speakers

Scott Wilkinson, the Specialist

Scott Wilkinson

Episode 1701

Scott's latest review is of a pair of Bluetooth Speakers that he says are really cool. The Ai60 bookshelf speakers are made by Fluance and have a 6 1/2" woofer and 4" tweeters. You connect two speakers together and then connect the right one via Bluetooth to your device. Scott says that the Ai60 exceeded his expectations, sounding great. The cost is $300, which is surprisingly good. The only real drawback is that you can't stream via WiFi, but you can connect wired.

Scott Wilkinson ... in position

Scott Wilkinson

Episode 1638

Scott joins Leo to answer a question about subwoofers. Dan bought a pair of subwoofers to go with his speaker system. Scott says that proper positioning of your subwoofer can make all the difference when setting up your home theater speakers, and these days, having two subwoofers is a good thing. But they also take up a lot of space. So, he's selling his speakers to get bookshelf models. Scott recommends listing them on AudioGon.com. It's designed to specifically sell your audio/video equipment. Another option is AVSForum.com.

Can I watch TV with headphones and speakers?

Vizio Sound Bar

Episode 1549

Don from Santa Barbara, CA

Don recently bought a new LG TV, and he likes to watch TV with ear phones, but his wife doesn't. When he uses the earphone jack, it shuts off the speakers. What can he do? Leo says the easiest way to do it is to use dual audio outputs. Leo recommends a sound bar that he can plug into the optical port, and then he can use the headphones with the headphone jack. Vizio makes a good budget sound bar for around $100. The other option is an analog splitter.

What's a good router to buy?

Synology Router

Episode 1493

Tim from San Diego, CA

Tim bought a new NetGear 7900 router, but he had to reboot it every few days. So he returned it and doesn't know what to buy now. Asus is a company that offers a similar router design. It's an open source based router that uses DD-WRT and Tomato. That's what Leo would buy. NetGear also has the problem of being susceptible to the Russian virus, along with TP-Link and several others. Leo suspects that's because they aren't updated as often.

Scott Wilkinson on Home Theater

Scott Wilkinson

Episode 1465

Scott says that Best Buy is removing CDs from their inventory now, and Leo says that more brick and mortars are doing that since optical media is on its way out. This week, though, the conversation is about home theater speakers. What speakers should you get to make the most out of the home theater experience? Scott says that you can measure how accurately a speaker replicates the sound on a presentation, but it doesn't include the effect of a room's acoustics. So even the most accurate measurement isn't really all that accurate.

How can I get the audio from my satellite receiver to my analog speakers?

Component Video + Digital Coaxial and Digital Optical Audio to HDMI Converter

Episode 1464

Peter from Santa Clarita, CA

Peter switched from one satellite company to another. On his old satellite receiver, he had an HDMI output he could run to his TV and RCA audio outputs that he could run to his outdoor speaker system. his new unit no longer has the RCA audio output. It has an AV Out, a 1010 round port, and a digital audio out. How can he convert the audio? Leo says he can get a little dongle that could convert either the digital audio out or even from the HDMI out. He would need an adapter that will strip the audio out of it.

Apple Launches HomePod

Apple HomePod

Episode 1461

Leo got his Apple HomePod this week and he says it's a device that suffers from an identity crisis. Apple isn't selling it as a home assistant like the Echo or Google Assistant, even though it has Siri on it. It's limited in its ability to play music, though. It's slightly better than the first generation Sonos, but not as good as a bonafide stereo system. It's just an expensive speaker for Apple Music via Airplay. It doesn't even work with Bluetooth. If you're not drinking that Kool-aid, there's no sense in buying one.