Technical guides

Here is the reference decibel chart, running from 0 dB (the faintest sound you can hear) to 140 dB (a firecracker at arm’s length, where the damage is instant): a whisper sits around 20 dB, a conversation 60, a vacuum cleaner 70, a nightclub 100, and the front row of a concert 110. But there

Are Bluetooth turntables worth it? Yes – on one condition that has nothing to do with Bluetooth: a Bluetooth turntable is worth it if the deck underneath would still be a good deck with the radio stripped out. Bluetooth is just another output, like the RCA sockets next to it. What decides whether your records

When to replace earpads is not a question of months on a calendar. It comes down to six signs: the foam no longer springs back when you press it, the surface cracks or flakes, bass sounds weaker than it used to, more outside noise gets in, you can feel the hard ring against your ear,

Pink noise vs white noise, settled in one line: pink noise carries the same energy in every octave and therefore rolls off 3 dB per octave, while white noise carries the same energy per hertz – which packs half of its total energy into the top octave alone, from 10 to 20 kHz. That single

Sound becomes dangerous above 85 decibels (dB) with prolonged exposure, and above 120 dB it can damage your hearing instantly. But the number that really matters isn’t just how loud it is, it’s how long: hearing damage is a dose, level times time. At 85 dB your ears can take about 8 hours; at 100

Surround sound is now the standard for many home theater setups, but it isn’t always the best solution. After testing various configurations and calibrations, what’s clear is that a good stereo system—two well-positioned channels plus a decent subwoofer—offers an immersive sound experience that, for the vast majority of people, rarely falls short of multichannel systems.

There is no single equalizer setting that works for everything. What does exist is three rules and a starting point per genre: move few bands, never go past ±3 dB, and cut before you boost. That alone will improve your sound more than copying any preset off the internet. And there’s something worth knowing before

This is a common question among those setting up a sound system: Does the subwoofer’s location matter when it comes to perceiving where the bass is coming from? The standard explanation points to the THX standards for movie theaters in the early 1980s, which set a crossover frequency around 80 Hz. That figure became established

The growing presence of direct current (DC) in home electrical systems is taking its toll on high-fidelity (Hi-Fi) systems. What was once an almost trivial problem—minor distortions in the power supply—is now occurring more frequently and manifesting as background noise that does not originate from the speakers or the recording format, but rather from the

When a sound system doesn't perform as it should and the music sounds "muddy" or congested, many people blame the original recording or harmonic distortion. However, the culprit is often a more technical and unpleasant phenomenon: intermodulation (IM). This problem arises when different audio frequencies, instead of coexisting peacefully, collide within an audio system. This

There was a time when a good Hi-Fi system was the go-to choice for anyone who wanted to enjoy great music at home. But its popularity gradually declined as Bluetooth speakers, wireless headphones, and soundbars emerged, making it seem almost like a relic of the past. Some people even classify them as part of the

Today we’re going to get a little more technical in our explanation of the cathode follower, but without going overboard, so that any audio enthusiast can understand it. How the Cathode Follower Works This is an essential stage in vacuum tube amplifier circuits that, far from increasing the voltage, is designed to provide a stable