audio

Mike wants to wire up his home for sound. His house is already wired for Cat6 cable, but is wireless better? Leo says that Wireless is pricey, but it works. The Sonos, for instance, works great, but it's $400 a room. Each speaker has it's own wireless network built in. He can do it on his own, but the money he'd save is taken up in time building it himself. That's why Leo says if he can afford it, the Sonos Play5 is a great way to go.

Brad has an Apogee duet professional sound card. He'd like to upgrade to a Duet 2, but there's other less expensive options out there. Leo says that professional audio is a very specialized niche market, which makes it hard to offer mainsteam options. He also says that while newer Macs have more speed, Firewire is dead now. Quality audio processing is key, and he recommends looking at a DAC from ApogeeDigital. Low latency is also important.

Louie has a laptop that has an echo. Leo says that there may be a sound enhancement setting enabled in the audio settings. Also, make sure the microphone is turned off, and it may also be that there's a mic pass-through option that's enabled. That would definitely cause it.

Jerry is a long haul trucker, and has a Pioneer AKH780 system in his semi truck that needs to be replaced. Leo says that CDs are being phased out of front end car stereos. Leo recommends the JVC K-Wav 70BT, which supports integration of iPods and other digital devices. He'll want to get support for A2DP as well so he can integrate his phone to it. USB ports would be great as well to charge the device.

Larry got a new Panasonic TV, but it has no analog audio out capability. He has powered speakers and amp that he can plug into, but he has to convert that digital audio signal to analog first. He has a preamp and converter, but it only works if he routes it through the VCR. Leo says this is the reason that people who want home theaters systems buy AV receivers. They can convert and drive multiple sources.

JR has a pair of 20 year old Polk speakers. Leo says that Polk are fantastic speakers. Unfortunately part of the speaker ripped. So he managed to fix it with superglue and then Armor All'd everything and now it looks like new again. Leo says that's a great tip for maintenance to improve the life of your speaker! But what is Amour All anyway?!

Leo believes it may be an issue with the on-board sound card. He could buy a cheap sound card and that would not only give him a better sound, but would eliminate the issue. In fact, a USB sound card would be ideal because they're cheap and because it's outside of the computer.

Leo says that it could be the sound card, and he should try to use a standalone card. If that doesn't work, then try using a USB headphone set and see if that fixes it. Otherwise it could be a driver problem. The power supply can also be the culprit, and Leo thinks that's an underestimated source of common problems in computers.

The nice thing about podcasting is that it's cheap, easy and simple, and all he needs is passion on a particular subject. It's also best to go after a narrow audience instead of trying to get as many people. He also would need to have sufficient audio quality so it's not difficult for people to listen. Other than that, he just wants to communicate his deep knowledge on the subject and his passion for it. He shouldn't expect to make any money though, because that is very rare. He might not even cover his costs.