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How to Set Up a Home Stereo
By James Sawyer
All home stereos are different, and the general appearance of a home stereo has changed a lot over the existence of such devices. In order to ensure that we are covering as many different setups as possible, we will create a hypothetical stereo that consists of separate components, some of which will pertain to more antiquated standards of music listening, some to more modern.
First, we will look at what makes up our stereo. In order to select the proper components, we analyze the uses we need to fulfill. We own cassette tapes, records, CD’s, and also an iPod. We also like to listen to the radio. Therefore, we will need a cassette deck, a turntable, a CD player, and something to connect our iPod to the stereo. For this task, we select an iPod docking station, which we’ll call the “dock.” To listen to the radio, we will use the AM/FM tuner built into our receiver. The receiver is the central component of the stereo, which usually supplies input component and speaker selection, amplification, and in our case, a radio. We also have two speakers, one for the right side, and one for the left.
First, remove all the pieces from their packaging, discard all the Styrofoam and cardboard, and lay the components out neatly on the floor. Examine each component for its size and shape. They should all be about the same, making for easy stacking. Some turntables have a bigger footprint than most stereo components, so this may have to be put on its own shelf rather than stacked upon another component. Also examine the connections on the back of each piece. Most home stereos use RCA connectors, which are an unbalanced connector type that consists of a single signal-carrying lead and a ground sleeve. There will be one connector for the signal carried by the left channel (white) and one for the right (red), on each component.
Stack your components how you like, but be sure to allow for the escape of heat from the top and sides of each. Most stereo components get very warm, if not hot, which can cause irreparable damage to their delicate inner workings. Try to stay away from placing them in a restrictive cabinet or enclosure. Once they are stacked, begin connecting by thinking of the sound of the music as water, which flows out of outputs and into inputs. The water starts at the source (tape, record, CD, or mp3 file) and flows out of the players output, and into the receiver’s input. So, for each component, connect the matching RCA output with the corresponding receiver RCA input with an RCA cable. Once all the components are connected, the “water” can flow out of the receiver’s speaker outputs, and into the inputs of the speakers. This connection is usually not the RCA type, but a speaker connection which employs red and white tabs on the receiver and speakers. Pull the tabs down and insert the stripped end of speaker wire into the hole. When you release the tab, it will clamp down on the wire, holding it in place. The wire is two wires molded together. One usually has a stripe down it so you can tell them apart at each end. I like to use the striped side for the red connectors and the non-striped for the white. Now plug in the power connectors of all you components into the wall, power them on, and enjoy!
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This intel was contributed by Linda
Linda
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May, 2012
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