Jun. 12, 2003 Spreading digital music through the house
By Jon Fortt
Mercury News
Computers have evolved into the best place to store and manage music files, and a new breed of affordable DVD/surround-sound systems have brought Dolby Digital sound into more family rooms.
But hooking the computer and the stereo together is still a challenge.
Audio hobbyists sniff at these advances. Digital music is usually stored on computers in compressed MP3 files but these are too low-quality to deliver concert-hall sound, aficionados would say, and affordable home theater systems deliver an experience that's mediocre at best. To them, joining the two experiences together is a lost cause.
While that might be true -- especially if you're trying to fill a room larger than 13 feet by 20 feet with jazz or classical music -- the affordable systems are more than good enough to impress most people with theater-type sound in a dorm room or a den.
So what is a music lover to do? How do you get the sound out of that laptop and into the stereo system? The good news is, it's neither as difficult nor as expensive as you might think.
There are several ways to move music around the house. FM transmitters cost between $20 and $40, and use a radio signal to carry audio between a PC and a stereo. Several manufacturers including Creative Labs, Onkyo and Xitel make external sound processors that connect to a computer's USB port. The USB devices do roughly the same thing as sound cards, but users don't have to crack open the computer case to install them.
Motorola's Simplefi, which sells for about $300 and uses HomeRF radio frequency, is an expensive but viable example.
The most promising method for delivering music through the house, though, is Ethernet -- the same connection that carries data between a computer and a cable or DSL modem. Hewlett-Packard has a digital media receiver for $200 to $300 that uses wires Ethernet or WiFi wireless to stream music from computer to stereo.
Tech Test Drive columnist Mike Langberg says the HP receiver isn't a great product, but at least it's a start.
Richard Doherty, analyst at Envisioneering Group, said he expects a new company called HopHog to introduce an even more affordable $100 Ethernet-based digital media receiver sometime this year.
Alan Lofft, a New York-based home-theater expert, said for connoisseur-level sound, you should expect to pay $2,000 -- about $1,500 for surround-sound speakers and a subwoofer, and $500 for a receiver. But you can achieve very good sound for less than that, with surround systems that cost as little as $200.
``Because the speakers are small, if you think of a speaker as a miniature air pump because that's what it is, they have real limitations in how loud they'll play and the fidelity,'' he said. ``But the compromises in many cases are handled very well.''
Lofft said the most important things are to make sure your front and center-channel speakers are the same brand, and to make sure that if you want good sound out of MP3 files, you encode them at 256K or higher.
Ways to improve sound
for $15 to $50
RCA plugs: Don't pack away that old shelf-system stereo if the detachable speakers are still good. If the stereo has two red and white ports in the back -- they're usually labeled ``Video/Aux'' -- it could be good for hooking up to a PC, TV or DVD player. Even if your TV has pretty good built-in speakers, chances are the ones on your old stereo are still better, especially if they have built-in subwoofers for bolder bass. You can even get the illusion of surround sound if you place the speakers at least 10 feet apart.
All you'll need to get the job done is cord that has a headphone jack on one end and RCA plugs on the other -- RCA is the type with the red and white ends. If your computer has a sound card with built-in RCA, that's even better. Often this results in clearer sound with less hum. A warning, though: You can't string RCA cord forever without consequences. String it longer than 30 feet and the cord begins to pick up buzzing interference.
FM Transmitter: An FM transmitter is also a good option for going short distances, 100 feet or less. The transmitter plugs into the headphone jack of a PC or laptop and sends a signal to the radio. These often cost between $20 and $40.
Speaker wire: For some reason, the surround-sound systems available for $400 or less rarely come with enough speaker wire. They will often include just 10 feet or so for the side speakers, and if you want to string the wire along a wall -- or if you just want to place them creatively in a larger room -- that's not nearly enough. You can buy 50 feet of speaker wire for a little more than $10 and have your pick of speaker locations. A couple of warnings, though. The farther the speaker is from the receiver, the lower the quality of the sound. Also, be sure to get the same size speaker wire that came with the system. Thicker wire might be more expensive, but it often doesn't work with basic systems.
Ways to improve sound
for $50 to $150
MP3 CD: If you just want lots of music out of your basic home theater system, consider burning a CD full of MP3 music files. A CD burner costs just $65, and a 10-pack of blank CDs is less than $5. You can pack about 150 songs onto a CD in MP3 format -- that comes out to nearly eight hours of music. That should be enough for just about any dinner party. Pop it into your DVD player and the sound will play out of the same speakers you use to watch movies -- and most every DVD player made in the past two years plays MP3 CDs.
USB Sound Processor: You can always just install a sound card in your desktop computer. But laptops are increasingly popular, a lot them don't have sophisticated audio capabilities built in, and adding internal sound cards to them is often not an option.
A good way around that is a USB sound processor. At the entry level, $50 sound processors from Creative Labs, Onkyo or Xitel are good buys -- you can string RCA from the processor to the stereo. The sound processors also include audio input plugs.
Those provide a good way to turn your old vinyl records into digital files -- just take sound from the audio output plug on the turntable into the sound processor. The sound-processor solution works best for laptops that you can place near the stereo system.
