How To...
PS Audio Learning Center
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How to play FLAC in iTunes
If you're on a MAC and are using iTunes to manage your music library, you may have noticed that it will not handle FLAC (Free Lossless Audio CODEC) encoded files. FLAC encoded music is the defacto standard for reducing file sizes without loss of quality. FLAC files are bit-for-bit perfect copies at about half the file size.
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How to adjust the VTA of a turntable
Many people would encourage turntable owners to play with the angle until the vinyl sound right. We would agree. However, there is a bit more science to it than just listening.
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How to avoid first reflections
When sound pressure comes out from your loudspeaker, it is typically aimed directly at your listening position. When it arrives at your listening position, it is referred to as "direct sound". Along the way towards that listening position, the sound pressure wave will hit the side walls, pieces of furniture, and so on, causing multiple reflections.
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How to resolve absolute polarity
There's no small amount of controversy surrounding this issue. That's partly because some listeners aren't particularly sensitive to the effect of inverted signal polarity, while for others, it's very irritating.
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How to deal with room treatment
This observation comes from over three decades of experience and hundreds (if not thousands) of successful critical installations.
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How to blend stereo subwoofers seamlessly
The first step is to locate the best position for your seating and for your subwoofers. The main issue, after finding where the subs work best, is getting them to blend seamlessly with your main speakers. This tip assumes that you've already located the best position for your main speakers and that you are voicing the subs for the overall combination of best blend and best bass.
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How to find the best spot for your equipment
If you have your speakers on the short wall, it's more convenient to get up and take a few steps to the sidewall than to make the trek all the way over to components located between your speakers (unless your speakers are on the long wall and your components are on the short side wall). Plus, there are at least three significant performance advantages to locating your components on the sidewall.
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How to dress up your room so your wife is cool about it
I don't know any wives who want their husband's music listening area to look like an over-damped hi-fi shop. By the way, WAF in audiophile-speak is an acronym for Wife Acceptance Factor.
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How to install a wooden floor to improve your sound
If your listening room is on a concrete slab with wall-to-wall carpeting, before spending lots more money on new components, the chances are that you can transform the sound of your system for a modest investment.
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How to setup iTunes for ripping CDs
If you are building a library of music in iTunes, it's important to setup the CD transfer (RIP) process just the way you want. iTunes default setting is to compress the music you copy from a CD using their AAC encoder at 128kbs. Many of us building music libraries do not want to compress the CD because of the loss of audio quality.
