r/audio has some measures in place to minimize the amount of spam that gets through to be posted.
Minimum account age of 3 days.
Minimum combined karma of 5 karma.
All non-text posts (link posts) need to be manually approved.
Titles of 2 or less words will not be approved.
Posts that do not meet the above criteria get put into modqueue, where we manually approve the posts through the day. Some of us also get an alert for each new post. This also means that we see 95% of the posts.
That said, I see a ton of posts lately that are similar to "How do I connect x to x" or just a picture of the back of a speaker with no more details. Rule #2 is Details matter. Which brings me to my next point.
How to get help on your post.
Find and read the product manual before posting.
When someone posts a question about specific hardware (usually after I have to ask for the make/model; see rule #2) the first thing I do is find the manual, and it usually answers their question.
Post Formatting Matters
I've been seeing a lot of "wall of text" type posts. Please add line breaks and paragraph breaks in your post. It makes it much easier to read and much more likely someone will help you.
Contrary to a popular saying, "A picture DOES NOT say a thousand words"
Please refrain from posing images with zero context and a title such as "Why doesn't this work" without telling us a lot more information.
This is like going to a car help sub, posting a picture of what's under the hood of a car and asking "Why won't this work", with no details as to the Make/Model of car, issue you're actually having, and what troubleshooting you've tried.
You will most likely get the assistance you're searching for if you follow Rule 1,2,3,4,5, but really, the more details in your post, the higher the chance you will get assistance will be. Rule #1 - Details matter. This has become so much an issue, we've had u/automod post a reminder on each new post about the need for details.
All of the other rules are just as important. Such as Trying to Google something first. I understand that it may be difficult to find something if you aren't quite sure what you're looking for. But if I can copy your post title directly into google and find the answer on the first page, it means you could have as well.
I'm not saying these things to single anyone out, or throw shade at any one post. I'm simply trying to help those who need help. I've worked in technical support for a long time now, and people are more willing to help you if you help them back. If someone asks a series of clarifying questions in reply to a post, make sure to answer all questions to the best of your ability. Nothing is worse than trying to help someone and they make it seem like you're inconveniencing them by not solving a vague question right away.
The other day I walked into a listening bar that had speakers that look like this.
I have never seen such a build. Does anyone here know why would one build a speaker like this?
It basically has 2 drivers facing inwards to a plywood box. The front is covered with a complex 3d printed structure that has 3 holes. One in the middle, and 2 symmetrical holes close to the middle. I assume the purple structure act as a the mids and the holes as the twitter? I could not see the back of it.
What are the advantages/properties that one might be looking for?
I love my flacs for my DAP, but want all my music on my iphone in apple music for a smaller storage size. for bluetooth listening and apple carplay. Is there a good software FOR MAC i can use? I have xld but it will only do one album at a time, i have a lot of albums. Thanks!
Hello, am looking for outdoor speaker recommendations. These need to be wireless so I can connect to a TV (and phone if its easy but not a must) I have plenty of power outlets in my back porch. Budget around $150ish for 2? These are outdoor speakers so i don't need the greatest sound, just need them to be reliable. Thanks!!
Ok so I have headphones with a built in mic and after years of abuse the cord connecting the headphones to the computer started messing up, but when I bought a new cord, the audio works fine yet the mic isn't even detected. Yes, the new cord I got is one for headphones/mic not just headphones. The mic works fine when I plug it into the back jack on the motherboard but there's no jack I can find on the back that picks up both headphone/mic inputs. Any way to remedy this or will I have to just buy a new case?
I am looking for an extension USB-C cable for my DAC as when I am working it constantly disconnects from my phone when I move around too much especially when I need to kneel down and I think having a cable with some leeway to move around will help. Looking into it and im not sure if I need a certain kind of 'OTG' cable or will any cable do? The cheapest OTG one I can find is about 4x the price of a simple UGreen cable off Amazon. Any recommends and advice is appreciated, thankyou!
I have two Behringer PK110A speakers and a Yamaha MG10X mixer. Currently, I'm using RCA cables (3 meters), but I need to extend the distance to at least 5 meters, so I want to switch to balanced XLR to avoid interference.
The manual states the following:
"MIC combo jack accepts audio signals from
devices using cables using XLR, balanced ¼"
TRS or unbalanced ¼" TS connectors."
"For devices connected to the MIC combo
jack, play your analog audio source or speak
into your microphone at a normal-to-loud level
while adjusting the LEVEL knob. If the sound
distorts, lower the LEVEL knob until the sound
cleans up."
My question is: can I connect an XLR cable from the mixer's output into the speaker's MIC combo input (controlling the gain carefully), or is that XLR input strictly for microphones?
Can I please get some help with my new outdoor speaker setup. I just bought a sonos amp and 2 Polk Audio Atrium 8s. 2 speaker stereo is ideal, but I have to cover 2 areas. 1: main pool area to the right and pool. 2: firepit (left off screen). Does it make more sense to hand 1 speaker facing the fire put and one perpendicular facing the pool, both in Single-Speaker Stereo mode? Thanks so much
I used loudness Equalizer but this feature only make it sound like that in laptop, how to actually save that same audio with -db so it sound as clear in a mobile device,since we won't be able to apply loudness Equalizer in other devices....or does anyone one of you know more good Equalizer which makes speeches crystal clear without distorting it while reducing background noises
Hi, I’m looking for some advice on a simple mic preamp.
I have a microphone that I want to connect to the RCA line input on my mixer/amplifier. Obviously the mic level signal needs amplifying to line level first, so I’m looking for a standalone mic preamp that would work for this.
Ideally I’d like something where I can run:
Microphone → Mic Preamp → RCA output → RCA Line Input on mixer/amplifier
It’s a basic handheld 600Ω microphone with a 3-pin XLR connection
It doesn’t necessarily need to have RCA outputs if there’s an easy way to convert the output to RCA without causing any issues.
This is for announcements/live mic use in a bar, so I’m not looking for studio recording quality,just something reliable, with a clean signal and enough gain.
Can anyone recommend a suitable preamp, preferably something reasonably priced and available in the UK?
Thanks.
Hey so first time getting into going further with audio setup :D. I was looking online and came up with this combo for headfones and mic. Just wanting to know is the a pretty good setup and do I need anything else? Like a amp/dac or something? If so can you provide with some stuff that will do the job nicely. Thanks and looking forward to your opinions and suggestions :)
Ive got a rockville mixer that was working perfectly fine for months hooked up to my PC. Then one day it decided the only sound it was gonna make was one deep loud hum and no matter what I do I cant seem to fix it. Does it with both speakers and I cant adjust the volume its just permanently loud as hell.
Question one: I just bought a set of Lark M2S mics. I plugged them into my iPhone 16, and they paired very easily. Problem is, they don't seem to work with any app except the phone's built in camera. Voice Memos, Voice Recorder -- they just default to the camera mic and ignore the lavs. Any ideas there? I powered down my phone to see if that might jump start the connection, but no go.
I can see the mics working in the HollyAudio app, so they are connected and whatnot; they're just not talking to my recording apps.
Question two: I really hoped I could connect these to my Zoom, but none of the provided cables works. Has anyone done this? Can it be done?
Disclaimer: I am extremely OCD as you will find. This is as much an OCD saga as a "how to make the Z-Cinéma sound great again" technical guide. If you want the TL;DR technical specifics, scroll to the bottom of this post. If you're a fellow OCD audiophile I hope you enjoy this way too lengthy diatribe on computer audio!
I bought the Logitech Z-Cinéma system back in August, 2009, one year after they debuted. I remember liking the sound from these speakers so much that I was compelled to write my very first product review for Amazon. In it I praised the system's speaker quality (especially it's dual-driver design with super detailed high end), aesthetic design and build quality, subwoofer strength, and the USB audio interface, at the time a first for a 2.1 system. I thoroughly enjoyed this system for a few years but one day the USB interface built into the subwoofer crapped out, meaning I had to run an analog 1/8" cable from my computer's audio out to the aux in on the Logi's right speaker. This didn't sound nearly as good as the USB connection, given the inherent noise in my computer's onboard audio and the low quality nature of 1/8" unbalanced connections. So with a heavy heart I got rid of the Z-Cinéma. But I always wondered what it would be like if that USB problem didn't happen. Would I still be using it today?
In the 17 years that followed, I have gone through multiple systems including the Harmon Kardon Soundsticks III, Focal XS 2.1, Creative GigaWorks T40, KRK V6 studio monitors, and most recently, the Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 system. Out of all those the Focal XS 2.1 was the best for computer audio, what I still consider the benchmark despite all the time that has passed and new products that have hit the market. But let's talk about the Z-5300e for a second as it the main reason I am even mentioning the Z-Cinéma again in this day and age. As fine as the Z-5300e system has been, especially for gaming, I got annoyed about a few things. First, it just didn't sound that great with music. The single-speaker design of the satellites were most likely the culprit - without separate drivers for low/mid and high frequencies, everything kind of felt sort of "samey" when it came to separation and clarity. Second, whenever I shut off my PC, there would be a constant hum coming from the subwoofer. Easy fix - reach down and shut off the sub via the control pod - but something I would forget to do some nights and would wake up in the middle of the night to hear that annoying hum. The third and final thing that bothered me was trying to use this system with multiple computers. To connect my laptop to it, I had to run a very long 1/8" cable from my laptop's DAC (FiiO E10k) to one of the inputs on the back of the sub, which meant unplugging one of the 5.1 cables coming from my PC's soundcard. I ended up getting an 1/8" audio splitter to switch between my PC and laptop a little easier, but still - more cables, more connections, more areas to introduce noise. The audio from my DAC's line out never sounded good either, with an audible hiss coming out of the speakers whether I was using the audio splitter or plugged directly into the sub. The Z-5300e really wasn't designed for a single stereo audio connection.
One night after getting frustrated with all this, the memory of the Z-Cinéma randomly entered my brain. How easy it was to use, how great it sounded - especially with music - and how much I loved that orange LED display on the right speaker. I started to think, "What would it be like going back to that system after 17 years?" Since I had all but made the decision to switch from 5.1 back to 2.1, I also considered the Focal XS, but a good example was truly impossible to find. The few Craigslist sellers across the US with one for sale never responded to me, and the listings on eBay were for damaged or untested units that I didn't want to take a gamble on. So I decided to focus my efforts on the Z-Cinéma, and it became my latest OCD obsession for the next two weeks.
I bought a Z-Cinéma on eBay for a reasonable price (not the shipping, unfortunately, but it does weigh 30lbs), but when I received it and set it up, it wouldn't turn on. After two nights of trying different things, including new batteries for the remote and different electrical outlets for the sub, I was about ready to throw in the towel and ask for a refund from the seller. Then I had the thought that just one of the components may be faulty, and all I needed was a replacement for that. I started off buying a new remote. Got that, and it still wouldn't turn on. Next I thought it could be the right speaker, which is essentially the brains of the system and what actually turns on via the remote. So I bought a set of Z-Cinéma speakers from eBay (thankfully, much cheaper without the sub). Got those, same thing. I was now losing my mind. In desperation I bought a replacement sub in VERY bad condition with scratches everywhere and "untested/as-is" in the eBay description. But it was the only Z-Cinéma sub available anywhere so I felt I had no choice. While waiting for the sub to arrive, I decided to give the system another try. This time, somehow I got it to turn on. After some testing I confirmed the reason it wasn't turning on was actually two things - the original remote the first seller sent me was in fact broken, and you have to have both speakers plugged into the sub for it to turn on - I had only been testing it with the right speaker plugged in. Really freaking weird, but hey, at least this latest dilemma had been solved and I could finally get to listening to this ancient system again. And find somewhere to store the backup system that I didn't even need to buy. (TL;DR: If you can't get your Z-Cinéma to turn on, make sure both satellite speakers are plugged into the sub and your remote is damage free.)
The first thing I did was play a PC game - Ghost of Tsushima - and within seconds, I heard what sounded like mid-range distortion from one of the character's voices. It was really bad - like cheap TV speakers struggling with bass. The high end from the speaker tweeters sounded amazing, as I was expecting, as did the sub (100hz and below), but this mid frequency thing was a major problem. So I exited the game and tried some music. I chose Abakus - Duotechnolique as my test track. There is a flute-like synth sound that is very prominent around 300hz, and whenever it entered the track it caused the same nasty, muddy distortion in my speakers. Maybe it was one of the speakers? Thanks to that eBay order for a second set of speakers, I tested those one at a time, but same distortion was present in them as well. I couldn't believe that I never noticed this back when I first owned this system and used it every day. Sure my ears are more trained now, but this distortion was so obvious I know I would have noticed it back then. My guess is that the speaker cones have deteriorated in the years since the system was first released. With no "new" Z-Cinema speakers in existence to test with, it's hard to know for sure, but that's what my gut is telling me. (TL;DR: If you get distortion in the 300hz band, it might be due to old/degraded speaker cones. Read on for fix.)
As a final test I played some harder techno, specifically Absolute Part 1 by Alter Ego on the Harthouse 100 Live compilation (now there's a deep cut for you oldschool techno heads). I wanted to see how the Z-Cinéma responded to repetitive, punchy bass, which typically will show the limitations of computer speakers very quickly. I was bummed to hear clipping or chuffing in the left speaker any time the drum kicked. I'm not sure why this was limited to the left speaker only, considering the kick drum is centered (not stereo separated), so the right speaker should have clipped too. My spare left speaker did the same thing too, so either both are damaged, or this is just how the Z-Cinéma is by default. Because I'm done ordering replacement parts, I decided to just live with what I had and fix all these frequency problems with EQ.
To do that I used the popular Equalizer APO app for Windows. Here is my EQ shaping:
First, the modules: 1. Preamplifcation - I lowered gain by -13.00 which gave me the right balance of headroom between Windows system volume and the Z-Cinéma amplification. 2. 31-band Graphic EQ - This is where you will make your EQ adjustments. 3. Channel Control (stereo) - This may not be necessary, but for some reason my EQ adjustment was only affecting the left channel prior to me adding this. Might have overlooked something but this ended up working for me.
Second, the EQ changes I made: 1. Low Freq Cutoff - I cut all frequencies below 40hz so there would be no potential for bass muddiness. I don't think this sub goes down that low so this is probably not really necessary, just my inner music producer at work here. 2. 125hz dip - This is where you will need to get creative depending on how badly your speaker might be distorting on bass kicks or similar sounds. In my case, the sweet spot was around -8.5db, but I had to drop it even further the louder I turned the system. This did not adversely affect the sound much, because the sub is handling most of the lower frequencies and the speakers really shouldn't be doing much here anyway. 3. 315-400hz dip - I went with -5.5db for both frequency bands. This completely solved the mid-range distortion issue while not really affecting the overall sound quality that much. In fact, even if your speakers aren't struggling with mid-range distortion, I still think this is a good idea as the speakers seem to have a bit of a boost in this range already.
Feel free to play around with these settings and turn off the EQ completely if you're playing content that doesn't need the adjustments. This is just what worked best for me.
Finally, a few important notes about using the Z-Cinéma on modern Windows:
To allow Equalizer APO to work with the Z-Cinéma, you need to disable Exclusive Mode in Windows Classic sound settings (System > Sound > More sound settings > Z-Cinema > Advanced > uncheck "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device") . Reboot after making this change.
Use a USB 2.0 cable for connecting the sub to your PC. This is what the audio interface inside the sub was designed to use.
Make sure both speakers are connected to the sub before you turn it on with the remote.
I recommend getting a Logitech control pod extension cable, which is not the same as a regular VGA/serial extension cable. You can find them on eBay for about $15. They are 6' long and will allow you to space out your speakers much further for better cable management and a wider soundstage.
The original Z-Cinéma software - which enables the use of SRS TruSurround - does not work in Windows 10/11. It was written for Windows Vista and 7, and no compatibility tweaks will allow it to install in 10/11. Trust me I've tried them all.
Summary: Was the Logitech Z-Cinéma everything I remembered from my younger life when they sounded like the greatest computer speaker system ever? No, especially considering how age and use could have deteriorated the speakers, how it's difficult to know the exact condition of the components for sale online, and how some of the native functionality is lost in modern Windows. But was it worth the effort? Absolutely. With a little TLC, you can get this system sounding pretty damn good again, and honestly I still think this is the best sounding and best looking 2.1 system Logitech ever made... 18 years and counting.
I had an idea to use four Pioneer car speakers (in photo) 50w rms 4oms 89db
and a car stereo I no longer use to build a home "hi-fi" system; I’ve already figured out how to power and build it. The only issue is that Pioneer doesn't provide Thiele/Small parameters, so I'll have to calculate them myself. Also, I'm not sure how they'll sound or whether I should go with a sealed enclosure or a bass-reflex design—what do you think I should do? And how would they sound? Keep in mind that this is a low-budget project.
If they worked well, I was also thinking of adding a subwoofer. active via sub out of the radio and a pair of tweeters (connected passively) to put together a “””good””” system.
Hi! I have a 2.0 system with bluetooth and when I listen to music with my phone connected to the speaker the audio is fine with no distortion, but when I connect the speakers to my PC via bluetooth and turn the volume all the way up (on JUST the PC not the speakers) it's distorted even on lower audio levels. The distortion starts around 50% volume on pc (Important the 50% only applies to the computer's volume not the speakers themselves.) If you need further clarification just comment. Thank You in advance.
Hello there, just tried a soundlink mini II purchased on vinted from a guy that has an electronic stuff store, so seems to be legit about quality, from reviews too. It's the first time I hear how it sounds in person, to me the buzz over the basses is way too much to be considered ok. I appreciate if someone who's ever owned it or heard it could give me his opinion. I'll leave a link to the bass test.
Obviously it is 100% authentic, with serial number research on the website and device recognition by Bose Software Updater app.
I need help with connecting my yamaha reciver to a pc and connecting speakers to it. Cant find a video on youtube that can help me and i tried with ai but i got nothing from it so im askimg here. I can send pictures of the devices so you can see whats plugged in...
i have this audio interface i got for cheap, and it flips the stereo on my dt 770. i totally could just wear the headphones backward but i really dont wanna look like a tard... is there any settings i can change or software to do this
im using the Blue yeti nano, yeah ik some of yall are gonna hate on it, but its not a bad mic and has done me good for almost 10 years now.
But im not alone in my bedroom anymore, there are a lot of times that im with my girlfriend in the same room maybe 6ft away, and we're in the same discord call, that causes an echo on my end where they can hear here, but not hear well enough that we can use just my mic for both of us.
using the discord suppression is weird, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt, same with the G-hub software, its just not good tbh, it might be something with this mic, bc the software is so much newer then the mic itself.
But is there any software that y'all have used either with this mic or with another sensitive condenser mic to help with that or is it genuinely just a hardware limitation.
I used 3 headphones and 2 dispositives, my pc and my phone, all of them give a static sound when they reproduce high-pitched sounds
Its also not the app of music, I tried with spotify and Tidal
Also not my ears, I heard the same song in my friends stream and it sounds fine
What could it be?
Just as im describing, i've tried many pc headphones and they all present this problem: one of them is always louder when connecting to my speakers, and connecting them into the pc makes one of the headphones not work at all. Could it be that my speakers are having some effect on the headphones (cause they are really old)? or am I just unlucky and bought janky headphones all along?
Hello, my mothers stereo is doing this infuriating thing where usually one speaker loses power (interestingly, its happens on either side, never at the same time though)
When I turn on her TV (and when I turn it off) the power is momentarily restored and both speakers come in full for a few seconds.
It seems like something is weakening the power and the power surge somehow temporarily gives the system enough. The TV is NOT hooked to the speakers, the cables do come very close to the speaker wires.
I have the Audio Technica ATH-R50X open-back headphones and so far I've been using Ablet boom cable mic connected to an Apple dongle port in the rear side of my PC. I have got a separate microphone now and switched to the ATH-R50X cable which is ridiculously short so I can't reach the back of my PC so I connected it to the front USB-C port of my PC through Apple dongle.
Now I have a couple of questions because the cable is still a bit too short and I want the best solution:
Does the cable matter? I don't know if I'm imagining but I feel like the original R50X cable sounds better than the Ablet boom cable that I used until now. If I were to buy a new longer cable, is there anything I need to know so I don't lose any audio quality?
Does the rear/front port matter? I've seen so much conflicting info on this I just don't know anymore... especially since there is also a dongle in the mix and most people discuss the AUX ports but I really don't know if any of these things even matter or not, unless you have a special motherboard or something like that. I have GIGABYTE X670 X AX if it matters.
Audio Technica also included a longer cable but it's a TRS cable. is getting an adapter so I can connect the TRS into the Apple dongle also a viable solution?
I would love it if someone can clear this up for me because I'm pretty damn confused and want to make the most out of my headphones. Right now I'm making due with a short cable but it's kinda annoying
