Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with stereo and sound

Help improve my sound!

aladfar — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:44:19 -0800

Help improve my sound! After listening to some pristine, rich & dynamic music at a friend's studio, I've decided to improve my own setup. The catch? I don't want to spend thousands and have no interest in audiophile snake oil. Recommendations? Details on my existing gear inside. Note: I should point out that I was listening to uncompressed AIFF audio at the studio. While I've no plans to get rid of my MP3 files, I want to get the most out of my vinyl and lossless digital.

My current setup:
Mac w/iTunes
Small Mackie Mixer (A glorified switcher, sometimes used for podcasting)
Pro-Ject Phono Preamp
Pro-Ject Debut III Turntable
M-Audio Stereophile Monitors

What I heard at the studio:
Mac w/iTunes
Apogee Ensemble D/A Converter
Mackie HR824 Monitors

Is there a nice spot in the middle? Should I ditch the powered monitors and pursue an amplified solution? Recommendations would be much appreciated. I'm open to anything, but would like to keep things at or below (preferably below) $1k. Thanks!

Why does my iPod lose right-channel sound?

cmyers — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 15:21:06 -0800

My second-generation iPod nano sometimes seems to lose right-channel sound, on any pair of ear buds, headphones, or speakers; only pushing the jack "up" towards the front restores the right channel, and even then only temporarily. Is this just what these iPods do, or is my particular unit defective? Thanks.

2.0 + 3.1 = ?

daver — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 12:30:14 -0800

Surround Sound 2.0 setup: What do I do w/ my new amp and old speakers? I have 2 old Boston Accoustic "a150" 100 watt speakers, and a powered yahama 'inline' subwoofer. My old amp is dead, now I have a new (to me) Denon AVR-2700 surround sound amp.
Basic question: do I now also need 3+1 more speakers to make life complete? Or can I get reasonable performance from my old speaker setup?

Additional info: I'm just fine with how music and movies sounded on my old Stereo amp.

Extracredit:
* If I need 5.1 speakers, do I need to go out and get matched speakers, or can I use my 2 A150s as 'fronts'
* Is it reasonable to run my built in TV speaker (from a huge old Toshiba Cinema Series TV) as my 'center' channel?
* What am I loosing out on if I don't move to a 5.1 speaker setup?

Thanks in advance...

airtunes vs. tivoli deathmatch

luriete — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 19:33:06 -0800

i just bought a tivoli system (kloss model 2, extra speaker and cd) and have it on the bookshelf but some questions: The Tivoli staffperson I emailed said it had an aux in and would work fine with my airtunes setup. However, there's an aux in (for the CD player, I think?) and a "mix in" which is also a single (mono?) mini rca. My old stereo went mini RCA (airtunes) > full size right and left stereo jacks (stereo), so now I've run a single mini RCA cable (on both ends) from airtunes to the "mix in" jack and it sounds just OK. Not as good as the cheapie sony boombox we used to have. Is this because before I had stereo sound coming in and now I just have mono? Is there a better way to hook this stuff together? I really like the warm sound of the Kloss speakers and it looks very pretty, and I like the big knobs ... I assume there must be some way to make the music from my powerbook sound better than it does on my crummy powerbook speakers; right now they sound about the same.

Bargain Stereo Component solution

FlamingBore — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 00:06:15 -0800

I'm moving into a new apartment in a couple of weeks. It's completely wired for sound and has a rack in a closet for components. I know nothing about components, but think it would be great to hook something up. Help? There is also a connection for the television on the complete opposite side of the great room, so whatever solutions are suggested should keep that in mind. I haven't had a chance to look at the connections, but I'm assuming them to be kind of standard.

I don't want to spend a lot. I'm not a audiophile (obviously), I just want to enjoy having good music piped throughout the apartment.

Most of my music is currently in MP3 format, so a hard drive solution might be interesting. I do not listen to broadcast radio, but I don't know if that matters. CDs and MP3s is all I'm looking at here.

iBook sounds terrible on my home stereo.

booth — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 08:20:47 -0800

When I plug my iBook into my home stereo, it sounds horrible. Way bass-y and mumbly. I can tweak it - setting the iBook volume way low and messing with bass and treble on the stereo - so it's passable, but I'm wondering if I'm doing it wrong. (I plug it from the headphones jack into the Phono input.)

Clever uses for a receiver

aladfar — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 17:12:48 -0800

What to do with a Receiver? Someone in my building left a decent Pioneer receiver near the dumpster, obviously hoping that someone would put it to good use. I believe I might be that person, but am not sure what to do with it. I've already got a reliable radio that I enjoy listening to, my record player has it's own pre-amp, and I don't feel a need to add surround sound to the TV (in part because it would mean buying a mess of speakers). But I'm betting someone out there in MeFi land has a clever and novel idea for how it might be employed. If no suitable use for it can be found, I plan on donating it to the Howard Brown Health Center - no reason for it to go to landfill.