency of a radio-frequency carrier. The technology, which is called frequency modulation (FM), is fairly simple and cost-effecive to build and offers high range. While most of today's 900 MHz products use FM transmission, FM has some major problems.
FM transmissions will pick up static which is noticeable as a background hiss depending on the location of the wireless receiver. The reason for the varying quality is a phenomenon called multipath fading which is a result of reflected radio waves cancelling each other out. Using two antennae is one method some devices cope with this problem (diversity receivers). Another problem is that FM radios easily pick up interference from competing wireless transmitters.
Another technology which has gained popularity recently is called Bluetooth. Bluetooth was originally designed to connect computer peripheral devices wirelessly. Before the signal is broadcast, Bluetooth transmitters will convert the audio into a digital format. One of the advantages is the high robustness against wireless interference. However, Bluetooth was not designed for audio transmissions. Therefore is does have several problems. Bluetooth only offers a range of 30 ft or less and will compress the audio since it does not offer enough space to transmit an uncompressed CD-quality signal. Due to the compression, the audio quality will be degraded compared to the original. Another problem is that Bluetooth will introduce a delay or latency to the signal during the transmission. This delay is a particular problem for video and surround sound applications. In these applications the sound from the wireless speakers would be out of sync with the video and remaining speakers.

The technologies used for satellite radio and terrestrial digital radio offer high range. However, they also use extensive audio compression. Further, a delay of up to several seconds is introduced.
Another technology sends the audio digitally without using audio compression. The signal will retain the original quality by avoiding audio compression. This technology offers an audio latency of less than 1 ms. Therefore these transmitters can be used for wireless speaker kits in a home theater setup and other real-time applications.
To be robust against interference from other wireless devices, this technology uses forward error correction. This mechanism can repair errors during the transmission. Some recent products use the 5.8 GHz frequency band which is less crowded than the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz bands. The result is high reliability. Other than Bluetooth, this technology can operate and number of receivers per transmitter which is key for sending audio to several locations throughout the house.

Home Theater Surround Sound System - How Much You Spend Depends on the Size of Your Room

If you want to liven up the living room, then buying a home theater surround sound system can do such a thing for you. These home theaters surround sound systems usually comprise of several sets of speakers, TV and a data source like a DVD or Blue Ray device. The entire sound system package provides your residence with the right kind of entertainment that your dwelling needs.
However, buying a residential theater surround sound package is something that you need to think about since you have to spend several thousands of dollars just so you can buy a whole set. The question now is that how much do you have to spend for your residential entertainment combo? The answer just lies on how large your room is.
Small-sized room (200 square feet)
If you have a small room, then you can buy an entertainment system for only $500 or less. You will be paying for the receiver, five speakers and a subwoofer. You do not get much but why does your room need a lot of speakers for?

Medium-sized room (300 square feet)
You may need to spend a system that is worth between $500 and $1500. This system already include the high-end receiver an HDMI-equipped upscaling receiver and a 5.1 speaker package to give you a surround sound system that you will surely fall in love with.
Large-sized room (more than 300 square feet)

Benefits of Using USB Audio Interface

A good home recording studio should have a good audio device. The audio interface is a piece of equipment that handles the audio input and output from your computer. Contrary to common belief, a USB audio interface is not a sound card but rather much more than that; its proliferation is actually one of the best thing to happen to the industry of music technology. This simple device provides the best benefits that professional recording companies have been enjoying for a longest time but without the price that could very well match your second mortgage. Simply put, using this audio interface is the most affordable way to enjoy music recording.
A USB audio interface is a device that allows a computer with a sound card but with no audio socket, to be connected to external equipment through the USB socket. The specification of the USB characterizes a standard interface allowing the USB audio device with a single driver to work properly with the different USB sound gadgets and interfaces available on the market.
Many people are concerned about certain factors when taking into consideration using this type of audio device; the quality of the sound and the availability of the channels. A high speed USB audio interface is a better choice than a Firewire interface if you will be doing one or two channels at a single period of time and not more than that. That means that the number of available channels is limited by the USB device.
Audio quality on the other hand is affected by the kind and use of microphones and by the intensity of the signal of the audio. If the auditory signal is at the right level, USB audio devices do not have to do much to alter the sound of the audio; this means that the signal is plainly translated from analog signal to digital.

Types:
Generally, these audio devices are available in 2 categories the stereo and the multichannel devices and they are available in professional and consumer versions. And most are compatible with USB 1.0 as well as with USB 2.0, which makes it easy to get the device working with any computer produced within the last five years. This device connects to your computer with the use of an average USB connector and to the audio device with any kind of connectors.
Sizes:
These audio devices range from 3 x 1 inch and up and the sizes differ because of the variety and availability of the connectors that can be used. For a smaller USB device, a 1/8-inch port input with a 1/8-inch port output is ideal.
There are certainly many advantages in using USB audio interface and one such advantage is that it can be powered up by the USB port, which allows the device to be equally useful for laptops. One of the best benefits and the main reason why it is the most patronized audio interface is because it is highly affordable in comparison with a PCI-based sound interface. It can provide high quality audio recording result without ripping you off.

A Review Of Wireless Speaker Kits For Your Home

Latest-generation wireless audio products such as iPods, iPhones and wireless surround sound products promise to cut the cord while delivering crystal-clear audio. We will look at some of the most recent products to find out which applications they work for.
Some products come with wireless already built in while others, in particular streaming audio products, often have optional wireless capability. Newest touch-screen iPods and iPhones already have WiFi and Bluetooth built in.
Bluetooth is fairly common as a low-cost wireless solution. However, Bluetooth does have some drawbacks. These weaknesses are often overlooked but will have an impact on high-quality audio applications.
1) Short range
The range of Bluetooth devices is typically only 30 ft. This excludes Bluetooth from multi-room applications.
2) Limited data transmission capacity
Bluetooth will apply audio compression since it does not reliably offer a high-enough data rate for uncompressed audio. Audio compression will degrade the audio quality to some extent. High-quality audio transmission typically does not tolerate this type of degradation. Therefore Bluetooth is normally not used in high-end audio products.
3) Audio delay
The audio will experience a delay of at least 10 ms mostly due to the audio compression which is a problem for real-time audio applications but less critical for MP3 players.
4) No support of multiple headphones
Bluetooth cannot stream to multiple headphones at the same time. This may be a problem in cases where several people want to listen to the same Bluetooth transmitter.
Another common protocol is WiFi which supports uncompressed audio but also has problems simultaneously streaming to multiple receivers. It is convenient for streaming music from a PC due to the high availability but is normally not used in wireless headphone products due to the relatively high power consumption of WiFi.

Home wireless speaker products and wireless amplifiers normally use proprietary protocols. These protocols are specially designed for real-time audio applications. However, entry-level wireless speakers and headphones still use FM transmission. FM transmission suffers from fairly high audio distortion and hiss / static.
More recent wireless audio protocols are based on digital transmission. This avoids audio degradation. Some protocols also incorporate error correction to deal with interference from other wireless devices.
Newest-generation wireless amplifiers allow streaming to an unlimited number of receivers and support uncompressed audio transmission.
The audio latency of these wireless amplifiers is normally between 1 ms and 20 ms. A small-latency amplifier is critical for home theater audio. This ensures that all speakers will be in sync. Wireless audio transmitters typically work at 2.4 GHz or sometimes in the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band.
Wireless amplifiers offer different levels of audio quality, output power and standby power. Wireless Class-D amplifiers normally have standby power of 5 Watts or less and a power efficiency of greater than 80% but sometimes high audio distortion. Picking a low-distortion amplifier is key. Good-quality wireless amplifiers have audio distortion of less than 0.05%.

Two Essential Factors to Consider Before Buying A Home Theater System

There are different types of home theater systems which include 7.1, 5.1 and 2.1. In these systems, the first digit usually refers to the number of main speakers and the .1 refers to a subwoofer. Most of you might think while having so many speakers, a subwoofer is of no importance. But you must know that a sub-woofer is really necessary because many speakers do not deliver the high level of bass which is important while listening to music jazz.
Therefore, you must be aware of all the components of a home theater before you buy a home theater system for your house.
Sound Quality
Normally, if you are looking to install your home theater in a large room then you must pick at least 10-inch woofer cone. Instead, if t is a small room than a 5.1 home theater system will do for it which has 5 main speakers and one subwoofer. This includes 2 Surround Speakers, 2 front speakers and one centre-channel speaker where as in case of a 7.1 speaker system there are 2 more rear speakers in addition to the above. Hence, you can choose any of the above home theater systems according to your desire.
After selecting the best type of sound system for your room theater, the next thing is to experience the wound quality manually. A best sound system would produce the output sound from different speakers for movie dialogue and background music. This can be felt by the minor delay caused in the output sound. However, this is difficult to detect but a clear understanding of this will give you an idea about the difference in sound from different speakers.
Video Quality
If you are satisfied with the sound quality of the home theater then the most important thing is its video quality. The picture and video quality of a theater is the one which pays off your money for a brand new home theater. The picture display must be of high quality 3D in HD. Make sure that the video connection for the DVD player component connection and is better than S-video or composite video. The advantage with this is that if can transmit up to 480p video along with HD video signals using three separate jacks.

In this Scenario, the HDMI connection stands out the best. This is because it can transfer HD video signals using a single cable for both audio and video signals and hence, increasing the frequency of the audio and video signals. Therefore having HDMI signal would ensure that the frequency signals are not reduced due to different cables for audio and video and hence, the system less input power and gives maximum output.
Now, it is important to use the best player suitable to your need. Most of the DVD players gives an output of 480i or 480p (scan lines of progressive scan). This is good for a normal TV but nowadays most users have high definition TV like LCD or Plasma. Therefore, if you have such high definition TV in your room then it is preferable to go with a player which can deliver HD quality such as 1080p. Blu-ray disc player is the best example of high quality players that can be connected to a home theater system.
Therefore, before you buy a home theater system ensure that the system comprises all the above components and make sure that it has the capacity to withstand and deliver the goods. Apart from the above said, small other things must also be kept in mind like the USB ports. The usage becomes lot easy if the player has ports for USB and memory so that you can play your files directly from your desktop or iPod. Finally, ask the retailer to provide you with one month exchange warranty if at all you are not satisfied with the equipment.