Connectivity Today RamElectronics.Net

Win an iPod Touch - Contest Ends February 14th!

2012-01-18T09:58:00.006-05:00

Enter today on our homepage for a chance to win an iPod Touch
(Black or White - Your Choice)
New Email Subscribers Only!

Official Contest Rules: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=340992682586745

Hot New Colors For Our I-Extreme Cables!!!!

2011-12-15T10:52:00.006-05:00

Pick a Color! Custom Series iPod, iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch Docking connector cable to 3.5mm (1/8") stereo mini plug, up to 6 feet long. Now in exciting new Colors!

Blue, Green, Pink, Orange and Red,White and Blue!!!!!

Click Here For More Info: http://www.ramelectronics.net/ipod-mp3/ipod-cables/ipod-extreme-series/i-extreme-ipod-docking-to-mini-plug-cable-in-color/prodIFEPDMC.html

Go Wireless with your Audio Connection!!!

2011-11-29T12:01:00.004-05:00

Don't be tied down with wires anymore!!

Listen to iTunes on your headphones wirelessly! Connect your iPod to your stereo or home theater system wirelessly! Connect your Mac or PC to your stereo or home theater system wirelessly! The audio is high quality, noise free and distortion free. Distances of up to 90 feet are possible.

For more info and to view our product line visit us at: http://www.ramelectronics.net/wireless/wireless-audio/c50000-c50002.html

Wired.Com - Ram Hydra Reviewed by GeekDad

2011-10-18T13:17:00.000-04:00

Wired.Com GeekDad
Hydra Cable: Is the “Six Headed Monster of MP3 Cables” Worth the Price?

Brad Moon is a core contributor to wired.com’s GeekDad, newspaper columnist, WFH dad, resident Canuck, camper extraordinaire and frequent reviewer of gadgets, devices and gizmos.

Read his review of the Ram Hydra

How Infrared (IR) is Used in Controllers

2011-09-29T13:50:00.002-04:00

Ever since the first remote controls for televisions came out in the 1950s, mankind has been fascinated with the idea of controlling their television, stereo, VCR, DVD player, and everything else they could without having to get out of their comfortable chairs. Today, we have remote controlled fans, microwaves, lights for our homes, and as soon as somebody figures out how to do it, I'm sure we'll have a
remote controlled device to walk the dog.

Read the full article, here : http://www.ramelectronics.net/ir-extenders.ep

HDMI & DVI Compatibility (New Article)

2011-09-22T11:00:00.002-04:00

HDMI & DVI Compatibility

HDMI is based upon DVI, using the same protocol for transmitting uncompressed video signal. This protocol is called TMDS (Transition Minimized Differential Signaling). What that means for you, as a consumer, is that any device which uses DVI connections can be connected to HDMI connections via a simple adapter. No special electronic wizardry is needed.

To read the complete article, see here :
http://www.ramelectronics.net/hdmi-cables-and-connectors.ep

Introducing... The 6 Headed Monster of an MP3 Cable

2011-09-16T10:37:00.003-04:00

Introducing the Ultimate "do everything" cable for Portable Audio enthusiasts!

What would you pay for a cable that could connect your iPod/iPhone/iPad/MP3 player/laptop to your car stereo or home stereo? A swiss Army knife of a cable? A very high quality one that sounded great and was made in the USA?!

For specs and more info see here : http://www.ramelectronics.net/ipod-mp3/ipod-cables/ram-hydra/prodHYDRA.html

What are All Those Audio/Video Connectors?

2011-09-13T09:48:00.003-04:00

Connecting all that stuff together can be a bit daunting. There are so many types of connectors used for audio and video connections today, that just understanding what they are, let alone where they go, can be a bit of a challenge. Well, we're going to try and debunk some of the myth behind all those connectors, letting you know what they really are and what they really do.

Read our new article to have a better understanding of connecting all of those audio/video connectors, see here :

http://www.ramelectronics.net/av-connectors.ep

Looking for a Digital to Analog Converter and Amplifier with Speaker and Headphone Outputs?

2011-07-18T13:06:00.004-04:00

New! The DAC-AMP20 is a Digital to Analog Converter with Optical and USB Inputs, and an Amplifier with both Headphone and Speaker Outputs. Its perfect for connecting a pair of Stereo Speakers to your computer or for listening to your new TV with digital output over headphones.

Need more info / specs?

See Here : http://www.ramelectronics.net/audio-video/audio-converters-extenders/analog-to-digital-digital-to-analog/dac-amp20/prodDACAMP20.html

What can A/V Baluns do for me?

2011-07-07T11:33:00.002-04:00

What can A/V Baluns do for me? How do the Baluns Work?
Read this article to answer these questions and much, much more ....

Click here to read the full article :
http://www.ramelectronics.net/av-baluns.ep

FACEBOOK, TWITTER, and YOUTUBE!

2011-06-29T14:19:00.003-04:00

Have you become a fan of ours on facebook?
If not, click here :
http://www.facebook.com/RamElectronics.Net

Are you following us on twitter?
If not, click here :
http://twitter.com/#!/RamElectronics

Are you friends with us on youtube?
If not, click here :
http://www.youtube.com/user/RamElectronics

Sign up with us on all 3 sites today and be the first to see our how-to-videos! Be the first to hear about our exclusive discount codes, sweepstakes/give-a-ways and sale items!

Don't miss out, sign up today!

Digital Audio Converters

2011-06-13T09:49:00.000-04:00

Analog to Digital (ADC), and Digital to Analog (DAC) Audio Converters

Why, when and where do you need them?

• You just purchased a new LCD or Plasma TV (Digital Output) and you need to get the sound through your Stereo System (Analog Input)? You need a DAC!

• Your new digital speaker system (Digital Input) won’t work with your old stereo receiver (Analog Output) You need an ADC!

• You have run out of digital inputs on your new home theater system and you want to connect your MP3 player that only has a digital audio output. You need a (DAC)!

What are these things?!

Digital to Analog Audio Converters (DAC's) convert either LPCM or Bitstream digital audio on Coax or Optical Toslink to Stereo Left/Right Audio.

Analog to Digital Audio Converters (ADC's) convert Stereo Left/Right analog audio into LPCM Digital Audio for either Coax or Optical Toslink Input.

Learn More

More about analog and digital audio
Learning Your ADCs and Your DACs(Digital Analog Audio Converters)
Audio - analog and digital
Bitstream vs PCM (LPCM) when using a DAC or in your Home Theater Setup
Common Analog/Digital conversion problems and solutions

Learning Your ADCs and Your DACs

2011-06-01T14:59:00.002-04:00

Learning Your ADCs and Your DACs

Once upon a time, the electronic world was all analog; everything was smooth sailing, with infinite variation between one extreme and the other. Then along came digital. Everything became ones and zeros, on and off, yes or no; no variation, nothing in the middle. The cold world of digital, some called it. Somehow, these two worlds had to come together, they needed a translator, otherwise analog equipment and digital equipment could never talk to each other. That’s where ADCs and DACs come in.

Read the rest of this article about Digital Audio Conversion

Wall Mounting a Flat-Panel Display

2011-05-19T08:44:00.000-04:00

New Article "Wall Mounting a Flat-Panel Display" at RAM site.
Mounting a flat-panel display to your wall is not a difficult task. Most Weekend Warriors can accomplish it with the correct tools, basic handyman skills, and a little planning. Wall mounting is an excellent way to take advantage of the flat screen design to eliminate clutter, obtrusive furniture and hide the cables.

Read Full Article

Line Level Audio Output Connection for iPod/iPhone/iPad

2011-03-22T13:34:00.020-04:00

One of the pleasures in today's hectic world is to sit and enjoy some very good music. The old cliché “ Music soothes the savage beast” is not an understatement. Some of my favorite downtime is spent enjoying one of the 2000+ selections on my iPod. The iPod/iPhone/iPad now allows you to carry your entire music library, if you wish, with you at any time. You are virtually unlimited in your listening experience at all times. However, earphones are not my experience of choice. The iPad is not limited to earphones and by connecting to the docking connector output you can unleash your listening experience.

Connecting to your docking port on your iPod/iPhone/iPad gives you access to an uncompressed music port that will connect to any auto head unit with a 3.5 mm (1/8") auxiliary input, dual left and right RCA's on your home stereo or professional audio XLR’r or ¼" connections on a soundboard or PA system.
You can also import music from your CD collection in a Lossless audio format for true CD quality sound. My Lossless imports on the iPod are limited to only Miles Davis - Kind of Blue and Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters. Lossless uses a lot of memory and Apple's ACC(Advance Audio Coding) is better than the MP3 audio format and sounds pretty good for most music.

Let's get back to connecting your iPod/iPhone/iPad. The docking connector is a true line level connection, which means it is not controlled by your volume and is a steady-state signal. However, equalization settings on the player are still in effect and you can vary the treble and bass, depending on your preference. Of course mine is set for Jazz. At home I use a docking cable with the optional USB cable plugged into an AC outlet to USB 5V adapter for charging. In the car the 3.5 mm (1/8 inch) with optional USB allows charging from the cigarette lighter using USB 5V adapter.

RAM Electronics is now on Facebook !

2011-03-16T15:30:00.000-04:00

RAM Electronics is now on facebook!

Why visit RAM on facebook?

* Be the first to hear about our special promotions and discount codes exclusive to our facebook members.

* Ask us questions on facebook and get quick answers from one of our tech support or customer service team members.

WHAT ARE RAM ELECTRONICS FANS TALKING ABOUT ??
FIND OUT, BECOME A FAN TODAY !!!!

Facebook Link:
http://www.facebook.com/RamElectronics.Net

Wall mounts for Flat Screen Displays

2011-02-28T14:32:00.014-05:00

Wall mounts for Flat Screen Displays

Everywhere you turn there are examples of flat screen displays mounted on a wall, airports, sports bars, restaurants, your buddy's house. They range in size from a small 12 inch LCD to 55 inches Plasma or a newer LED displays, with some weighing over 100 pounds. Plus to complicate the situation, there are just as many variations of mounts available, slim, low-profile, swivel, tilt and adjustable tilt. How do you choose and how much is it going to cost are the two questions asked all the time.

First, let us tackle the question on styles. Choosing the type of mount requires you to take a few factors into consideration. Displays should be viewed at eye level to avoid neck fatigue. When mounting the display above eye level a tilt mount or mounting the display as far from the viewing area as possible is recommended. Distance reduces looking up at a sharp angle. However, for standard tilt mounts as much as 4 inch spacing may be necessary. A corner mount location will require some swiveling and tilting to get the optimal view. Mounting on a wall that can be viewed from the sides require a low-profile mount. This provides a neat side profile view and hides the connections. The newer low-profile mounts only require a 0.31 spacing between the wall and the display. If you are tilting the low profile mount a minimum spacing of 0.75 inches is required between the wall and the display. In addition, some ultra slim low profile mounts have less weight capacities. You want to stay with a high weight capacity fixed or tilt mount for the bigger displays, especially if ultra slim low profile is not a concern.

VESA is a Video Electronics Standards Association, which helps display manufacturers standardize the four holes mounting pattern on the back of the display. Nowadays most manufacturers comply with the standards, but the standard still varies depending on the display size and the manufacturer. Most new displays will comply with VESA whole patterns. The display’s VESA actual requirement is located in the manual.

Wall mounts are constructed from steel. Displays are made from a combination of plastic, metal and electronics. Important because you want the display to stay on the wall, where ever you decide to hang it. Falling of the the wall is not an option. This is not a problem if you attach the mount to the wall properly and the display to the mount properly.

Now that VESA makes it simple to match the display pattern with the proper mount designed, one more critical factor is the display's weight. A steel mount will specify the maximum load weight. As we stated, an average 50-inch displays will weigh 70 to 80 pounds and some older plasmas as much as 100 pounds. Remember the mounts are steel and most will support the weight they are designed to carry. The critical component is the wall and the structure of the wall to support the weight. If you are mounting a heavy display unit on a wall, make sure the wall is structurally sound, follow the mounting directions and you will not have any problems.

Finally, how much should you pay for a wall mount? This will depend on the profile, swivel, and tilt requirements. You do not need a name brand mount, unless you have a specific design problem. These are steel mounts and as long as you matched them to the display’s mounting specifications, adhere to weight limits and install them properly, they will perform as design. So save your money and put the savings into upgrading the display, adding a Blu Ray or surround sound system, which are more important for a full high def experience.

Compression Connectors and Tools

2011-02-18T15:38:00.010-05:00

There are three things you want when installing an audio/video system, so you can get to the job of enjoying the finish results.

1. It should be easy
2. Work properly
3. Last forever, without any problem.

Compression connectors matched with the right coaxial cables are designed to provide all of these.

The connectors are available in three primary styles, which will fit the needs of consumer, professional and commercial applications. RCA connectors are the most common and found on most consumer audio/video electronic products. For broadband and CATV, you will see the F connector. Professional and commercial installations used BNC connectors.

Two types of coaxial cables RG-6 and RG-59 are found in 90% of the installations. Old installs used RG-59 for common house runs. The RG-6 is popular today and my favorite. RG-6 is a 18 gauge single conductor solid or stranded wire. Solid conductors offer the best properties and are easy to use with compression connectors. RG-6 works for audio and video, both digital and the older analog signals. The larger 18 gauge is also good for longer runs.

Terminating RCA's, F’s or BNC connectors to RG-6 is a four step process and requires only three tools, cable cutter, coaxial stripper and a compression crimping tool. A small curved jaw cutter does a nice clean cut without deforming the cable. However, any sharp wire cutters will work that are designed to handle up to 12gauge wire. The coaxial strippers are connector specific and cable specific. Liberty offers a complete CM-TOOL-PAC that includes all the tools with a case for easy storage.

The one piece all metal connectors from Liberty and White Sands Engineering are high quality great value products. They are an all-metal design rugged and can handle tough conditions. Instructions for terminating connectors are simple. Details on terminating the connectors are available online. The Liberty connectors have a nice color-coded feature to allow you to confirm you are using the correct connected with the cable.

Cables made with these connectors and coaxial cable, will work on the following applications left/right audio, composite video, component video, subwoofer, S/PDIF, CATV or HD SDI. In other words they will work for just about every audio or video application you require. What is the down side? None!

On your next electronics install project check out the compression connector products and you will be pleasantly surprised, how easy and fast you will be enjoying your listening or viewing experience and not worrying about problems for years to come.

Digital to Analog - What do I really need ?

2011-01-19T13:18:00.002-05:00

We get many questions a day regarding the differences between part #'s GTVDD2AA & GTVDIGAUD2AAUD. What really is the difference, What do you really need?

Part # GTVDD2AA (the decoder) is the most compatible and takes all of the channels and puts them onto the stereo output. This unit will accept PCM or bitstream.

Part # GTVDIGAUD2AAUD only outputs the two stereo channels onto the two stereo channels. This unit MUST be used with a device that outputs PCM.

PCM Definition: PCM stands for Pulse Code Modulation. PCM technology is a means by which standard audio signals (which are represented by waveforms) are converted to digital audio signals (which are represented by 1's and 0's - much like computer data) with little, or no, compression. The method of audio conversion is used on most digital audio formats, including CDs and DVD-Audio, and is also used to some extent in Blu-ray and HD-DVD applications. The PCM signal is converted back to analog form for distribution to loudspeakers. PCM, although digital in nature, should not be confused with a Dolby Digital or DTS Bitstream, which is compressed, and digitally encoded in a different manner than PCM. However, Dolby Digital and DTS encoded audio signals can be decoded into PCM signals and transferred via HDMI to a growing number of Home Theater Receivers for further processing and amplification. This is common in most Blu-ray and HD-DVD player applications.

Bitstream Definition: A Bitstream refers to binary bits of information (1's and 0's) transferred from one device to another. However, in Home Theater applications, Bitstream refers to a digitally-encoded Dolby Digital or DTS-related compressed audio signal from a source component (such as a DVD, Blu-ray, or HD-DVD player, HD-Cable, or HD-Satellite Box) to a Preamp/Processor (either standalone or built into a Home Theater Receiver) for decoding and distribution to the amplifier stage for final sound reproduction, in analog form, by the loudspeakers. The Bitstream can be sent via Digital Optical, Digital Coaxial, or HDMI interface.

FREE SHIPPING and iPod HD Audio Cable SALE!

2010-11-17T16:40:00.000-05:00

RAM is giving away FREE SHIPPING on ALL Orders* starting TODAY!

Plus, our well reviewed High End iPod/iPhone/iPad Docking connector Audio Cables are on Blowout sale for 3 and 6 foot lengths!

I-Extreme iPod Docking to Mini plug Cable

select

Starting from:

your sale price: : $21.99

Custom Series iPod, iPhone and iPod Touch Docking connector cable to 3.5mm (1/8") stereo mini plug, up to 6 feet long. Super Sale - 3 foot Cable is on SALE for $21.99!

I-Extreme iPod Docking to Stereo RCA Cable

select

Starting from:

your sale price: : $26.99

Custom Series iPod and iPhone Docking connector to Dual RCA, High-quality stereo audio cable, up to 6 feet long*.Super Sale: 6 foot cable is on SALE for $26.99

*(Free Ground Shipping on ALL ORDERS, in Continental USA, Bulk Cable, Antennas and Display Wall Mounts excluded)

WIN an iPod Nano!

2010-10-11T08:18:00.000-04:00

WIN an iPod Nano!

During the month of October, we are giving our customers an opportunity to WIN an Apple iPod Nano and our new iPro RCA combination cable set!!!

Our iPro cables will connect any iPod/iPhone/iPad to most auto, boat or home audio systems. Simply rate us on either Reseller Ratings or Projector Central, enter your order number or just send us an email (no purchase required) and we will automatically enter you into the contest, nothing else is required. The Winner will be announced the first week of November. Here is your opportunity to let us know how we are doing and enter to win a free portable digital audio player package. Rate us on both sites and double your chances to win!

Good Luck!

Sale on our newest HDMI Cables!

2010-09-15T13:42:00.002-04:00

Sale on our newest HDMI Cables!
Our latest version of our acclaimed HDMI Elite Series cables are ready to connect all of your HDMI 1.4 devices. The Perfect choice for the new 3D HDTV's they are optimized for the high bandwidth necessary for 3D applications, and support all HDMI 1.4 features including Ethernet.

Why Silver Plated Copper?
HDMI signals are high frequency large bandwidth video signals. These signals have a characteristic of traveling on the surface of the wire. Silver plating is a better conductor, reduces copper surface oxidization and solders better to a gold contact, since they are both noble metals. Our HDMI cables will perform the same for many years from day one.

Features
·  Solid Conductor for Best Conductivity
·  Silver Plated for the Ultimate in High Frequency Conductivity and non-degradation over time
·  Solid Conductor, Silver Plated on all conductors, not just TMDS pairs,
    for the ultimate in perfectly "timed" cables.
·  Category 2 high speed cable - supports 4k resolution.
·  3D Capable
·  Supports 120, 240 frames per second refresh rate.
·  Tested to 10.2 gigabit bandwidth.
·  Dolby TrueHD , Deep Color and x.v Color spaces - giving billions of colors.
·  Supports Audio return channel
·  Supports Content type
·  Supports Ethernet over HDMI
·  Carefully manufactured to provide consistent Characteristic Impedance
    for short or long cables.
·  The connectors and cables are molded and jacketed for the best long range dependability, rather than appearance.
·  High quality Gold plating on all electrical contacts for long lasting reliability.
·  Tested and certified for HDMI 1.4 compliance.

Check out our new Sale Prices!

Planet Waves Music Cables on Sale now at RAM Electronics

2010-08-25T15:20:00.000-04:00

Planet Waves is well known for their Extremely high quality Music cables and adapters as well as their "Instant Cable System" for making Musical Instrument Cables and Audio/Video Cables.
Planet Waves' acclaimed solderless connector system, famous for its reliability and easy assembly. It's so simple; anyone can do it. Just cut the cable to length, twist on the connector and fasten down the set screw!

Planet Waves Music Cables by D'Addario

CePro: HDBaseT Cat 5 Technology is Useful, but No 'HDMI Killer'

2010-07-20T14:38:00.000-04:00

Great Article on CE Pro Today:

HDBaseT Cat 5 Technology is Useful, but No ‘HDMI Killer’

Great article about HDBaseT and all the hype about it replacing HDMI. Not so fast, there bubba!

Connecting a Camcorder with a DV connector to a Computer

2010-07-13T11:14:00.000-04:00

Support Q&A

I have a camcorder with a little "DV" connector on it. How do I connect it to my computer?

Does your computer have Firewire (IEEE-1394)? That is what you'll need.
The only way to add this to a computer that doesn't have it is by adding an internal PCI or PCI Express cards (for a Desktop) or a PC Card or Express card (for a laptop).
Please see here:
Firewire Cards

If you have Firewire, you'll just need a cable.
The DV connector on a camcorder is always a "4-pin" Firewire connector. On a Desktop, the connector is typically a 6-pin Firewire connector, although new computers may have the 9-pin Firewire 800 connector.
Firewire Cables

Multitrack Tape to Computer Audio

2010-07-12T11:12:00.000-04:00

Support Q&A
Question: What do I need to record mixdowns from my multitrack Tape recorder to my computer to burn DVD's or put on Myspace?

Recording from a Multitrack Tape recorder to a Computer for burning to CD's or uploading to the Internet.

Is your current sound card of good enough quality to capture the recordings from the Tape Deck, or do you need something better? Most built-in sound cards are pretty bad and will effect the distortion and noise levels of your recordings. Of coarse this is the least expensive way to get things connected and start recording.
Cables and adapters:
Most Multitrack Tape Recorders have XLR or 1/4" mixdown outputs, although some use RCA connectors in addition to, or instead.

Stereo 3.5mm to dual 1/4" cables
3.5mm to Stereo RCA cables
1/4" to RCA patch cables

If you were to get an upgrade audio interface, would you want to use USB, Firewire or an internal PCI card?
An internal PCI card is harder to install, of coarse but you get lots of sound quality per dollar. Firewire is usually considered second best, but not all computers have firewire, so that can be a problem. The only way to add firewire is with an internal card. USB audio interfaces can be USB 1.x or USB 2.0 compliant. The more I/O on the box the more you'll need the extra speed of a USB 2.0 device.

Examples of Audio Interfaces:

USB:
M-Audio Fast Track USB
M-Audio Mobile Pre USB

Firewire:
M-Audio FireWire Solo
M-Audio Firewire 410
Presonus FireStudio Mobile

PCI:
M-Audio Audiophile 2496
M-Audio Audiophile 192

All these interfaces come with "Light" versions of software that should handle any kind of basic recording from Stereo Sources like tape decks.
Most Multitrack Tape recorders also have pre-mix outputs for each channel. If you want to capture all of those tracks discreetly, so you can mix and manipulate tracks individually on the computer, then you need a more expensive audio interface with four or more Inputs and Outputs.
Note: The amount of Inputs and Outputs advertised for audio interfaces is very often confusing and misleading. Check to make sure the interface actually physically has the number of inputs and outputs of the actual type you need!

iPRO Link - New Pro series Cables for iPad, iPod or iPhone!

2010-06-30T15:58:00.001-04:00

Introducing our new iPRO Link Series of iPad, iPod and iPhone cables

The all new High Definition Audio Cable series from RAM Electronics!

The iPRO Link Line is a modular Professional line of cables with locking replaceable ends that allow you to switch between 3.5mm Stereo mini plug, Dual RCA, Dual 1/4" phone plugs, and dual XLR plugs. Perfect for connecting to Studio or PA mixing boards, DJ Gear, Home Recording Equipment, Guitar Amps, Radio/TV Station equipment, or your Car!

The iPRO Link series is the most versatile connection system for getting Audio out of your iPad/iPod/iPhone on the Planet!

Available in both USB Sync and charge versions and Standard version.

iPRO Link Standard

iPRO Link USB Sync and Charge

iPRO Link Adapters:

iPRO Link Series cables

New HDMI Cables for 3D and Ethernet

2010-06-16T17:49:00.001-04:00

In stock and shipping!

HDMI High Speed Cables with Ethernet are 3D Ready

Our latest version of our acclaimed HDMI Elite Series cables are ready to connect all of your HDMI 1.4 devices. The Perfect choice for the new 3D HDTV's they are optimized for the high bandwidth necessary for 3D applications, and support all HDMI 1.4 features including Ethernet.

Why Silver Plated Copper?
HDMI signals are high frequency large bandwidth video signals. These signals have a characteristic of traveling on the surface of the wire. Silver plating is a better conductor, reduces copper surface oxidization and solders better to a gold contact, since they are both noble metals. Our HDMI cables will perform the same for many years from day one.

Features
•  Solid Conductor for Best Conductivity
•  Silver Plated for the Ultimate in High Frequency Conductivity and non-degradation over time
•  Solid Conductor, Silver Plated on all conductors, not just TMDS pairs,
    for the ultimate in perfectly "timed" cables.
•  Category 2 high speed cable - supports 4k resolution.
•  3D Capable
•  Supports 120, 240 frames per second refresh rate.
•  Tested to 10.2 gigabit bandwidth.
•  Dolby TrueHD , Deep Color and x.v Color spaces - giving billions of colors.
•  Supports Audio return channel
•  Supports Content type
•  Supports Ethernet over HDMI
•  Carefully manufactured to provide consistent Characteristic Impedance
    for short or long cables.
•  The connectors and cables are molded and jacketed for the best long range dependability, rather than appearance.
•  High quality Gold plating on all electrical contacts for long lasting reliability.
•  Tested and certified for HDMI 1.4 compliance.

High Speed HDMI with Ethernet Cable , Elite Series

"Deal of the Day"

2010-05-24T13:03:00.000-04:00

This week the "Deal of the Day" is a free HDMI cable with ALL wall mounts.

Just choose your Wall Mount and order it and we'll also send you a free HDMI 1.3 High Speed Cable!

Connectivity Today RamElectronics.Net: MOTHERS' DAY RAFFLE

2010-05-07T13:17:00.000-04:00

Connectivity Today RamElectronics.Net: MOTHERS' DAY RAFFLE

A commitment To Our Cause

At home or in the workplace change is a fact of life and how we choose to respond to it determines our personal and professional growth. We can't deny the fact that this disease is affecting one in eight women in the US alone. This our cause, this is RAM's cause, please participate. We need you.
I really believe that the depth of our passion and commitment determines the intensity of our involvment.
On the note I want to leave you with this poem....

Will

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,
Can circumvent or hinder or control
The firm resolve of a determined soul.
Gifts count for nothing; will alone is great;
All things give way before it, soon or late.
What obstacle can stay the mighty force
Of the sea-seeking river in its course,
Or cause the ascending orb of day to wait?

Each well-born must win what it deserves.
Let the fool prate of luck. The fortunate
Is he whose earnest purpose never swerves,
Whose slightest action or inaction serves
The one great aim. Why, even Death stands still,
And waits an hour sometimes for such a will.

Ella Wheeler
American Poet
1850-1919

A passionate and committed member of the RAM team.

Audioengine P4 speaker review

2010-05-06T21:54:00.000-04:00

A tiny little Monster

Unlike the most well known Audioengine speakers, the P4's are not self powered speakers. They are tiny, 9" high, 5-1/2" wide and 6-1/2" deep. They are two way and have a 4" Kevlar Mid/Woofer and 3/4" silk dome tweeter. That's tiny for "Real" speakers, large for computer speakers and about average for those "home theater in a box" speakers. Since they aren't self-powered it would seem their market is NOT computer speakers, but rather replacements for "home theater in a box" speakers, or stereo or home theater speakers for smaller rooms. You could get 4 of them and a subwoofer and have a nice surround sound system for small rooms. Unfortunately, you can't buy a single speaker to use as a center. So other than the above conjecture, your ideas are as good as mine as to what market they are selling to. They are available in Black, White and a very nice Bamboo finish.

The Test Setup

I am an anomally, a weirdo, a freekazoid, a wackjob, a "dork" (per Val) so I use small, "high end" mini monitors (Reference 3A Dulcet's) and a Denon AVR-3805 Receiver in my computer setup. For most people, that would seem, cough, cough, a wee bit excessive. The Dulcet's go for about $1799 new, the 3805 went for about $1200. Not exactly typical for a computer setup, but I LOVE my music, and spend a LOT of time on the computer, so hey, I'm a happy dork.

The rest of the test setup is iTunes using music recorded as "wav" files (not MP3 or Apple "lossless") a Presonus Firestudio mobile Audio interface, and, if you must know, Jon Risch style 89259 speaker cables with WBT connectors.

So, I just unplugged the Dulcet's and plugged in the P4's and started listening. I did no measurements on these speakers.

Listening

Well, there is a lot of detail going on here. They sound very clear and natural. The silk dome tweeter is very nice, detailed, smooth and non-fatiguing. The 4" kevlar mid/woofer is also very good, detailed and smooth. The combination is excellent. While there seems to be a "detail" peak in the 4KHz range, most "audiophiles" like that, although clarinets and alto saxes could get a bit annoying with some recordings. Just a little bit too much upper/mid treble peakiness for me. It could just be the recordings themselves, though. Of course this is compared to much more expensive speakers, anyway. Compared to similar speakers? Yes, you can get "smoother" speakers, but in this price range, you will most likely lose something. For the most part Sax and strings were gorgeous. It may just be a slight crossover imperfection (most speakers have those, right?) or maybe something to do with the recessed tweeter. I assume the tweeter is recessed in a "horn like" fashion for better sensitivity rating, but dispersion and imaging would have improved with flush mounting. A 3/4" tweeter could have dispersed very well at a much higher frequency than the usual 1" tweeter which tends to "crash" dispersion wise at about 10KHz. Flush mounted, this tweeter with the nice rounded edges of the cabinet could have even better imaging. Of course, that's a pet peive of mine with todays speakers, that I tend to over emphasize. (see the "dork" reference above) Overall, the imaging was really, really good. Far better than most speakers anywhere nearr this price.

The bass is very well defined and seems to get much lower than possible for speakers this size. I had assumed before that the Audioengine powered speakers did a lot of eq to get the bass response that they have, but perhaps it's just excellent speaker design? The bass output they do have is quite wonderful. They certainly seem relatively flat in the bass, no big 100-120Hz hump like you hear in most lesser speakers of this size and price. They also get down well under 100Hz with great effect and cleanliness, which is pretty rare for drivers this size. They are rated as 58Hz-22KHz, and that is quite believevable. The Caveat is that speakers this size cannot deliver low bass into any room that is not very small. As near field monitors you can hear their lower notes, but in a normal sized room, they quite simply can't properly "load the room". So, don't expect low frequency bass if you have anything but a small room. Sensitivity is 88dB (2.83v@1m) which is a little bit low, so they do take a bit of power to drive them. On the other hand, they are very small, so they get a bit compressed sounding if you push them too loud in "full range" speaker mode. String bass sounded extremely nice and believable without a sub woofer. In a larger room, I'd cross them over at 80Hz, to a nice sub, or even 100Hz, if you need higher volume levels. Of course, you can only get so loud with these "micro monitors" even with a big Sub. The drivers are not made for "concert" sound levels, and will dynamicly compress and get a bit strident if pushed too hard. If you need loud volumes, you need bigger speakers. If you have a large room, you should get bigger speakers. I did get the chance to listen to these with and without a subwoofer in a reasonably large room, and they sounded quite good. Cranking things up to extremes didn't work so well, they just couldn't get extremely loud, but at reasonable volumes, they will work quite well as fronts or rears.

Conclusion

At a $249 price, these speakers deliver a lot. Lots of other good brand name speakers deliver more loudness and more bass at this price, but very, very few deliver the intriguing mix of "high end" detail, and real, organic listenability that these offer. They are not speakers for AC/DC fans, but if you like to hear music that sounds as "real" as possible at reasonable levels in a smaller sized room, they are really quite good at that. Used as up close, "near field monitors" like in my setup, they are really very good. I already have way too many speakers in this place, but I don't see sending these back. The more I listen to them with different listening material, the more I like them. They were never on my "bucket list" like LS3/5A's or WATT/PUPPY's or other high end wonders, but they are a fun little speaker that sounds pretty amazing in the right way for me, "el dorko".

Link to more info

*Note: Ram Electronics is a Reseller for Audioengine speakers. The speakers were purchased after being returned rather than on loan for review. The author says he will cuss out anyone suggesting he is being impartial. But, then he's a wimp so don't worry about it... Have at it!

MOTHERS' DAY RAFFLE

2010-05-06T13:52:00.003-04:00

PLEASE PURCHASE A FEW TICKETS FOR OUR MOTHERS' DAY RAFFLE.

PROCEED TO BENEFIT OUR ANNUAL CANCER SOCIETY FUND RAISING.

RAFFLE WILL TAKE PLACE ON FRIDAY MAY 7TH.

Shipping to Canada

2010-05-05T14:36:00.002-04:00

Are you new to online shopping? If you are on the Canadian side of the border and thinking of shopping on U.S. sites, hidden costs may catch you by surprise. There are things you should check before you place the order:

First of all, check if the site offers international shipping or at least shipping to Canada. There is nothing more irritating than going through an e-commerce site, filling your shopping cart and then discovering that the vendor does not ship outside the US. RAM offers international shipping including Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Secondly, check the company's terms and condition for international shipping, returns and exchanges. The shipping charges or method of shipments (UPS or USPS) are not the total shipping cost you have to pay to get the product across the border. Import duties, taxes, and brokerage fees are not included in the product price or shipping cost. These fees are the responsibility of the recipients as the company only charges for transportation and it will be collected upon delivery of the package. If you have specific questions about Canadian customs and duties, please contact a Canada Border Services Agency office or the Border Information Service.
You can also check UPS and USPS for import duties, taxes and brokerage fees. RAM offers two methods of shipping USPS and UPS. RAM also offers 30 days return and exchange policy if you are not completely satisfied with the product.
Be sure to follow these basic steps to avoid any frustration and have a pleasant shopping experience.

What Women Want

2010-05-03T10:25:00.002-04:00

Welcome to the great post-feminist age, where it’s OK to admit that men and women are different. In fact, they’re from separate planets. Here’s the problem: even if you buy into the whole Mars/Venus thing, nobody has explained how to get a Venusian into a Martian cave. (Or how to get her to approve buying a home theater system for the cave. Or for the cave’s living room.)

According to Hollywood’s market research, women are the primary decision makers for choosing which movies a couple sees. Similarly, women are the primary decision makers when renting home videos. On average, women spend more time per week watching prerecorded movies than men. And, while I don’t have poll numbers to back this up, I’ve found women to be extremely passionate about movies because I am a women – they bet in office Oscar pools, wear fashions set by movie stars, and memorize lines from The Princess Bride.

Women ought to be natural home theater fans. Right ?!?!?!

Obviously, something is keeping them back.

That "something" statistically is generally the following three (3) things:

1) Money :

There is no economic argument for a decent home theater. Do not try to make one. Even if you need to hire a babysitter, live 100 miles from the nearest SuperMegaPlex, and tickets there cost $10 each, it’s still less expensive to go out than to buy a surround sound system. Even if you go every week. For years.

However, just because a home theater is not a necessity does not make it difficult to justify. With the latest digital technology, your home can provide a better picture and superior sound to what you get at an average movie theater. But you don’t have to leave the house – or even put on shoes. You can pause the movie to go to the bathroom. There are no noisy teenagers ruining the experience (unless they happen to be yours). You can turn down the volume. You can turn UP the volume. You can watch material the SuperMegaPlex would never show.

2) Technology :

Whoa – hold on. When I said, “With the latest digital technology, your home can provide a better picture and superior sound to what you get at an average movie theater,” that’s it. That’s all the information most woman want about the technology. That the experience it will provide will likely be better than a typical movie theater. Women are not interested in technology per se, they’re interested in the benefits it provides.

3) Space :

The rule of thumb here is that women and men see space differently – women want a room to be either a living room OR a home theater – not both at the same time. Sure, a man may think that the most important function of the living room is to serve up generous portions of Spielberg, but women need the room to function as a living room. If you dedicate a separate room to A/V entertainment, those objections should be mitigated somewhat .........

In conclusion, stop talking about the technology, start talking about immersion. If you primarily want a big screen TV for football, consider how a woman might appreciate the larger screen size for watching movies.

Finally, don’t demo the technology! Most demo material used to show off home theater equipment alternates between explosions, car chases, explosions, science fiction, and explosions. Where's the Tom Cruise? Romantic comedies? It’s true that Tom Cruise saying "You complete me" while "Secret Garden" plays on the soundtrack (in Jerry Maguire) doesn't show off the subwoofer as well as meteors taking out Paris (in Armageddon) – but it is an impressive, immersive experience. The Titanic DVD isn’t enhanced for widescreen displays – but it’s a powerful, popular film.

So maybe..... by thinking about "what women want" ... you may actually get "what you want" ...

HDMI 1.4

2010-04-29T14:11:00.003-04:00

I have received a lot of questions about HDMI 1.4, so I wanted to give a little information. HDMI is the newest version of HDMI that offers more benefits than the previous HDMI 1.3.
First, the newest version of the HDMI has the added ethernet channel. This allows for streaming from ethernet capable devices to the display. It will send the information at 100 mbps.
Second, it will support the new 3D tvs and players. Also, HDMI 1.4 supports resolutions into the 4Kx2K. Or put into regular numbers, 3840x2160 and 4096x2160. This resolution is much better than the 1080p that is very popular now. However, there are no sources that will output that resolution at the moment. On that note, it is capable of better color space. This will allow for more lifelike colors and deeper blacks.
Lastly, HDMI 1.4 has been feild tested against vibration, noise, weather, and heat. Therefore, it will be suitable to put into the car! This will allow for higher resolution monitors and screens.
Basically, HDMI 1.4 is better than the last versions of HDMI. At least for now. Given the previous versions only lasting 6 months before something new rolled out, we will have to see. But for now, I think that HDMI 1.4 is a safe bet and will continue to be used for a long time.

HDTV Video Connections or why is everyone fat on My TV?

2010-04-27T13:35:00.008-04:00

Part III
The Final Frontier
A few light years ago, we started to explain some of the small nuisances associated with HDTV, resolutions, scaling, connections, and a plethora of raw details that were fascinating and others plain boring. It is time to close this topic and move on to more interesting subjects, ie HDTV tuning and recording on your PC using Vista Media Center and Windows 7. You just can’t wait, neither can we, but let’s finish the business at hand.
Everyone is fat on your HDTV and disproportionately wide because you are not viewing a high definition program formatted properly. Your TV or set-top cable/satellite box is taking a standard definition 4:3 ratio signal and stretching it across your 16:9 ratio HDTV’s screen. This is distorting the picture content and one of the more heinous problems when viewing SDTV(Standard Definition) on a HDTV(High Definition) systems. Sounds like a bunch of perversion or STD’s(set-top diseases, got you!), it is. Some of you are paying for HDTV program and only viewing SDTV. How do your cure this without killing the HDTV? It is sometimes easy and some times impossible.
Let’s dive into our most recent example. Comcast Cable broadcast their HDTV channels in the 200-channel range. SDTV is below the 200 range and some are above 300. All my HDTV channels, when not broadcasting HDTV programs are proportional and correctly formatted to 4:3 with black side panels, as they should, since this is a digital HDTV signal. When tuned below the 200 channel all the pictures stretch to fit the screen. This is one of those aggravating big brother cable company problems, which you have to tolerate. The HDTV then actives the scaling that stretches a SDTV 4:3 picture to fit the 16:9 screen.

How do you fix this problem? On some set-top box, you can set the box to output 480i, 480p, 1080i or 720p. This sound like a good idea, but don’t. Setup the box to output the native channel resolution or pass-thru. The electronics in most new HDTV’s are far superior to the set-top box and does a better scaling job then any set-top box. If the picture has to stretch to fill, it will be a better stretch. ESPN, ABC and Fox HDTV broadcast fast action sports and use 720p, for better image performance. You will want these channels in the native 720p. How can you tell if your set-top is native? When you changing channels you will get a slight hesitation as the HDTV’s scaling adjust. You can also press display on your TV’s remote control to check the channels resolution. If any of your 720p channels are at a different resolution other than 720p, your set-top is scaling. Contact your HDTV provider and get them to set-up for pass-.thru.

One other thought on the situation, if you are not using a component video or HDMI connection from your set-top box or DVD player you can not get a high-definition picture. See our connection guide on all the types of video connection options available.

http://www.ramelectronics.net/howto-av.ep

Finally, with all the programming available online many are connecting their PC’s to the HDTV. This is simple if you have VGA or HDMI outputs from your computer and matching VGA or HDMI connections on your HDTV. A cable connection will be sufficient. However, if the outputs and inputs are different types or resolutions, there are a number of converter options available for matching the two, but we will save that for another discussion.

Reseller's / Installers

2010-04-26T16:45:00.004-04:00

Happy Monday

Just wanted to take the time to introduce to myself. My name is Valerie and I am a customer service rep at RAM Electronics who works closely with our Reseller's and Installers - locally (Cinnaminson, NJ) and nationwide.

We offer:

Discounted Dealer/Installer Pricing
Blind Drop shipping to site
Full Online Account Management and/or phone purchase orders to approve term accounts
Order History
Custom Cables,Wall Plates and Cable Harnesses made to your Specs with deep Discounts
Design assistance and technical support

If you are a reseller / installer and are not yet set up with us. Please visit the following link: http://www.ramelectronics.net/reseller.ep
and fill out our application and send over with a copy of your resale certificate to my attention via fax or email.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any or all of your connectivity needs.

Thanks for taking the time to read - happy blogging

Email: valerie@ramelectronics.net
Fax: 856-786-2244

audioengine W2

2010-04-26T10:27:00.003-04:00

I had the opportunity to play with Audioengine W2 Premium Wireless Adapter this weekend. This device allows you to use your iPod/iPhone for total wireless music control. The beauty of this device is in its ease of use and the fantastic sound quality. The setup couldn't be simpler. You plug the sender unit into your ipod/iphone, then plug the receiver into the audio inputs on your music system then turn on your ipod/iphone. Within 30 seconds the sender and receiver find each other and you can now choose your song or playlist.

The W2 uses Wi-Fi technology to deliver the signal without any dropouts, static or interference. The sound quality was as good as when my iPod/iphone was connected to my system with cables, but I had the advantage of being able to wander about my living room without being tethered to my stereo system. I was even able to sit on my front porch and change my music selections! The advertised range for the W2 is 30ft, but this may vary depending on walls and other variables. Although the W2 does not advertise that it will work with the iPhone, I had not problems with the setup except for the annoying warning that "this device is not designed to work with the iPhone".

My overall impression for the Audioengine W2 Premium Wireless Adapter was excellent. If you're looking for a device that will allow you to play your iPod or iPhone through your music system wirelessly, this is the device to get.

2010 KICK-OFF CAMPAIGN

2010-03-24T16:55:00.004-04:00

The time has come to begin our fund raising efforts for the year 2010.

a team leader and team members need to be identified
a Goal needs to be established and communicated
fund raising concepts need to be conceptualized and planned

I suggest that we have next week designated as our Kick-Off Week. Have a Theme of Easter or better yet Spring. Raffle off a small item per day, a nice set of Easter Mugs, a garden tools, etc. An then 1 Big Basket on Thursday.

In closing, we raised $2435.15 in 2009.

Mac Mini to 1080i HDTV Issues

2010-02-02T10:54:00.002-05:00

[We like add answers to some anonymous support questions to our blog, when we feel they might be helpful to others.]

Support Question:
"I am trying to connect my Mac Mini to my 1080i HDTV. The results are terrible with poor resolution and huge overscan. Any ideas?"

Answer:
OK, this could be one of several things. I think the TV is unhappy with the resolution being sent by the Mac Mini.
First of all the Mac mini has come with a variety of video graphics "chipsets" from ATI. Nvidia and Intel. Which chipset you have determines which HDTV friendly resolutions are available. If your has the Intel embedded graphics chipset, you may have no good choices.
Second, you mention your TV is 1080i compatible, but don't mention 720p. Is it compatible with 720p?
Displaying computer images is always best with progressive scan mode, the "p" in 1080p, rather than interlaced, the "i" in 1080i.
So, if the TV is OK with a 720p signal, you should try setting the Mac Mini's resolution to 1280x720@60Hz. That should be acceptable to a 720p capable TV.
If the TV only likes 1080i (and lower resolutions like 480i/480p) then you should try seeing if there is an updated driver you can download for your Mini's graphics chipset. ATI and Nvidia probably have decent 1080i resolution options with overscan control settings. If you still can't get things perfect there's "switchresx" which can sometimes help.
If your Mac Mini has the Intel graphics chip, then you may be stuck with using 480p with your current TV.

CES 2010 South Hall

2010-01-09T19:00:00.005-05:00

Some Mainstream and obscure products not having to do with 3D!

Elite Screens had some nice electric "pop up" screens with or without wood cabinets. With twin 2.35:1 and 16:9 format solutions, IR, RF and remote control. A very "installer friendly company, offers minimal non-finished versions of the cabineted version.

Mocomtech Co, LTD, had a 20 gain screen on display!
It was angled down a bit to avoid the lighting, but still pretty impressive.

This Wireless ipod dock and speaker combo, weird as it looks, sounded pretty good! I can't find my information on it's manufacturer, but if you see it in a store, don't run away, give it a listen.

Blue showed off their wonderful line of Microphones, including their USB Mic.

Audioengine showed off their fabulous line of speakers and wireless audio devices as well as a new mini amplifier available in March. Knowing them it will sound fantastic and will be a perfect match for their non-powered speakers. We'll have that available on the RAM website as soon as it is available.

Cables Unlimited unveiled a new series of iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry Bold and Storm Combo Battery Cases that should have a very nice sale price that will give you the battery life you need at a price point that can't be beat! They also have a new Wireless A/V adapter set for PC to TV (HDMI) or Monitor (VGA) connections all in one device. We'll have these available on the RAM site ASAP.

Gefen who has 3 Wireless HDMI solutions to fit your needs, debuted their new installer centric Toolbox lineup of distribution solutions with a new look and very installer friendly design. They had, as usual a multitude of new products including Speakers(!), a volume stabilizer, an HDMI audio decoder to both S/PDIF and Toslink with 6 discreet analog audio outputs as well. Plus much, much more. Of coarse we'll have these available on the RAM site as soon as they are available.

Asus booth was huge again this year. Being a big Asus fan I always browse around a bit. Everyone has touch screens all over the place this year and Asus, of course had a wide variety. I could not find a netbook with a larger than 1024 horizontal resolution, which is what I want. I know you need a certain screen size for higher resolutions, but the websites and apps I want to run require at least 1280 horizontal resolution so I don't have to scroll. They did have a nice, light "laptop" with 1366 horizontal resolution with long battery life. Works for me!

Asus also had a "Bravo" Media Center video card that seems perfectly designed for HTPC use with built in video transcoding for ipod or PSP as well as multiple modes for Theater, Gaming, Pictures and "auto" with Ambient light sensing! I'll certainly be looking into this one for my own HTPC.

CES 2010 Conclusion?
There was plenty more to see, but there are certainly many sites covering all the big names. There was significant "shrinkage" this year. No Sands convention center. The South hall was smaller. There were still pretty big crowds at times this year but not as big as usual. People are scaling back still on large purchases and with 3D on the horizon, they may use that as a pretty darn good excuse for putting them off a bit longer. Until the dust sttles and the 3D scenario is clearer for the average person to grasp, I don't see a lot of people rushing out and buying new "Primary" displays. Seems like everyone is looking for any quick cheap fix they can find for now, and pushing out major purchases into the future. More and more people may minimalise their cable/satellite subscriptions and find solutions for living off online content. That means even more PC/Mac to TV solution opportunities for resellers. While it may seem like TV vendors can keep pushing built-in solutions on TV's, with 3D looming, consumers may opt for add-on's for their current TV's rather than buying new displays except for secondary usage. At least that's my takeaway from this 2010 CES.

Panasonic 3d demo CES 2010

2010-01-08T23:36:00.004-05:00

I waited in line for quite some time. Thank the smart phone gods for me having the ability to sit and read on and on about the Eagles/Cowboys upcoming game and the possible total meltdown of the entire city of Philadelphia if the Eagles don't find some miracle way to come back and beat the Cowboys who are playing about as well as any team in the NFL, except, perhaps the Chargers. Sorry for bringing it up, but this is playoff time. HDTV's are partly as popular as they are in this country due to FOOTBALL. I'm pretty sure the top 3 HDTV sales spikes are: right before the football season, Christmas time (er, "holiday time?) , and Super Bowl time (not in order). 3D is going to need Football as well, so NOT sorry for going off topic.
Anyway....
Finally, I got in there to see this, the most hyped 3D demo at CES. Missed it last year.
The beginning is pretty much a Panasonic feel good promo thingy, which is ok, I mean they put a LOT of money into this setup. Then came the clips. And, well, they were at times scarily impressive. I mean weirdly, freekily like being there. At other times, and I mean this changed from moment to moment, they were less impressive. Sometimes showy. Sometimes gave you that 3d cardboard cutout in front of other stuff in the background kind of feeling. But then, suddenly, there was a 3D landscape right in front of you that looked so real! It was slightly annoying that it was not quite as seemless as it could have been. But they were jumping around from impressive clip to slightly less impressive clip to amazing, etc. Overall I was very impressed. Some clips were more impressive than Avatar in 3D iMax. Some quite a bit less.
The worst part of this for me was after leaving. What if my polarized glasses were messing things up! Oh no! I should look into that! I started looking at my own perspective of 3D in actual real life. Hmmmm, how much depth perspective do I see in those people across the street? Jeez, they look a bit flat from here.... Depth perception goes only so far, and I certainly need a new glasses prescription... My reality 3D is no good! Wow, these waitresses at burger bar look very 3D up close! Not as much from a distance... Somebody needs to 3D video record these waitresess so I can compare!
OK, you get the picture. I have some issues....
Still, I am sold. I want to see the next Eagles Superbowl in 3D. Of course by then they may have some new ultra-hyper-reality type thing with my luck. Thankfully the Phillies in another world series would look great in 3D. Unfortunately there are no cheerleaders in baseball...

CES 2010 Day 1 - 3D Heaven and Hell and Toshiba's revenge?

2010-01-08T00:39:00.005-05:00

CES 2010 Day 1
3D Heaven and Hell and Toshiba's revenge?

Central Hall

3D is everywhere this year, from the big booths to the smaller ones. It's almost scary. It seemed like every major display manufacturer had a 3D demo, some quite impressive, some more or less pretty good, and some pretty boring. 3D glasses of many types are all over the place. Expensive shutter types on chains or other tethers, plainer polarized glasses, and real cheap cardboard ones depending on the 3D technology used for the demo. In the 3D area in the back of the hall as well as at interspersed throughout the hall there were other 3D demos, some good, some bad, and some downright silly.

My first 3D was from JVC in their DiLA Theater. The first was, a fantastic looking clip from Couples Retreat. Then some 4k video clips that looked great, but were rather boring. Then came 3D glasses time for a a very impressive 3D short.

Panasonic's 3D Theater line was too long, so I'll try to catch it later. They did have a nice boot with an amazing 145"(?) Plasma that was pretty amazing. They were focusing on showing their gains or (losses?) in creating lower power consuming plasmas.

LG's booth was very impressive, as usual, a huge video wall greeted you, the most impressive video wall type thing I think I have seen. They had a great booth. I should have taken pictures!

Sharp has a new line of Quad pixel - RGB+Y (yellow) LCD technology. I'd like to get to the bottom of that. No time now.

They also had a interesting demo of their new UV2A panels showing why they have whiter whites and blacker blacks. I'm pretty sure other variations on this theme exist with other manufacturers.

Toshiba

Toshiba is pushing their new "Cell TV's" which are 3D ready, but also have built-in technology to take standard TV and convert it to 3D with a click of your remote. While having a very fast cell processor in the TV surely has lots of varied advantages, what strikes me is the whole "easiness" of having 3D conversion of standard TV built into the TV for the mass market. Many people are going to be so overwhelmed at the thought of new source devices, new source discs, new TV's that have to be compatible and the complications and stress that all of that entails, they are quite likely to say, "hey, all I need is this Toshiba TV and some glasses and I've got 3D?, screw that other stuff!". The demo, was from demo material and not actually working prototypes, or so they said, but it was interesting enough, if not nearly as good as the "real thing". Still it seems they are onto something here. Keep it simple, stupid. And the masses may follow?

Fujifilm had a 3D picture demo and 3D digital picture frame demo, which was, er, 3D.

There were some awful 3D things to be found as well, usually with very nice, actual 3 dimensional booth babes helping out with the demonstration or sales.

Intel previewed their new line of Core Processors, i3, i5, and i7. Can't wait to see some benchmarks!

Venetian High End Audio and THE Show High End Audio

Venetian High End Audio

I usually wait until my ears bounce back from the torture of flying to check out the high end audio, but I have a tight schedule this year, and had to squeeze things in when I could. So from the central hall I got a quick lunch and hit the Venetian to listen to some high end audio. I generally only talk about the speakers I listen to since talking about the Amps, Dacs, CD or LP record players would just get silly, especially since I only get a few hours to enjoy listening, and want to listen to a lot of lovely speakers.
A couple of things always bother me when trying to listen and compare things. The listening material is always picked out to show off certain aspects of the system, and in most rooms they are trying to push how "detailed" the system is. Things often sound like someone threw an equalizer in there with the 3kHz-4kHz frequency spectrum boosted. I am sure it's often just the CD's or LP's they pick out to play, but it's annoying that I listen to speakers that should sound great, and very smooth and musical, but they seem a bit too detailed and unnaturally so. Sometimes I think they might go overboard on cables and use them as filters, but this seems a poor explanation since it seems quite impossible to make a cable that acts as a finely tuned bandpass filter with slopes and shelves built in. OK, enough of that silly thought. On to it.

Scaena had a wonderful "Line Source" speaker (and I'm always a sucker for a line source) that were awesomely detailed (of course) but they positively seemed to "Yank" me into the music. I remember extremely good, articulate bass, but I don't remember much low bass, but they were absolutely lovely in the sweet spot, really involving. No idea what they cost, but it can't be less than what I currently owe for my condo. Quite nice looking as well to me, but WAF appeal for a big speaker like this is tricky!

Electrocompaneit speakers from Norway had nice, custom, top of the line Scanspeak and Seas drivers and sounded very impressive, but I couldn't get into the music. Why do Europeans always have some completely different music esthetic that us dull, cro magnon Americans just can't get into? I hear so many nice speakers with weird music. I mean, how about some "normal music" like Tom Waits? (haha) Plus, a name that is a little easier to deal with would be nice. Still, I hope to see a review, they are a very well made speaker.

QUAD - I always go to this room and it always makes me want them.

THE SHOW

How weird is it that the first amazing thing I came across at a high end audio show was an amazing Projector screen? DNP Screens (www.dnpscreens.us) had an amazing demo of a very nice, large Projector screen that looked absolutely unbelievable in an obscenely well lit big room with no seeming ill effects. Not washed out in the least. Check them out for the technology involved. Although, the idea of the technology is just that, a technology idea, that they pull it off so amazingly well with a real product? Priceless!!! Plus, even better still, the price is only incrementally higher than than what you would pay for a similar screen size of high quality. I'm not kidding to say that I was shocked by this demo.

Magnepan
As a Maggie lover and owner, I like to see what's new in the Magnepan universe. I got to listen to the new MG1.7 demo with the gorgeous and impressive CCR center channel. Quite an amazing demo. Something seems impossible about the tweeter in the 1.7. Of coarse something always sounds so impossibly "real" when it comes to maggies. It's a stunning looking speaker as well, with a new, sharper look from the 1.6QR. Around $2k.

I also heard the mini Magnepans which absolutely blew me away. As a computer desktop speaker or small system speaker for small rooms or low volumes it is that real magnepan "big sound" in a very small overall form factor.

Electrostatic Speakers from Sanders Sound Systems. Very big and loud Electrostatic System from Roger Sanders. Very impressive volume. Electrostatic detail. Well matched with dynamic bass driver for lows. Impressive demo, but I would have liked to hear some music I was familiar with.

Reference 3A - Big fan, I am. I have Dulcets. Heard the new Grand Veenas. Strange old 60's tune, sounded absolutely fantastic. I can't help feeling that their big speakers don't image quite like the Dulcets (what does?) because of their big, broad surfaces. I should have stuck around for more but I desperately needed a Margarita immediately!

Super Sale on our Custom made iPod/iPhone Cables

2009-12-16T16:55:00.004-05:00

We are having our first sale ever on our custom made in the USA iPod/iPhone eXtreme series Cables!
These might make a nice Holiday gift for anyone who enjoys listening to their iPod/iPhone and wants the best sound quality possible. They are 100% compatible with any iPod or iPhone with a Docking connector. They come in many different versions. With Mini plugs for car "Aux" port connections, with dual RCA's for Home Stereo Connections, and our latest includes USB for Syncing and Charging.

Features:

• Silver plated Teflon insulated conductors to limit negative effects of oxidation
• Dual, Tight Twisted Pairs for superior noise free performance
• Extremely low Capacitance for excellent frequency response
• All contacts are Professionally Silver Soldered with medical grade silver solder
• Quality Neutrik mini Connector with Gold Plating
• Strong Strain Relief on both ends for durability
• Techflex Jacket

Get them before the sale ends!

Black Friday Begins Today at RAM Electronics!

2009-11-18T19:30:00.005-05:00

Black Friday Deals every Day at RAM!
We are starting Black Friday early. Starting today we are offering great deals on Cables, accessories, and other products.

Get them while they last. All deals are for a limited time only. Once they're gone they're gone!
Stock up now on cables if you're getting a new HDTV, Home Theater system or Blu Ray Player over the holidays. Let RAM hook you up!

Link:
Black Friday Deals page

IR Distribution/Sticking it to Comcast

2009-11-11T09:10:00.003-05:00

I just finished installing the Calrad 92-160 IR Distribution System and I couldn't be happier.
My goal wast to extend my Comcast cable box from my living room to an HDTV that is in my basement. I wasn't too keen on picking up another Comcast box, so I was looking for other options.
All I needed was a 25ft component cable, the Calrad 92-160, a 25ft stereo cable, and a 25ft 3.5 to 3.5 extension cable.

I attached the IR emitter to the Comcast box, connected it to the 3.5 to 3.5 extension cable and ran it through the floor to the TV in the basement. I then plugged this cable into the IR connecting block along with the IR receiver, and plugged the block into an AC outlet. I also ran a 25ft stereo cable from the Comcast box to the stereo input on the back of my TV. Now the moment of truth....I hit the "All on" button on the Comcast remote, saw the blue LED light flash and the TV powered up and ESPNHD appeared on the screen. I changed some channels, played with the volume and checked out the ON DEMAND features and everything worked perfectly!

We won't be able to watch different channels on both TV's simultaneously, but as I only use the basement TV when I workout, this shouldn't be a problem. The good news is I have all the functionality of my Comcast HD/DVR box in two locations and am only paying for one!

Take that Comcast!

Audioengine S8 Subwoofer review

2009-11-06T13:15:00.002-05:00

Audioengine S8 Subwoofer review

Subwoofers have trade offs. Small Subwoofers especially. With no limitations on size, and no limitations on driver quality or cabinet price you can make products that provide extraordinary low frequency performance at low distortion and high sound pressure levels (SPL's). Tweak it down price wise and size wise and you still have a formula that makes sense - price per performance vs cost. Taking it a step further, where size becomes the paramount factor, things become far trickier. You start pushing the laws of physics hard upon their boundaries then. The slightest improvements are incredibly hard to acquire. Add price into that? Why not add anti-gravity, or something equally absurd? Squashing the laws of physics, somehow, is not possible, but something speaker designers (an under appreciated group) are always expected to achieve.
Shrink it, and they will buy it? Due to "WAF" (wife acceptance factor) making these boxes smaller, or more attractive makes them easier to fit into the living room. With computer based setups, making them smaller also makes them easier to fit into the computer based setups area.

Subwoofer Setup
The key with any subwoofer is finding out how to make it work in your situation. Where is your main speakers 3-6dB down point and at what type of slope? Ported speakers tend to drop off drastically, while acoustic suspension speakers tend to slope down more smoothly, if designed properly. While you can't select the slopes of the crossovers on most subs, you should still take the main speakers slope and subs capabilities into consideration when choosing the crossover point for maximum smoothness in frequency response. If you're using it in a home theater setup with a receiver, what kind of bass management do you have available on the receiver or processor? This can help you out by enhancing the sub woofers crossover settings. How is it placed in the room? Audioholics has a very nice article on that.

So what is the S8 and how does it fit in?
The S8 is a small, nice looking 8" Sub with a port. The speaker fires down with a front mounted flared port. Build quality is excellent. It has a 250 watt class AB amp with adjustable crossover from 50-130Hz. It weighs 30 pounds and looks very nice in a utilitarian sort of way, with very nicely beveled edges and a nice, opaque black finish. It has a very nice level of connectivity options at its price point with 3.5mm and RCA L/R inputs, RCA L/R full range outputs. Audioengine also makes a wireless Audio extender, which works with this, or Stereo L/R main speakers to give you an outstanding sounding wireless connection option.

Testing/Listening
I find the sub does indeed have usable output down to 27Hz, as specified, and it does have usable 30Hz output in a small room. That's not too shabby for a relatively inexpensive 8" sub! There seems to be a bit of a peak in the 50Hz region, and a slow slope down to 30Hz, then a quick droppoff. Ported Subs almost always have a peak at speaker resonance and then a slow dropoff until the port resonance kicks in, so it is pretty normal, if not the ideal.
I used the Sub with some unusual choices for my computer setup, which I use for near field monitor listening as well as full room listening. I used them exclusively in 2.1 setups using a Denon 3805, and switched between Reference 3A Dulcets and NHT Classic 2's. This is probably not the typical setup for this sub. I'd guess it would most often be used with Audioengines excellently reviewed powered speakers and as a replacement or add-on to HTIB (home theater in a box), inexpensive surround systems, and computer speakers. The Sub performed quite well with both sets of speakers once I found the ideal crossover frequency for the sub with the speakers, and a good sounding placement. I had to set the crossover rather low (much lower than with most HTIB or computer speakers, 50-60Hz) with the speakers I used since they have pretty good low frequency extension. While I can't say the sub was in the same league as my SVS sub I use in my main system, I'd definately say they improved both setups substantially making them into real full range systems with clean, tight, undistorted bass. They made my Reference 3A Dulcets, which are wonderful high end mini monitors sound like much larger and even more expensive speakers. I had to keep the crossover very low to preserve the Dulcets perceived "quickness", but once I settled on crossover and placement the overall sound was admirably tight and fast. With the NHT 2 classics, it was a bit more tricky, since they are a bit boomy in the same range as the S8 seems to get a bit peaky. Setting the sub crossover at 50Hz worked pretty well to alleviate the issue to an extent, but placement of both the mains and sub, a sub equalizer, or receivers with automatic room adjustments are your only hope in this type of scenario for best results.

Conclusion
This sub will do a great job upgrading just about any HTIB or computer speaker system and is probably a perfect match for the Audioengine Speakers. The S8 provides you with quality bass down to 30Hz in a reasonably small room or computer area. For higher end setups in small rooms, it does a very nice job, with proper placement and proper setup. It's not perfect, it should be matched with speakers that have little response at 50HZ and lower. Most small speakers of the surround sound variety drop off at 80-130Hz, and it's excellent for those. It's not exactly cheap at $350, but all but the highest priced subs have their bumps and dips and other trade offs. This one has some trade offs as well, but it certainly has its high points. Small size and good looks and extremely good connection options make it a winner with the right partners.

Specifications:
Frequency response:27Hz - 180Hz (+/-1.5dB)
Dimensions (HxWxD):11.25” x 11.25” x 11.25”
Power Output:250W peak power total (125W RMS), AES
Amplifier type:Dual Class AB monolithic
Inputs:1/8" (3.5mm) stereo mini-jack and RCA L/R
Outputs:RCA L/R, full-range
Crossover Frequency:50Hz - 130Hz
Weight:13.6kg (30lbs)

Some of the music listened to:
Trilok Gurtu & Robert Miles - Miles Gurtu
Patricia Barber - Cafe Blue
Beatles - Sgt. peppers Lonely hearts Club Band
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
King Crimson - The Compact King Crimson
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
Grover Washington Jr. - Greatest Performances
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Highperspice - Weapon of Choice
Be Bop Deluxe - Axe Victim
Skip Heller - Homegoing
and more Classical, Jazz, Rock and R&B.

random author thoughts:
Cool? It will fit in a small space under your workstation and pump out bass that will make your pants move. Where is any big subwoofer who can do that?

While audibly superior to have the sub centered underneath between speakers, the pants fluttering effect is eventually annoying with the front fired port. As this is primarily designed to be a computer subwoofer, it should be rear ported?

A nice bedroom or computer sub, or low power system sub. Not for big rooms and high levels.

Note:
The Audioengine S8 Subwoofer sample was provided to us for review and returned after the review. We sell Audioengine products. The author does feel the review is a fair and impartial review of the product.

RAM's New High End iPod and iPhone Dock Connector cables now have USB for Sync and Charging

2009-10-09T13:33:00.005-04:00

Brand New! iPod eXtreme Ulti-Mate Dock to mini Plug or Dual RCA iPod and iPhone Cables are the ultimate IPod/iPhone Cable for your Car or Home.

Introducing the latest Cable in our iPod eXtreme Series of cables - The "iPod eXtreme Ulti-Mate".
All of the iPod eXtreme Ulti-Mate Cables are 100% iPod, iPod touch, and iPhone Compatible for Audio, Sync and Charging.

All iPod eXtreme models feature heavy gauge Silver plated Conductors and Pro quality Neutrik Gold plated 3.5mm mini Connectors or Neutrik Gold RCA's.
Read the Review from Audioholics

Features

• The breakout between the Audio and USB Cables can be adjusted with sliding Beads, for a neat, clean appearance
• Fully Compatible with Ipod, iPod touch and iPhones
• Silver plated Teflon insulated conductors used for all audio wiring to limit negative effects of oxidation
• Dual, Tight Twisted Pairs for superior noise free Audio performance
• Extremely low Capacitance for excellent frequency response
• All contacts are Professionally Silver Soldered with medical grade silver solder
• Quality Neutrik Dual RCA's with Gold Plating
• Strong Strain Relief on both ends for durability
• Techflex Jacket

Connecting your head phone jack on an iPod to any sound amplifying system is a poor solution. Line level signals have superior audio quality and are only accessible from the docking connection. Using the Docking connector Line level outputs typically improves frequency response and reduces distortion levels. This docking cable provides a line-level auxiliary output for connecting to your 3.5mm mini phone plug auxiliary input on car stereos, mobile recorders, Mini Stereo Systems and marine units that accepts a mini plug input.

This is a true performance "High End" iPod, iPhone and iPod Touch Audio Cable, at a regular cable price - custom made in the USA.

Link: High End iPod and iPhone Dock Connector cables with USB for Sync and Charging

Get your Game on!!!

2009-09-23T15:32:00.000-04:00

We have Game Cables, Controllers, Charging Docks, LAN adapters and replacement AC power adapters for the best Game Consoles available. Upgrade to an HD connection, or replace the damaged cable of your PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox or Xbox 360.

All the cables are high quality, come with our usual 30 day "return for any reason" policy, and come with great low cost shipping options.

Here's the Link:
Game Console Cables

Review Audioengine AW2 Wireless iPod Adapter

2009-09-16T18:37:00.002-04:00

Review Audioengine AW2 Wireless iPod Adapter

OK, first the warning. This review was delayed for some time waiting for the new Ipod Touch update to 3.1.1.
I originally got my iPod touch just as the 3.0 update came out. I immediately upgraded from what the Touch came with to the new 3.0 firmware. Classic bad move. Never install a "point zero". Sure, there were lots of cool new features but the one thing I ended up wanting most ended up being hosed.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the Touch. I love the Apps! I love sitting out on the porch, or anywhere with a wifi connection and being able to browse the Net (provided the fonts were big enough) , or iTunes, or work with the Apps. Not having an iPhone, it's like having one without the connection costs and um, the phone.
But - I was dieing to hook it up with one of these Audioengine wireless thingies to be able to sit back on the couch and use my Touch as a controller to play back my music podcasts, internet radio, etc, in extremely high quality on my awesome Home Theater system. Alas, it was not to be. At least for a little while.
So after the original 3.0 update using the Audioengine AW2 ended up with me hearing sound from the iPod Touch's "Speaker" (if you could call it that) not from the stereo. I talked with Audioengine and they confirmed the "hosing". They suggested i go back to the original firmware, which, of course, I had not bothered to back up. They did promise that Apple would fix the problem on a new software release. Which they finally did.

So, now after a torcherous month or two, Apple has finally released 3.1.1 which fixes everything. I'm sure there are other "exciting" features and fixes, but to me the only thing that matters right now is that my Audioengine AW2 Wireless iPod Adapter is now working perfectly.

As far as I know the following ipods only are supported:
• iPod Classic
• iPod Touch
• iPod Touch (2nd generation)
• iPod Nano (2nd generation)
• iPod Nano (4th generation)
• iPod Nano (3rd generation)

So what does it do, how does it work, exactly?
What it does is this:
Connect the receiver device to your stereo, home theater receiver, powered speakers, or wireless powered speakers. Connect the small transmitter device to your iPod Dock connector. Go through a very simple "sync" procedure involving pressing a small button on the transmitter and receiver. Done.

How it works? Audioengine has a quite long and, for geeks, interesting explanation on their website. The main thing is, unlike most wireless devices, it sounds great!

I spent quite awhile comparing between my wired (Ram M2RCA cable) Ipod classic and my iPod Touch with the AW2 listening to Allen Holdsworths "The Sixteen Men of Tain" CD. I expected to hear some compression or artifacts from the AW2. I have heard this CD many times, and I listened HARD. I had to really listen hard to believe I heard a real difference. In the end I could not say if the differences in sound qualities were due to differences in the outputs of the Classic and Touch, or differences in the "connections". The Touch has always seemed more trebly to me. Therefore a bit noisier. The Classic always seems warmer and with more stage depth and dynamic range. (probably imagination) Seems the same with these connections so I cannot come to any conclusion. I'd like to try comparing the touch with the Audioengine AW2 and our Ram Docking connector cable, (I-Extreme iPod Docking to Stereo RCA Cable) and see if I hear anything different. That would be more of an apples to apples comparison. I'd love to try a blind or double blind A/B test, but it would be tricky.

Audio With Video
Video Podcasts worked fine. I could see the video on the Touch while listening on my stereo.

Downloaded iTunes Videos worked fine. I could see the video on the Touch while listening on my stereo.

Youtube? No good. I got the video but no audio. Hope they fix this issue! Many of my subscribed videos will not currently work on my Touch, anyway.

The conclusion?
The most fabulous thing? It gives you sound from Videos, podcasts, music, etc (I'm guessing games) with no hassles. The sound quality blows away other wireless solutions.

This thing amazes me. Go ahead and listen to it with high end speakers, quality components and quality cables. See if you can hear a difference. If you do think you can, just think about how much of a difference there might be. How much this costs. How bad most every other option seems to be. How cool it is to use the iPod interface as your controller. Wirelessly. The alternatives are, to say the least, pricey. I hope they fix the youtube issues, not a deal breaker for me with all of the other positives, but c'mon! You will have to pry this baby out of my cold, dead hands.

PS. Another factor here is WAF. Set up a Harmony or other remote control for the proper connection ("play ipod") and anyone can use this to play music and podcasts

Want one?
Audioengine AW2

All about Audio/Video Wall Plates

2009-09-02T15:18:00.020-04:00

All you need to know about Audio/Video Wall Plates

Everyone likes the idea of making their cables as invisible as possible. Granted, it's not so easy unless you get someone to do it for you. Still, it is not necessarily as hard as you may think. If you are somewhat handy, and more than a little bit brave, you can learn to cut into your drywall, install a box, run your cables in the wall and finish it all off with a nice A/V wall plate with the necessary connectors. Lets start it off with an explanation of the types of wall plates and the terms that are used for them.

Some of the common words thrown around but rarely explained are "Decora®", "Keystone", "pass-thru" (or pass-through) "balun", "passive", "active" and "insert".
OK, lets start with Keystone.
Keystone Wall plates are a standardized, modular, "snap-in" system for low voltage cable and wire connections.
"Standard" Keystone Wall Plates:

"Decora®" Keystone Wall Plates:

Decora®?
Decora® is a style of wall plate invented by Leviton with a center part as seen above (although not necessarily keystone) , and then a surround portion that is installed over it. Decora® plates are also available in non-keystone style with connectors permanently installed.
Decora® non-keystone:

The above has a VGA (or "HD15", or most accurately "HD DB15") as well as a 3.5mm mini phone plug connector.

Decora® "Surround" or "Cover" Plate:

The important part of the Keystone scheme, is , of course, the modular connector inserts.

Keystone "Inserts" or "Modules":

Below are some RCA jack, pass-thru keystone inserts.
They are "pass-thru" (often called "pass-through" or "passthru") because they are female connectors in the front as well as the back. This allows you to avoid having to do any cable termination yourself. You just plug in your pre-made cables.
Note: You should only use "in-wall" rated cables within walls. What fire-code rating you need in your particular area and installation type varies. It's a long subject for another time.

More Keystone insert module types? The common ones are:
RCA, F, BNC, Binding Post, Banana, Toslink, S-Video, and of course, Telephone and network "RJ" types RJ45 (Cat5 Ethernet) can be either pass-thru or punch down. RCA can be RCA female to female or RCA to "F" for using common RG6 cable connections within walls.
RCA Jacks:

RCA Jacks are used for Stereo or multichannel audio, Composite Video, Component Video and Digital Audio coax.

F Connectors:

"F" connectors are used for CATV (cable TV), Satellite, and Antenna connections.

HDMI Keystone:

HDMI keystone jacks are used for HDMI connections for Digital Audio and Video.

OK, what about "Baluns" and "Active" wall plates?
Baluns take an unbalanced signal and convert it to a balanced signal. What this means in practical terms is it allows you to use CAT5 cable to send the signal over long lengths with very low pickup of noise and signal loss. The Balun is commonly built into the keystone insert module, Decora® connector, or installed on a standard wall plate. They are a great way to save money on expensive cables while enabling long cable runs. "Active" solutions can be thought of as either amplified balun type devices or proprietary technologies which actively convert the signal to some sort of balanced signal enabling very long cable runs over CAT5 (normally actually Cat5e or Cat6 solid cable) .

Questions? Please comment or contact us.
Please see our Audio/Video Wall Plates page for our current lineup which is constantly expanding.

Let us Build your A/V Wall Plate

2009-08-26T13:04:00.003-04:00

Let us build you an Audio/Video Wall Plate for free.
Just choose the Keystone Audio/Video or other inserts you need , Pick your Keystone Regular or Decora style Wall Plate, and select the "Build It" option and we will put it together for you before we ship it.

Please see here for more details.

i-extreme Generation 3 Cables are 100% iPod and iPhone Compatible

2009-08-07T14:37:00.007-04:00

RAM's i-extreme Dock connector cables now 100% iPod and iPhone compatible!

That's right, no weird messages, no "airplane mode", just great sound with no distortion or noise.
The i-extreme cables are made in three types:

Dock to Dual RCA connectors for Home Stereo or powered speaker connections
Dock to mini plug for Car line input connections
Dock to right angle mini plug for Car line input connections

Get one now!

Ram Electronics is giving away the chance to one (1) pair of Audioengine 2 Monitors

2009-08-05T15:49:00.002-04:00

Ram Electronics is giving away the chance to one (1) pair of Audioengine 2 Monitors to Audioholics Forum members!

Features:

2 audio inputs (RCA and mini-jack)
Built-in power amps (left speaker)
Kevlar woofers for super low end
Silk tweeters for smooth highs
High-quality speaker connectors
Auto-sleep power-saving mode
Hand-built cabinets with high-gloss finish
Video-shielded
All cables included

To be eligible to win, you must: 1) Be a registered Audioholics forum member, 2) Have USA or Canadian Residence

See here

A FUN FILLED WEEK

2009-07-24T16:53:00.016-04:00

THE WEATHER WAS GREAT, AND THE FLEA MARKET DAY
WAS A LOT OF FUN.

YOUR DONATED ITEMS HAVE BEEN POPULAR.

MORE ELECTRONIC ITEMS ARE NEEDED, DISHES ARE GOOD, LAMPS, FANS, CLOCKS, RADIOS, TV'S.

WE NEED MORE RAM PEOPLE TO COME OUT TO SUPPORT. JUST COME OUT AND YOU WILL ENJOY
WHAT IS GOING ON.

THERE ARE LOTS OF VENDORS AND STORES IN THE AREA. HEY SHOPRITE IS ACROSS THE STREET IF YOU NEED TO GROCERY SHOP. THERE IS A CHINESE BUFFET, A LOEWS AND WALGRENS TOO.

THE NEXT FLEA MARKET WILL BE HELD AUGUST 15, COME OUT AND ENJOY.....

WEDNESDAYS' LUNCH WAS Mmm, Mmm Good.

THANK YOU TO ALL THAT WHERE INVOLVED, WALT ON THE GRILL, EDITH AND EDDIE WITH THE ORGANIZING, SANG, CHAU, SARAN, KIM, DUNG, RITA, MARTIN, ED LAFFERTY AND VANITA WITH HELPING OUT WITH WHATEVER YOU WERE ASKED TO DO.

WE WOULD LIKE TO SEND A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO ALEX FOR ALL THE DONATIONS OF FOOD AND CONDIMENTS YOU PROVIDED.

WE HOPE TO DO THIS AGAIN FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST. PLEASE SEND FEEDBACK AND SUGGESTIONS. WE LOVE THE VARIETY THAT IS PRESENT THIS YEAR...

New Custom Canare 4S8 Speaker Cables with Audioquest Connectors

2009-07-24T11:19:00.007-04:00

New! Made in the USA!
Our latest Speaker Cable uses Canare 4S8 Studio Grade Speaker Cable. We Crimp Via Blue premium Gold plated Crimp Sleeves on the conductors so you will never have to worry about oxidation. We then install high-end Audioquest gold plated connectors. Both standard and biwire configurations are available.

We also offer them with just the crimp sleeves. They can be used "as-is", or you can easily add standard "screw-down" style connectors from a wide variety of manufacturers. If you'd like any brand we carry, we'll be happy to apply them for you. Choose from WBT, WBT nextgen, Audioquest, Via Blue, Calrad or others.
Crimp Sleeves:

Cables with Audioquest Banana Plugs over Via Blue Crimp Sleeves:
Custom Canare 4S8 Speaker Cable with Gold Audioquest Banana Plugs - LS
Custom Biwire Canare 4S8 Speaker Cable with Gold Audioquest Banana Plugs - LSB
Models with Via Blue Crimp Sleeves:
Custom Canare 4S8 Speaker Cable with Gold Crimp Sleeves - LSF
Custom Biwire Canare 4S8 Speaker Cable with Gold Crimp Sleeves - LSFF

Connecting your PC to your HDTV - Powerstrip Settings for 720p

2009-07-16T10:34:00.023-04:00

Powerstrip - The Update!

Our original "Powerstrip Guide for the powerstrip impaired" article was originally written back in the days when "HDTV" meant Rear Projection CRT TV's. While the basic usage has not changed, the usual use now is with LCD and Plasma TV's that are progressive scan rather than interlaced and when using a VGA to component converter are best set for 720p rather than the old 1080i/540p settings of old. In other words, we needed to do an update!

The idea here is we are connecting a VGA output from a computer to a Component Video input on the HDTV. The computer is RGB color and TV input is Component Video, so you need to use a conversion box that "transcodes" the signal. Popular transcoders are the Key Digital KD-VA5 and the Audioauthority 9A60. For those who are unlucky enough to have a Graphics card/chipset that does not support 720p (or the virtual equivalent 1280x720@60Hz) then there are converter boxes that don't just transcode but scale as well. Popular models of this type are the Audio Authority 1365 and the Calrad 40-880. You can go much further, of course and get a full blown scaler, but let's get back to the business at hand!

Powerstrip:
Download Powerstrip from EnTech Taiwan.
Powerstrip is not always strictly necessary since most new ATI and Nvidia drivers have built-in adjustments to help you eliminate overscan and get the image set properly on the screen. In any case it does an awesome job.

The first thing to do is get your Computer set up to output 1280x720@60Hz. That gets you into 720p territory.
Open "Display Properties" (in "Control Panel") and click the "Settings" Tab. Adjust the "Resolution Slider until you get to 1280x720. Click "Apply".

You now should get the "Compatibility Warning" screen. Choose to apply the new settings without restarting.
Go ahead and click ok. The screen will go blank and then (hopefully) become visible at the new resolution. If you see nothing, or it becomes visible but is not something you can work with just do nothing for 15 seconds and it will revert back to the original settings automatically. Try it!

When you are compfortable that you can proceed click that "OK" button within the fifteen seconds.
Next click the "Advanced" button, and then click the "Monitor" tab.
Confirm that the Screen refresh rate is 60Hz.

After that, you are ready to give it a whirl. Shut down the computer and connect it through the transcoder like this:
VGA Output->Transcoder->Component Video->HDTV

Now hopefully when you fire up the computer you get a picture on the screen. You should if the TV supports 720p. If not, connect it back up to your monitor and confirm your settings.

If you have a good clean image on the screen, you are probably now noticing that somethings wrong here. The top, bottom and sides of the "Desktop" are being partially cut off and making it difficult or impossible to do certain things.
Bottom:

Top: No minimize, maximize or close buttons! Yikes

Obviously this won't do!

So now start up powerstrip so you can get things started.
Once it starts it just pops up a "Tip of the day" and adds a little icon on your lower right Task Bar.
Right-click the taskbar icon and then select "Display profiles" and then "Configure".

Display profiles screen:

This is the "Display profiles" screen.
Make sure it is set to 1280x720 and click "Apply" if necessary.
Next click the "Advanced timing options" button.

Advanced timing options screen:

Ignore everything except the blue buttons!

The Position buttons effect the position of the desktop on the screen. Click the right blue arrow and the image moves right, down and it moves down, etc. Simple, right?

The size buttons will either shrink or expand the image horizontally or vertically.

Before you start clicking madly on the buttons be warned!
First of all, size buttons tend to make the screen blank for a few seconds. Don't freak out.
Going too far with any setting may make the image go blank and stay blank. If this happens simply hit your "escape" key and you will be taken back to the Display profiles screen with the previous settings.
Use a full screen window opened in the background using your web browser or something else to help you determine how to make your adjustments.

The best practice is to go slow. Improve things little by little, saving the settings by clicking "OK" and then going back in to make more adjustments. That way you don't have to start all over again if you go too far and have to hit your escape key.
When you get things to where you like them, use the "Save as" button on the Display profiles screen to save your settings with a name.

When you are sure of things, really sure and have restarted the computer and retested your settings it is time to set powerstrip to load automatically when Windows starts.
Right-click the powerstrip icon again and select "Options" and then "Preferences".
Then just check the box for "Auto-load with Windows"
Done!

Please annoy us with feedback on this article and suggest any further additions or subjects you'd like covered by commenting below.
Below is my final settings on a Samsung 720p TV using an Audio Authority 9A60 with a older Radeon card.

Your mileage may vary quite severely so be careful!

*Legal Warning! Trying anything suggested on this page is at your own risk. We are not responsible for any damage to your equipment, lifestyle or marriage!

FLEA MARKET TIME

2009-07-15T17:15:00.012-04:00

We have another Flea Market fund raiser this weekend at our local Chic-Fil-A.

Here is a sample of what we have to offer:
Cables and electronic accessories

Clothing
Lamps and Specialty Kitchen Items

Hand Bags and Shoes

Books and so much more

YOUR DONATIONS ARE DEEPLY APPRECIATED.

CELEBRATE OUR INDEPENDENCE

2009-06-30T11:35:00.011-04:00

4TH OF JULY
BUNDLE

WE WOULD LIKE TO KICK OFF YOUR 4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION WITH THIS BUNDLE OF ITEMS. OUR RAFFLE WILL BE DRAWN ON THURSDAY JULY 2ND.
EACH RAFFLE TICKET IS $1.00

WE WOULD ALSO APPRECIATE MORE DONATIONS FOR THE FLEA MARKET TO BE HELD ON JULY 18TH. YOUR DONATIONS ARE BEING COLLECTED IN THE FRONT HALLWAY.

TV'S, VCR'S DVD PLAYERS, LAMPS, SHOES, HANDBAGS, STUFFED ANIMALS, CLOTHES, BOOKS, RADIO'S, TOYS, FURNITURE, CABLES, FANS, AIR CONDITIONERS, CAMERA'S, DISHES, POT'S , PAN'S, FOOTBALLS, BASEBALLS, VOLLEYBALLS, ETC...

PLEASE BE SURE THAT YOUR ITEMS ARE IN WORKING
CONDITION, RAM WILL HAVE A BANNER DISPLAYED AT THE FLEA MARKET.

FLEA MARKET FUN

2009-06-23T16:40:00.007-04:00

CONGRATULATIONS TO TAN, WINNER OF THE FATHERS DAY RAFFLE. ISN'T IT IRONIC THAT A WOMAN WINS' THE FATHERS DAY RAFFLE AND A MAN WINS THE MOTHERS' DAY RAFFLE.

OUR FIRST FLEA MARKET EVENT WAS BRIEF BUT ENJOYABLE FOR THOSE WHO REPRESENTED US.

THERE WAS A LOT OF INTEREST IN OUR TABLE, PROBABLE BECAUSE PRESENTATION IS WHAT CATCHES THE ATTENTION OF SHOPPERS. (NICE PHOTO'S TAKEN WITH THAT I-PHONE)

WE MADE $44.00 AND THEN THE RAIN BEGAN.

WE PLAN TO RETURN TO THE CHIC-FIL-A FLEA MARKET ON JULY 18TH. PLEASE DONATE MORE STUFF, WE VALUE YOUR SUPPORT.

COME OUT AND JOIN IN THE FUN, SATURDAY JULY 18TH.

FATHER'S DAY BUNDLE RAFFLE

2009-06-17T11:04:00.009-04:00

TAKE A CHANCE TO WIN THIS
FATHER'S DAY BUNDLE

RAFFLE TICKETS CAN BE PURCHASED FOR $2.00 A CHANCE. THE RAFFLE WILL BE DRAWN ON THURSDAY JUNE 18TH.

THE PROCEEDS WILL GO TO OUR 2009 BREAST CANCER FUND RAISING EFFORT.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS!!

2009-06-16T14:47:00.009-04:00

The committee would like give a very special thank you to Chanthalay and Van, and thank you to Steve for their contributions last week. Everything you both have done over the years show that you caring about others is what you are about. Thanks again .

Dung, your 50/50 lotto idea is going great. It is a concept that has been popular with our employees for years but you turned it into something that will help us with this campaign. We thank and salute your creativity.

On Thursday June 20th a Fathers Day Bundle will be raffled. Each raffle ticket will be $2.00 and the contents should be similar to this.
SO don't get excited about this picture,
hopefully we will have a real picture tomorrow, right Eddie?

FLEA MARKET THIS SATURDAY!!!!!!!

Thank you for all of the donations. A very interesting collection. Now we need volunteers to get the goods to Market...

Audioengine now at RAM

2009-06-10T14:31:00.005-04:00

RAM is now selling Audioengine Product Line

If you follow Speakers at all you have probably heard of Audioengine. Their speakers are widely reviewed as the best small powered Audiophile grade speakers for the money. Well we use them, love them and now we sell them!
Not only do they have great speaker models and a fantastic tiny Subwoofer but they just came out with a Wireless Audio adapter and a wireless iPod adapter that are getting rave reviews as well.

Check them out! Talk about a great fathers day gift!

Audioengine Speakers and Wireless Audio Devices

"URGENT" Flea Market Items Needed

2009-05-26T11:04:00.009-04:00

Thank You Anna, the Vietnamese Egg Rolls were a success.

OUR CURRENT TOTAL IS $474.30
LETS GET GOING XIOMARA AND STEPHANIE..
WE NEED MORE MOMENTUM

Next up???

Fathers Day Raffle

Flea Market

ALL CONTRIBUTIONS OF ITEMS TO BE SOLD AT OUR FLEA MARKET TABLE ARE NOW BEING COLLECTED. PLEASE BRING IN YOUR ITEMS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO THAT WE CAN PLAN FOR THE EVENT.

How to Set your Display Settings when connecting your Computer to your HDTV

2009-05-20T16:36:00.029-04:00

How to Set your Display Settings when connecting your Computer to your HDTV

Often the trickiest thing to explain to someone setting up their PC or Mac to HDTV connection is not even the hardware, cables or adapters required. It's explaining how to set a proper HDTV resolution in "Display Settings" that their HDTV is going to to "like".
First, you should check your HDTV's specs to see what what HDTV resolutions it supports. Usually 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i, but of course newer HDTV's often support 1080p. We suggest that if your HDTV supports 720p you try that first. If you're sure your TV supports 1080p you can try that, but sometimes you could run into issues for a variety of reasons, so we'd say try 720p first, then try 1080p. Why not 1080i? Because it is often much trickier than 720p.
Note: You need to use a computer monitor when making these settings, and it MUST support the desired settings you want to use on the TV.

Warning! If a setting does not work, like you have scrolling wackiness or nothing on your screen, don't just leave it on your screen! I have never blown up or damaged a TV yet subjecting them to bad signals, but I am a paranoid son-of-a-gun, who turns off the TV fairly quickly when things just don't work out. There has to be a reason why manuals give you scary warning messages about using incorrect settings so always be ready to hit the off button on the TV when doing this sort of thing!

How to adjust your Display Output Settings:
OK, first "Right-Click" on empty space on your "Desktop" and select "Properties".
You should get something like this.

Click on the "Settings" Tab and you should get something like this.

Use the little scroll bar for "Screen Resolution" until you get to 1280x720 pixels. If you don't have that option don't try something else like 1280x768 UNLESS you are connected to a VGA port on the TV and the TV supports that resolution. 1280x768 will not work with DVI, HDMI or when using a VGA to Component video "Transcoder".

Here's what that should look like:

OK, now click the "Advanced" Button. You should get this.

Click the "Monitor" Tab. Make sure the "Screen refresh rate" is set to "60 Hertz".
Click the "Apply" Button, and the setting should be set, if you don't get a visible image, do nothing and it should reset back to normal in 15 seconds. You should NOT restart your computer with the new settings! You still need to align the image properly and adjust for "overscan".

Now this part is where things vary. This computer has an ATI Video card. It uses ATI's Catalyst Control Center. Nvidia or Intel Graphics, etc will have different applications that often have similar functionality. Intel Graphics chips may lack resolutions or functionality required to set up things properly, so you may have to upgrade to a new Graphics card.

This is the ATI Catalyst Control Center.
Click the "+" sign to the left of "Monitor Properties 0" if the HDTV is going to be the main display, or "monitor 1" if you are going to be using 2 displays in "clone" mode or something.

Click "Adjustments" and use the outside arrow controls carefully to move the image on the display up, down, left or right. Use the inside arrow controls to adjust for the image size vertically and horizontally. Take it slow and easy.

If necessary:
Read here for ATI's "HDTV Support" settings. You can enable support for the settings your sure your HDTV supports and then "force" them if required. If you don't get a picture after doing so, turn off the HDTV, reconnect your monitor and try something else.

Have fun! You can now say to freinds "I use my computer as an HTPC" or better still, "I use my computer as an HD-HTPC". Have fun watching Hulu, Netflix or other online TV services "full-screen" on your HDTV. Amaze your friends! Browse the internet on your 50-inch plasma or LCD, etc. Whatever you do don't read ANYTHING about calibrating your HDTV for your computer to TV connection! (at least for a little while) . If you think this was hard, that's where you get your HTPC "masters degree"!

Warning! (again) If a setting does not work, like you have scrolling wackiness or nothing on your screen, don't just leave it on your screen! I have never blown up or damaged a TV yet subjecting them to bad signals, but I am a paranoid son-of-a-gun, who turns off the TV fairly quickly when things just don't work out. There has to be a reason why manuals give you scary warning messages about using incorrect settings so always be ready to hit the off button when doing this sort of thing!

New GefenTV Wireless HDMI

2009-05-15T14:01:00.003-04:00

Now Shipping! Get them while they Last! We have them at lowest price available!

The GefenTV Wireless for HDMI Extender sends 1080p up to 100 feet (30 m) to any HDTV display.

The GefenTV Wireless for HDMI Extender delivers a plug and play wireless solution for HDMI sources placed up to 100 feet (30 meters) away. Hi-def resolutions of up to 1080p/24 or 1080i/60 are supported with 5.1 digital audio and additional L/R analog audio inputs.

The GefenTV Wireless for HDMI Extender is a wireless solution for extending any A/V sources utilizing HDMI such as satellite boxes, DVD players , and Blu-Ray players to a remote display. The Wireless for HDMI will even penetrate through walls and does not require line-of-sight.

Check it out now!

Vietnamese Egg Rolls (Cha Gio)

2009-05-11T09:28:00.007-04:00

Cha Gio better known to us Americans' as Vietnamese Egg Rolls. This is on the schedule for our next fundraising event.

RAM Electronics has a long history of employing a large population of Vietnamese workers. Through the years "CHA GIO" has been on the menu of many events. It has become a item that many enjoy.

On May 18th we will have a CHA GIO (Vietnamese Egg Roll) Sale. They will be sold for $1.00 each. As always, the proceeds go into our American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Fund.

P.S. Please give a donation if you do not wish to eat Cha Gio....

A CHA GIO RECIPE SIMILAR TO WHAT WE WILL BE SERVING

Vietnamese Egg Rolls (Cha Gio) Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. raw shrimp, minced
1/2 lb. lean pork, minced
1/2 lb. bean sprouts
2 medium carrots, grated
2 to 3 shallots, minced, if desired
1 oz. cellophane noodles(bean threads)
1 pkg. round rice paper(available at Oriental markets)
2 eggs, beaten
Oil for deep frying
Shredded scallions for garnish, if desired
Lettuce leaves
Dipping Sauce(Nuoc Cham)
1 fresh red chili or 2 small dried chilies
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
5 t sugar
Juice and pulp of 1/4 unpeeled lime
1/4 c fish sauce(available at Oriental markets)
1/3 c water
1 T shredded carrot
1 T minced scallion

Directions:

In large bowl, combine shrimp, pork, bean sprouts, carrots and shallots; set aside.
Soak cellophane noodles in warm water about 15 minutes, until flexible; drain, cut into one-inch pieces and add to meat mixture. Toss until combined.

Run one sheet of rice paper quickly under tepid water, handling carefully because paper is very brittle. Place sheet on work surface and brush quickly with egg. Let stand a few seconds, until flexible. With very sharp knife, cut into quarters(or halves, if larger rolls are desired). Place one tablespoon filling on round edge of quarter piece; roll over once, then tuck in sides to enclose filling and continue rolling. If using halves, place about 1/3 cup filling on one end, roll once, tuck in sides and roll up. Continue filling and rolling until all filling is used. The egg will hold the rolls together. In wok or 10-inch frying pan, heat oil until a drop of water jumps on the surface. Fry about eight rolls at a time until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Drain on paper towels, garnish with scallions and serve with lettuce leaves and Nuoc Cham. Makes about 50 small or 30 large egg rolls.

Dipping Sauce (Nuoc cham)
If using fresh chili, remove seeds and membrane. In food processor or blender, combine chili, garlic, sugar, lime, fish sauce and water. Process or blend until well minced. Pour into serving dish and sprinkle with carrot and scallion. Makes about 3/4 cup

AND THE WINNER IS....

2009-05-07T17:00:00.002-04:00

CONGRATULATIONS ED LAFFERTY...

The much anticipated raffle drawing for the beautiful basket... Wait a second, "THANK YOU STEPHANIE FOR THE GENEROUS DONATION OF THE BASKET FILLED BEYOND THE RIM WITH GOOD AND USEFUL ITEMS". It was very creative on your part.

Now back to the winning moment, each employee watched as the winning ticket was drawn from the bin. "Ed Lafferty" this years winner of the Mothers Day Gift Basket.

This successful effort added $134.00 to our total $344.30. Statistically that is 11.476% of the total we are reaching for.

There is another fundraiser in 2 weeks which sounds very appetizing.

One last thing, Stephanie and Xiomara need some fun and creative ideas for the Flea Market Fundraiser that is being planned. Thought needs to be given as to:

The items that you would like to donate for sale
Folding tables to hold the goods
People that would like to donate their Saturday Morning covering the Sale
Creative ways to decorate the table during the sale
etc.....

Please see Xiomara and Stephanie with ways in which you would like to help us reach our goal...

MOTHERS' DAY BASKET RAFFLE

2009-05-04T10:51:00.005-04:00

TAKE A CHANCE TO WIN THIS BEAUTIFUL MOTHERS DAY
BASKET.

$1.00 RAFFLE TICKETS GO ON SALE
TUESDAY MAY 5TH.

TICKETS WILL CONTINUE TO BE SOLD UNTIL THURSDAY MAY 7TH AT WHICH TIME THE RAFFLE WILL COMMENCE.

REMEMBER, PROCEEDS GO TO OUR 2009 BREAST CANCER FUND RAISING EFFORT

MEGA MILLION 50/50

2009-04-28T11:02:00.002-04:00

Dung headed a 50/50 Fundraiser today. You contribute $1.00, $0.50 goes to buy Mega Million tickets and $0.50 goes to the "Money Jar" for our Breast Cancer Fund.

Great job Dung. $38.00 raised.

New Energy Fueling Our Fundraising Efforts

2009-04-27T17:22:00.008-04:00

The team now has a wider variety of representation. A warm welcome is extended to:

Saran Eang
Kim Nguyen
Chau Nguyen
Eddie Bell
Dung the Doan
Sang Nguyen

Your help in this effort is something to acknowledge and it is greatly appreciated. Have all cultures represented as well as Male and Female representation is phenomenal.

A Hot Dog Sale will be held on Thursday to cap off the month of April, $1.50 each.

If hot dogs are not your thing May plans to be more eventful. Details to be published in a few days.

Bitstream vs PCM (LPCM) when using a DAC or in your Home Theater Setup

2009-04-22T20:24:00.003-04:00

Bitstream vs PCM (LPCM) when using a DAC or in your Home Theater Setup
Why don't I hear the digital audio?!

In your Home Theater Setup:
When setting up digital audio for your home theater, you need to decide which component; the source device (Cable box, DVD, Blu Ray player, etc) or the Receiver (or Preamp/Processor) is going to "decode" the audio and possibly (depending on the analog or digital outputs you use) convert the signal from digital to analog. This is especially a point of confusion with the new Blu Ray players.
Here's the simpletons (mine) explanation:
Bitstream:
The Source device does not decode the signal, so the Receiver must. In other words, your player does not have to be capable of decoding Dolby Digital, DTS etc, and just outputs the undecoded digital information to the Receiver, which MUST be able to decode the signal it receives. So if your Blu Ray player cannot decode DTS-HD Master Audio but your receiver can, you should go into the Blu Ray players "Setup" menu, find the digital output setting and set it for "Bitstream".
PCM:
If your Source device can decode all of the digital audio formats you want, then use this. The setting is commonly called either LPCM or PCM. This is the most common fix for people who are unsure of the problem. This is also arguably the best setting for many Blu Ray Players even with receivers capable of decoding all of the new formats*. Blu Ray players which cannot decode some formats mated to receivers that can decode them should be set to bitstream instead.

Analog Output from Source:
Another question on DACs that may haunt you is whether to use the DAC in the source or the receiver? Some Disc Players and Receivers have decidedly different quality levels of DACs. To use the DAC in the DVD/SACD/CD/Blu Ray player it MUST have analog outputs which MUST be connected to the analog inputs on the receiver. You would do this when you feel the DAC is better in the Player. If you feel the DAC is better in the receiver, then you should set the player to output bitstream or pcm to the receiver and not use an analog connection between them.

Using an "outboard" DAC:
We sell a whole lot of DAC's (Digital to Analog Converters). Especially the new Gefen DAC's. They are great audio signal and routing problem solvers. We get some returns from users who get no output and think the unit is bad. In the vast majority of cases it's due to not setting their source components output properly. DACs that support LPCM and not Bitstream are not going to give you any output if the DVD/Blu Ray player is set to Bitstream! They don't have the decoders necessary to decode the digital audio signal before converting it to analog. Decoders for Dolby Digital and DTS come along with licensing fees after all, so a decoder with this capability always costs more. For Bitstream decoding and conversion you need a DAC/Decoder.

Gefen DAC
GTV-DIGAUD-2-AAUD

Gefen DAC/Decoder
GTV-DD-2-AA

*Blu Ray HD formats: yeah, we know, you won't get the groovy TrueHD or DTS-HD Master "light" to turn on, on the receiver, but you'll get all of the audio signals from the player.

Whole House HDTV Distribution for less than an HDTV

2009-04-15T16:45:00.007-04:00

Distribute HD Video and Audio over Cat5 Cables - Affordably...

HD Distribution has always been pretty darn expensive, not to mention complicated. But let's face it, adding an HD DVR, DVD or Blu Ray player and what have you (Roku, HTPC, PS3, Xbox) to every room in the house you have a TV in is a great way to go broke too. Well, if you can run Cat5 cables to all of your TV rooms you can pretty easily distribute HD Component Video (or Composite Video) and Digital or Analog audio to up to six rooms in your house. Ce Labs new inexpensive solution is a great way to cut down on your Cable/Satellite bill. With built-in IR distribution you can use your main remote control in any room to operate your Receiver and Source, so if you use your Receiver for switching, you can easily switch beween Sources. This is obviously a great system for Store Showrooms, Schools, Trade shows and Digital Signage as well.

The system consists of the Source unit and up to six Receiver Units to output to the TV and/or Audio System. Most Whole House Audio systems cost more than this!
Check it out:
Ce Labs Cat5 HD A/V Distribution System

Connecting Laptop to HDTV (VGA to Component video)

2009-04-09T15:01:00.003-04:00

Another Tech Support Question:
"Can I connect my laptop computer which has a VGA output to my A/V receiver which has component inputs?"

We have an article about connecting Computers to TV's and HDTV's in our:
How to connect your computer to your HDTV or Standard Def Television

To make a long story short, VGA and Component Video are somewhat different animals. A cable won't do it. You need a converter.
The tricky part is getting the laptop video output to be something that the TV will like. If your laptops built-in video is really good, then you can use a less expensive converter called a "Transcoder". A transcoder simply changes the encoding of the signal but does not change resolution or refresh rate, so what goes in is what comes out, just converted from RGB to Y-Pr-Pb. For an HDTV to accept the signal, a component video signal has got to be, 480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i. That means you have to set your laptop to one of these formats *or* you'll need to use a more expensive converter that is a "Video scaler". A video scaler can change the resolution of the video signal. When doing this, you want the least change in resolution possible for best results.
Typically, your best bet with a transcoder is to set up your laptop (or desktop) display to 1280x720@60Hz, and set the transcoder for 720p.
Typically, your best bet with a scaler/converter is to set up your laptop (or desktop) display to 1280x768@60Hz (if 1280x720@60Hz is not available) , and set the transcoder for 720p.

If you have not checked for video card driver upgrades, you should. Sometimes new drivers make it much easier to set this up by providing new resolutions and adjustments for "overscan"*.

*overscan is where the sides and/or bottom of the display are clipped off to some extent making navigation difficult.

Show your support!

2009-04-09T10:36:00.002-04:00

Looking for a stylish way to show your support for those with breast cancer?
If so, please take a look at our "Money Collection Jars" scattered around the building.
Or if you want to volunteer for any activity or have any ideas to help us with the
fundraising please contact one of the coordinators.
We thank you for your support!

120MHz, 240Mhz and 60MHz HDMI Cables?

2009-04-08T20:06:00.003-04:00

According to our Tech Support guy people still keep asking about 120MHz, 240Mhz and 60MHz HDMI Cables. This whole thing was covered quite nicely in an article by Blue Jeans Cable's Kurt Denke on Audioholics.
Let's make it real simple:
Your display is doing all that 120Hz or 240Hz stuff internally. The cable puts out what the Disk Player is putting out. That is usually somewhere between 480i-30Hz to 1080p-60Hz. You might get 1080p-24Hz output going to a Display, but that's easier than 1080p-60Hz for the cable. Unless you have a scaler outputting 1080p-72Hz to a Display that can accept it, you are not doing anything interesting to a cable.

And don't get me started on that "deep color" thing!
What a scam. Do you have any Deep Color content that your "Source Device" can output? Is there a likelihood that device will work with whatever new TV format replaces the current version of HDTV or Blu Ray? Again, high end users have some possible reasons to worry about deep color, but us normal folks can forget it.

Comcast Installation

2009-04-03T15:15:00.002-04:00

I stopped by my parents to check out their new Hi-Def television. The picture didn't look right so I peeked behind the set to inspect the cable connections. The cable installer used a variety of composite and audio/video cables that were left over from the previous system to cobble together a "component like" cable to connect the TV to the cable box and the DVD player to the TV. In addition the CATV connector was poorly crimped to the RG6 cable . I asked my Dad if he had hooked this up himself, and he told me that it has all been done by the man from Comcast.

I immediately swapped out the "component like" cables with two HDMI cables, crimped on a new CATV connector and had the system working like it was supposed to. The picture looked great!

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

2009 BREAST CANCER FUNDRAISING CAMPAING

2009-04-03T13:30:00.012-04:00

TEAM RAM has just began the American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Fundraising campaign for 2009.

Our team Leaders are as follows:

Xiomara Zepeda
Stephanie Contino
Edith Redmond
Irene Castro
Vanita Gondalia

All Staff an employees have contributed to our efforts in the past but this year we are raising our goal. $3,000... Yes $3,000 dollars is the goal that has been set for our contribution to this effort.

The initial fundraiser is the "Money Collection Jars". We have 4 scattered around the containers throughout the building. This seems to be an idea that is going over well with our employees.

I have a suggestion for a future fundraising effort. A table at the local Flea Market held at Chic-Fil-A. Chick-Fil-A opens up their parking lot to the community monthly, April thru September for a Flea Market. The parking is usually jammed with people selling and buying items. I believe that we could get together donated sellable items and turn them into currency towards our $3,000 goal.

Wyonnia

Article on Audioholics

2009-03-25T15:28:00.002-04:00

We recently had an article published on Audioholics:
Crimping & Soldering - Keys to Connection Performance and Longevity

It is basically about the two common methods of wire and cable "termination" to a connector; Crimping and Soldering.

New upgrades to our iPod eXtreme Cables

2009-03-04T19:14:00.007-05:00

iPod eXtreme "Gen 2" Cables now available.

Our iPod eXtreme Cables have been upgraded with nice Neutrik Connectors. We also upgraded the conductor gauge on the silver plated, teflon coated conductors. The big news is the price is still the same!

These cables are all hand made and assembled as well as professionally silver soldered in the USA. That's right, they are made right here in our factory in beautiful Cinnaminson, New Jersey. (right outside of beautiful Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) . [Stop laughing, you Hawaiians, thanks. ]

Custom lengths and other connectors are not a problem. Need 1/4" mono or stereo Neutrik connectors to go to your mixing board or Amp? No problem. Audiophile? Have to have WBT Nextgen RCA's? No problem. Right angle mini plug? Yep, whatever...

Links:
I-eXtreme iPod Docking to Mini plug Cable
I-eXtreme iPod Docking to Stereo RCA Cable

Back in Black for B-Dawk!

Home Theater and AV Podcasts

2009-02-18T17:08:00.004-05:00

If you have some sort of addiction to your Home Theater and A/V equipment in general and time to kill while driving to work or maybe even while you "work", you might want to spend time catching up on the latest AV Geek news listening to a podcast. You don't need an ipod, or even an mp3 player to listen to podcasts, just a computer with speakers connected. Of course if you want to listen while exercising or driving for example, you'll need some sort of portable player to take with you.

So what are the best Home Theater related podcasts?
Well, I personally listen to three of them. Call me a geek, or whatever, but it helps to keep up with a field that changes so rapidly. In no particular order, my favorites are:

HDTV and Home Theater Podcast - by the HT Guys
Fun and Casual podcast that's been going a long time, and is usually twice per week. Tons of the latest news coverage makes it easy to keep up with the latest deals, latest HDTV releases and general news as well as some occasional special features. These guys are very nice and very relaxing to listen to, they answer listener emails, discuss the latest news, have occasional interviews and reviews and generally keep you up to date with all the latest news stories. I especially enjoy their discussion of the latest HD shows. Occasionally I zone out for a minute or two if they are going through a whole bunch of new models and their features from a manufacturer, but I rarely miss an episode. Highly recommended.

The Real HT Info Podcast
A very nice podcast generally dedicated to getting the most "bang for your buck". Features Listener emails, Industry news, Features about a related topic, and usually a single in-depth DVD and extremely in-depth CD review per episode. Often has a knowledgeable guest or interview lately which is very nice. Usually a new episode every two weeks or so. Another very enjoyable podcast that is very relaxing to listen to.

AVRant
This is more or less the "bad boys" of Home Theater podcasting, or more accurately the bad boy and his long suffering female co-host podcast. Brought to you by Audioholics, this podcast has generally less news and has less of a predictable format than the others. Quite often hilarious, it's almost more of a comedy show than any kind of news show, although when they get the Audioholics big whigs on, they can get into some pretty high level discussions. It's almost like a radio morning show for AV geeks. While not exactly relaxing, when I need to hear some fun insanity with some AV information and, yes, ranting thrown in, I put this on. It's usually once a week, and decidedly "PG" rated.

I can't say I agree with everything on these shows all the time, and these podcasters are not exactly shy about voicing opinions, but there is plenty to be learned from all of them for an AV geek like me.

Blu Ray Player necessities and upgrades

2009-01-21T18:18:00.002-05:00

Got a new Blu Ray Player? Time to upgrade it!!!
So you decided to take the plunge and get a Blu Ray Player to experience the best available High Definition Audio and Video in your own home. Awesome. The high bitrate 1080p video on Blu Ray discs has the potential, and often does look far superior to the overly compressed, poorly processed "HD" video you get coming from your Cable TV or Satellite TV provider. The Audio? With a well recorded disc encoded with Dolby TruHD or DTS HD Master Audio the sound in your home Theater can be truly breathtaking, with 7.1 channels of "Digital Master" quality sound. Virtually the same sound the Mastering Engineer listened to. Even if you don't have the ideal Receiver with HDMI to get TruHD or HD Master Audio, you will still get improved sound using an optical or coax digital connection at up to double the bitrate of what's available on DVD.

What's required for the best video:
An HDMI cable for full 1080p video. Component Video usually supports up to 1080i/720p for Blu Ray discs, but very often the Blu Ray player will output 480p or 480i for DVD's. So HDMI is your best bet for the best video quality.

What's required for the best audio:
For Dolby TruHD or DTS HD Master Audio you will need either an HDMI cable (see above) or a Multi channel I/O Cable, depending on what inputs you have on your receiver. If your receiver does not have HDMI inputs or multi channel audio inputs, then you will have to settle for using an optical or coax digital cable, which will still give you far superior sound compared to what you get from DVD's. If your Optical or Coax digital audio cables are a bit sketchy, you may want to upgrade them a bit to be sure your getting all of those pesky little 1's and 0's that your blu ray player is sending.

How to improve your Video and Audio even more:
Properly setting up or "Calibrating" your Display can make a huge difference in picture quality. Most TV's are not set up in the factory to look their best in your home. They are set up to look their best* in a big box chain store filled with light and alongside other competing TV's.
Setting up the Sound properly in your home theater will make sure your speaker levels are set correctly, your crossover frequencies are set properly and your bass management is set up to get the best results with your subwoofer.

Inexpensive and Easy Upgrade Products:

Video and Audio Calibration and Setup

HDMI Cables

Blu Ray Multi Channel I/O Cables

Optical Digital Audio cable upgrades

Coax Digital Audio upgrades

Further Reading:

Dolby TruHD - Making the Right Connections

DTS core + Extensions

DTS HD Master Audio

*best as in brightest possible with exaggerated colors and excessive, noise inducing sharpness settings.

CES 2009 Day 3

2009-01-11T00:22:00.001-05:00

CES 2009 Day 3
Sands Convention Center/Innovation Hall

Boxee had a very hot booth. Their website description: "on a laptop or connected to an HDTV, boxee gives you a true entertainment experience to enjoy your movies, TV shows, music and photos, as well as streaming content from websites like Hulu, Netflix, CBS, Comedy Central, Last.fm, and flickr".
So basically they are an HTPC interface with built-in online support for the most popular online TV and movie sites. The interface looked sweet. I can't wait to get home, fire up my Mac and try it out!

Sleek had some very nice looking earbud headphones, both wired and wireless, with some of the most interesting features you can imagine. The earbuds unplug easily from the cables making the cables easily replaceable. Little parts on the headphones can be easily removed to give increased bass or treble, and the fit in your ear seems much better than just about any I've tried. The overall look was indeed, sleek.

Sony had some Innovation award winning nice little camcorders that were as small and feature filled as anything else I saw. Take their "smile shutter" technology, where a still photo can automatically be taken when someone in the move frame smiles - amazing!

Shure had a very cool award winner - an almost adapter sized XLR to USB Microphone adapter for digital recording with zero latency and better than CD audio quality. Basically the smallest form factor Mic Preamp/Audio Interface imaginable. Super cool.

Liquid Image won for a 5.0MP Camera built into a scuba diving mask for swimming, snorkling or scuba diving. Plus, it was pretty cool looking.

Vuzix won for the first and only Widescreen Video eyewear. It has 16:9 video form factor they claim equivalency to a 52" widescreen. Not sure how they figure that, but they look cool enough. Hopefully they don't weigh as much as a 52" widescreen...

The logitech Harmony 1100 touchscreen universal remote won my award as the best remote I saw. Certainly won't be cheap.

The Tonium Pacemaker P211 won for being the worlds first pocket-size DJ system that "let's you mix, play and perform anywhere, anytime. I saw some people having a fantasic time with it at their booth. It's about the size of a womans compact mirror. Pretty amazing stuff.

Chieftec stepped up with some pretty serious looking HTPC cases with VFD screens and impressive looking construction quality and nice finishes.

Venetian High End Audio

Judging speaker quality is a tough job in short listening sessions, especially without control over the music being played. The manufacturers always play music that highlights what they consider a speakers strengths and downplay it's weaknesses. The rooms are also vastly different. Some rooms are small and narrow and others are huge with high ceilings. All of these differences make trying to compare imaging and bass performance tricky at best.

Totem diverged greatly from their typical designs with the new "Wind". They are pretty stunning looking and sound pretty incredible with the usual Totem "tonefullness".

Usher was showing off some new models in their Dancer series. I listened to the Mini One and another who's name escapes me. I love these speakers and the Beryllium tweeters are fantastically detailed and yet still somehow sweet sounding to me. The overall sound though, seems entirely dominated by them. I love to listen to them, but I don't know if I could listen to them forever.

I also listed to the new TAD Compact Reference, which also sports Beryllium in a scaled down version of their Reference One's. These seem to do a better job of matching up the tweeter with other drivers. Their coincident tweeter/midrange and woofer are from the Reference One, and the sound is superb, but they apparently didn't have enough power to drive them in the rather huge room they had.

YG Acoustic claimed to have "The best speaker on Earth". They were massive and filled the huge room they were in with some rather profound quality sound. It was hard to find fault with them, but they just seemed to me to have too much in the upper midrange/lower treble area. It seems to be pretty typical for a lot of speaker companies to have various bulges in what you might call the "detail" area. It is some fantastic detail indeed, but it's not my cup of tea.

Vandersteen was spinning serious vinyl on a seriously scary Table. I show my lack of high end knowledge by not immediately recognizing it, I guess, but I cannot fathom how it could possibly be shipped without complete disassembly. It sounded absolutely wonderful. Of course the Vandersteen speakers are what I came to hear. I am a big fan of time alignment and coherence in speakers and have never had a chance to hear Vandersteens, which I hate to admit. These were Vandersteen Seven's and they were utterly wonderful from top to bottom. It may have helped that I listened to music I liked, and perhaps the cozy setup they had helped as well. But it's a bit telling that I came back for another round of listening. I certainly can't afford these, but I'll definitely check out the lower end models next time I'm shopping for speakers.

Quad ESL's are considered one of the finest speakers available. I heard them last year as well, and again they sounded as "right" as any speaker I've ever heard. I don't know if I just hit them at the wrong time, when they are playing music without a wide sound field, the room is just too narrow, or if they just don't create any kind of wide sound stage , but both times they sounded practically mono. If not for that, I'd gladly sell my car, move close enough to work to bike it, and live happily with these forever.

Von Schweikert Unified 3 was another speaker I think I would love to live with. I didn't hear much familiar music, and there was, at times, some background noise, so I know they are extremely good, and can't wait to hear them again.

CES 2009 Day 2 the South Hall

2009-01-09T23:47:00.004-05:00

CES 2009 Day 2
South Hall
South Hall is a favorite, since I see so many of our current favorite vendors and get a lot of chances to find new products. It's big, really big, so it's tiring, but there are also chances to see the latest technologies as well as fun, weird stuff.
Getting Internet provided TV content onto your TV is another new rather universal theme, but their are issues with all the implementations other than a full fledged HTPC solution, and anyone doing that knows that there are plenty of issues even with that. This is a fledgling market that is only now finding its way and trying hard to monetize their offerings. Buying into one proprietary solution is fraught with possible future issues. Anything that can't be easily updated, as well as anything that has no easy way to input information (such as URL's) in characters as well as numbers is likely to be unusable at some point. Buyer beware!

Optoma had a great demo of their HD8200 Projector.

Da-Lite had a great 3D Projector Screen Demo which was lots of fun. 3D was all over the place this year. You have to wear glasses of course, but they are getting way better at it. I'm sorry I missed the Panasonic 3D demo, but there were extremely long wait times.

Thermaltake and Moneual had some stunning looking HTPC cases with VFD screens and touch screens.

Gefen is shipping their Wireless HDMI solution, and has tons of new great products.
The Gefen product line always seems to grow exponentially, and as a Gefen distributer on the East Coast we try to make all their popular products available quickly to east coast installers and consumers. They have a lot of new "problem solvers" as usual, for HDMI Audio and Video, extension, digital signage, switching and distribution.

B&W always manages to bring their high end stylish models but none of their other various lines that we can afford. Tons of room in the booth for more, but mostly wasted space.

Supra Cables from Sweden had a large booth. They are a longtime manufacturer trying to break into the North American market. Looked like good stuff, but where were the beautiful Swedish models? Come on, that's CES marketing 101!

Powerbridge had a nice little booth with all their latest rather ingenious in wall Flat panel power and A/V connection products for installers and DIYers.

DataComm has a similar line of in wall AV and power solutions for the installer market. We are hoping to add their product line very soon.

Calrad had the usual plethora of connectivity products. They had a nice litttle 4-channel headphone Amp perfect for schools, a nice PC HD to HDMI scaler for up to 1080p, a single Cat5e HDMI extension solution and all of the usual HDMI and AV Wall plate solutions they should rightfully be famous for. They also have the xLobby Media Management and Automation control line popular with installers. We've been a very happy Calrad distributer for a long time and love their determination to provide installers with the widest selection of installer products at great prices. Unfortunately they had no models in skimpy clothes, just knowledeable human beings.

Asus had a huge booth. One thing I didn't get was a lot of there laptops had "sparkles" look which unfortunately extended all over the keyboard which could make visibility of keyboard letters in common overhead lighting situations rather bad. HP had some similar models, so apparantly bad ideas are contagious. Their much maligned HD audio card was there, but not labeled. Hopefully they'll get those problems sorted out soon. Their "Bamboo" series notebooks I had to say looked fantastically desireable. I just hope they hold up to the road. Their Eee touchscreen all-in-one computers seemed fun, although HP had a more spectacular version which we'll get to. These used the Intel Atom N270 and should hit a very good price point. Touch screens are indeed very fun and natural to use, although they still have some weak spots.

Netgear is working hard to get your Internet Video onto your TV with a selection of products. They looked very worthy of further investigation.

iDapt, from Spain had a really cool little power solution for charging up to three varied devices at once with one little box using modular replaceble connectors. They come with a variety of interchangeable "tips" - connector modules. So you could have an iPod/iPhone, cell phone and GPS all charging at once. They even had modules for AAA and AA rechargeable batteries. Green is in baby! It seems like a brilliantly done system, and we are hoping to offer them.

Finally, HP had some of their usual great stuff, although they also thought sparkly finishes on the keyboards of some of their laptops was cool. They had some awesome 25.5" displays with any feature you could want. My favorite was their all-in-one Touch screen Display/Computer. Seemed like the same 25.5" display size, but I could be wrong. The touch screen functionality needs some work. I could not "minimize" a window using my fingers, and some things worked a bit like they didn't quite have it all nailed down yet, but fun was undeniable. The connectivity looked great, the overall look was nice and if it all comes together it's a real "Grandmas" computer at very Apple competitive prices. These things could be very hot! And Screen cleaning
cloths and sprays will also be a huge seller!

Again no time for pictures yet. I'll have to fill them in after I get home. For what is considered a rather "dead" CES, this one has lot's of good stuff going on.

Tomorrow, the Sands "Innovation Hall" which is generally very good, and then the Venetian for High End Audio.

CES 2009 day 1, Central Hall

2009-01-09T00:41:00.002-05:00

Central Hall
Flatwire had a big booth with the "best dressed" booth babe - dressed in Flatwire cables.
(I'll try to post pictures later)

The biggest thing that was very clear in the Central Hall was that all the big time Display manufacturers are taking motion artifacts and motion resolution to be the new holy grail. Clearly 1080p "full HD" is no longer a big selling point, and every display is sporting multiple HDMI connections so everyone has moved on to eliminating motion blur and lost resolution during on-screen motion. Most of the majors had comparisons of their 60Hz, 120Hz and 240Hz refresh rates and "pseudo data" interpolation schemes. After all, if the images "between" actual image data have to be created, they are not "real" image data. The problem is that it takes a heck of a lot of processing power to make up quality interpolated images at these refresh rates, so the room for improvement is going to be there for some time to come. It was impressive, though to see the improvements made since last year on most of these super speed LCD's. LED backlighting is ever getting more impressively "localized" creating much more natural images and better black levels without loss of shadow detail among other positives. Of course the fly in the ointment is that "film" is shot at 24fps, and has, as a result, natural "judder". Take out the judder and everything starts to look like it was shot with a video camera, rather than film, and this will no doubt upset the purists to no end. Of course "thin is in" with flat panels, and LG and Panasonic had screens that looked flatter than projector screens.

LG had an extremely impressive booth. Aside from their 240Hz and LED backlight demos, one very impressive feature was their built in "Picture Wizard" to help you adjust the display for best contrast, white level sharpness, tint and colors. Very impressive! Kudos to LG for what looks like a very easy system to use. Of course it won't adjust for the source device, but that is obviously beyond their control. There was an OLED display demo that was impressive, but it was still rather small. They also had a 3-D projection demo that was quite impressive. It might have looked even better if some previous user of my glasses hadn't put their fingerprints all over the lenses...

Panasonic had an enormous booth with a few awesome demos of their plasma displays emphasizing their new plasmas full 1080 lines of resolution with very fast motion, compared with much lower resolution available from LCD displays. They also had a demo showing some rather stunning black levels. Plasma is still alive and well and kicking with Lead boots on. Their demo of their PT-AE3000U demo was impressive, but I saw no mention of any upcoming Organic LCD Projector.

Pioneer had the usual gorgeously black Components and plasmas with awesome picture quality and extreme black levels. The surprise was the Speakers. The TAD and EX series look extremely impressive. I heard the TAD before and was extremely impressed, but it seems the EX series is the "trickle down" line which looks really promising.

Toshiba had a nice booth with lots of nice looking displays, but the disconcerting "XDE" DVD playback demo seemed to have some obvious edge enhancement. C'mon Toshiba, give up the malice and embrace the Blu! Everyone else sure seems to.

One company who shall remain nameless due to possible legal reasons - let's just say the companies name starts with an "S" and ends with an "amsung" had the usual (for them) policy of "no pictures". Therefore they will not be discussed.

Sony had "the worlds first" 240Hz display! Well, maybe they were first, but they sure aren't the only ones to have one now. They did have a lovely assortment of lovely Sony displays at all price levels - expensive, extremely expensive and explosively expensive. Hey, we kid, we're kidders! I have two Sony TV's myself, and a projector, and a PS3!.... Love that Sony stuff.... Anyway, Sony was all about the "Blu". They even had a Mega Changer for Blu Ray disks so that you can Buy, buy, BUY those Blu Ray disks! I mean c'mon! People are going to notice all of the artifacts, lack of detail and macroblocking on Netflix Instant and Hulu eventually... Well, ok, some people will.

Monster Cable had something new and impressive - a Lamborghini!

Canon had some HD camcorders that will literally fit in the palm of your hand! And so cute too! The SD camcorders were even smaller still. Soon you'll be able to wear them like a ring!

TEAC had some good looking USB Turntables which should be good considering the TEAC heritage. They also had a lot of Pro duplicators and stuff you'd more likely associate with them.

Blue had a booth way in the back with their Microphones. Very nice stuff.

Urrgghhh. It's just too late for me to post pictures tonight. Maybe tomorrow. My Thai food was a level "7" in hotness when I should stick with a "5", and I forgot to get a receipt! Was hoping to do something tonight but the South Hall awaits me tomorrow. It's going to be a long day.

CES 2009 day -1

2009-01-07T22:11:00.004-05:00

CES 2009 day -1

If you can get to CES a day or two early, it's always a good idea. There are, actually things to do here, and places to eat. I love to wander around and see the amazing amounts of new construction projects going on and visit old haunts as well as new places I can have as old haunts later. Some old haunts go away and I'm sad to see them go. My first stop for food was "Burger Bar" in Mandalay Place for my favorite sandwich - a King Salmon steak "burger" with Asparagus, Portabella mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, onions and Dijon mustard on a sesame seed bun. I washed it down with a nice IPA while watching a replay of the Eagles losing to the Patriots in the super bowl on a small LCD screen in my booth. Being an Eagles fan, I've seen this video countless times, and I can tell you, the Eagles always lose. My next meal of note was at "Red 8" at the Wynn They had an off hour special for $18.88 which I got the vegetarian version of. The service was excellent and the food was rather good, contrary to some mediocre Yelp reviews. Nothing like the greasy Chinese food you get in a lot of places here in the states. Of course in the Wynn it better be good.
This year there were tons of hotel deals due to the economy but I brainstormed the Sahara as by base of operations. Why? It's the first stop at the unpopular end of the monorail and it's in walking distance to the convention center. I've been hosed before at the fun end of the strip with huge lines for buses and the monorail, plus it was really inexpensive. The monorail station is insanely close to my room, actually, and so the entire strip is quite accessible. Plus, I finally made it to the "Stratosphere" and checked out the panoramic view - highly recommended. The area has some well regarded restaurants and while the neighborhood is certainly more sketchy than the upper strip, well, you can safely just jump on the monorail and be uptown in 15 minutes or so.

Tomorrow, Thursday, I'm hitting the International show at the Hilton, and then the Central Hall. Should be fun! The International hall is always weird, and I have completely failed to learn how to say "Hi, are you single, and do you want to run off to New Jersey with a dirty old man" in Mandarin Chinese, so it's not looking like a promising morning. The Central Hall should cheer me up though, since that's where they have all the awesome new TV's, Computer technologies, Music and DJ stuff and hot, friendly American booth babes to make me feel manly again.

Friday I'll hit the South hall, which should be a full days worth of brutality, walking two levels of ginormous floors. I normally try to do this on day 1, and can barely feel my legs afterwards. If time permits, I'll crawl through the North hall seeking hot booth babes to take pictures of, in what is, of course, the "Car sound" hall.

On Saturday I'll check out the Sands Expo and Convention Center, which is quite difficult in itself. Somehow, I always get totally turned around at some point and lose track of where I've been. I brought a compass this time, which may make me screw up even more. I'll finish off with High End Audio in the Venetian which is sort-of attached. I generally try to get a listen to the best high end speakers. I'm a bit of a speaker fanatic. What else influences the sound of your system more? And what else can you listen to for 5-10 minutes and get a general idea of how they sound? I wish I had time to go to "The Show" - the other high end audio event going on at Alexis Park and St Tropez hotels but I doubt I'll have time, and they are oh so snobby there, it's hard to get a listen unless you're certified "high end media". Don't get me wrong, most rooms they are incredibly nice, but some just take one look at your non Gucci shoes, or whatever and attitudinally pee on you.

That's the plan, in any case. I'm going to miss some good football games, but I have the Eagles/Giants set to record on Sunday while I'm flying back home. I may have to miss work on Monday due to staying up all night watching the game. I hope nobody tells me who won beforehand...

CES 2009

2008-12-30T20:09:00.002-05:00

CES 2009
We'll be at CES again, January 8-12 2009, in Las Vegas and blogging about the latest and greatest things we check out in Audio/Video connectivity and computer accessories.
And yes, as usual, we'll also be complaining about the worst and stupidest things we see. Sometimes you just can't help but poke a little fun.

With the economy as it is, this huge show may be a little more interesting than usual. Will dealers and manufacturers scramble for objects of need, rather than objects of desire?

Things have changed drastically since last year. There's no longer a HD disk war, and the whole digital transition thing is very NOW, rather than later. Wireless Audio/Video may be looking like more fact than fantasy for a change, and the real year of the HTPC may have finally arrived. People want to find ways to save money with technology more than ever before.

Please stay tuned, it is always crazy, and always fun!
We always find some time to check out some Speakers and things in high end audio, and this time we may even throw in some of our dining reviews!

High Definition TV Reception using an Antenna

2008-12-17T15:23:00.001-05:00

Get High Definition TV for Free with an Antenna?
A lot of people are buying new LCD and Plasma HDTV's and Projectors everyday, but they can't get HDTV! With so many people upgrading the Cable TV companies and Satellite companies just don't currently have the installers or Boxes to go around. Sure, if you are willing to wait a month or so they'll hook you up, but what are you going to do in the meantime? A lot of other people already use antennas for their TV reception, but may need to upgrade what they have to get good results with the new digital channels. Well, the latest HDTV's pretty much all have built-in "ATSC" tuners which can receive local broadcasts over Antenna for free. All you need is an Antenna, and a bit of know-how to get it set up right.
What do you need to get started?
First, you need to determine what type and size of antenna you will need, which depends on your location. Different locations will be closer or farther away from the Broadcast Towers, and some Stations will eventually be at different frequencies after the digital changeover in February. While most stations will be in the UHF band, some stations are changing from UHF to VHF after the changeover. So how do you find out? There is a great website that walks you through selecting and directing your antenna.
Antennaweb.org

Just click on the "choose your antenna" button, put in your address or just zip code and fill out a few questions and it gives you all kinds of results for every "local" TV station in any direction from you. Most people will just want to aim for the main towers in the closest city. This way you don't need to rotate the antenna to pick up different stations. Those close enough to the local stations towers can often get good reception using a small indoor antenna. Just pick up a small antenna, Those far away would generally need a larger, roof mounted job - quite a bit more of a permanent installation than you may want, but hen again, it's free digital TV and HDTV which is a nice option to have if your Cable or Satellite TV service goes down or you get sick of paying for it. Anyway, it gives you the Antenna type color code, miles from the Broadcast Tower and Compass heading referenced in degrees from magnetic North. All you need to set up the Antenna for good reception. They also have a variety of FAQ's and Resource sites which should answer any other questions you may have. Another great resource is the AVS Forum "Local HDTV Info and Reception" forum where you can ask questions and read up on what people local to you are doing for OTA (over the air) Reception.

If you decide to take the plunge, we have some of the top rated Antennas, Amplifiers and Splitters to finish the job.
Please see our Channel Master Products Section.

Series of Audio "Archiving" Articles - Turntables, Cassette Decks

2008-12-03T20:09:00.004-05:00

Well, my recession plan to dip into old, cheap media resources is evolving it seems, and so I'll be having some fun updating some of our "how to" guides with whatever I find to work. I already promised another turntable update. An additional section about cassette decks will be added as well. Why? Well a lot of people have lots of tapes of all kinds on cassette.
I happen to have some tapes that seem important to me to archive, so I got a few cassette decks from ebay to test out.
First thing I'll say - you have to be careful! Cassette decks tend to use a lot of rubber belts and rubber wheels and heads that wear out. Second thing I'll say is you can get super mega nice decks at unbelievable prices if careful....
I'm currently listening to some old Soundgarden and Tom Waits tapes on a deck that cost me $35 with shipping and listed for $1245 as I write this, and let me tell you, the tapes sound pretty nice!
I'll mainly try to give you the links to the best info I find, as well as products.

The updates will be posted here:
How to connect your computer to your stereo

Cyber Monday HDTV Cable Sale

2008-12-01T08:12:00.002-05:00

Last day of our Black Friday to Cyber Monday HDTV Cable Set Sale.
Connect your Cable/Satellite Box or Blu Ray Player to your HDTV, three cables for under $10!
• HDMI 6 foot Cable, HDMI 1.3 Compliant
• Component Video Cable, 6 feet long, Gold plated Contacts, HD Component Video up to 1080p
• Digital Audio Cable, 6 feet long, Optical Toslink for Dolby Digital and DTS Surround Sound

Panamax - Power and In-Wall Cable Solutions

2008-11-19T18:35:00.001-05:00

Panamax not only offers High End Power conditioners for your Home Theater and top quality Surge supressing Power Strips, but their "Max In Wall" series of Wall plates offer In wall power and AV cabling solutions with power filtering for a "Complete" solution to your In wall AV cable and power problems.

Panamax - Power and In-Wall Cable Solutions

____________________________________________________________________
Panamax power and av in wall solution Put your Power and AV cabling in the wall! Panamax has true code compliant solutions with built in power filtering. Hide the wall plate behind your Wall mounted Plasma or LCD Display, for that "no cables" look. Various versions available with modular AV connection blocks. Whether you need an In-wall power extension solution, Power and AV, or just the perfect Power Conditioning for your Home Theater or Computer - Panamax has a great solution for you.

The Pros use Panamax - so should you!
Panamax Products

Blu Ray beats Downloads!

2008-11-17T20:49:00.004-05:00

Blu-ray earns high marks from consumers

Study finds that users prefer discs to streaming 10-to-1

Maybe propaganda, but then, I like physical disks, don't you?
I don't understand why everyone thinks downloads are the way to go. I watch plenty of Netflix instant movies, and I can't wait for them to go "HD", but would I buy drm encrypted data over a physical disk? Hah, not likely!!! Give me a disk, every time!

Disconnected - TV Antenna users Life in Hell

2008-11-12T19:39:00.002-05:00

Whether you are an early adopter HDTV OTA (over the air) user or a regular old TV from antenna user you have some work to do if you want to watch TV at all, or all the TV you can get.
The Digital TV changeover is coming soon on February 17, 2009! That's hard enough for regular antenna users who have to get conversion boxes, but there's a fly in the ointment for early adopters who thought they were all ready to go.

Regular old TV Antenna types should see:
AntennaWeb's walk through guide to choosing an Antenna
Antenna Web's Resources (Information sites)

Early Adopters should recheck their final channel assignments taking place at the transition. Many of us switched to UHF only Antennas due to what looked like all our local stations were going to be UHF. At the changeover, some TV stations are now going to switch their HDTV signals to use high and low VHF bands which we won't get. This means changing Antennas as well as possiblty antenna amps and preamps. Quite a pita. Who knows what ATSC, OTA Digital tuner Set top boxes, HDTV cards in computers - Media Center, Mac or HTPC will be affected? Maybe not likely, but who's been testing with low and mid VHF? There's not a lot of "real world" data, yet.
Here's some good info:
HDTVexpert - Info on new VHF and UHF channel assignments
HDTV expert - Test of five antennas

I have enough problems pulling in the stations I should, just using different tuners with the same antenna setup. Where's this possibly going when I throw in VHF frequency bands? Am I the only one who thinks this might be a problem? I doubt it. More "fun" for "us", I guess.

What's better than $1 Records?

2008-10-08T14:07:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago, I wrote about getting back into vinyl, I got a used record player and a new cartridge for it, and since have been spending some happy weekend hours perusing the $1 bins at used record stores. We all love to shop, and we certainly all love a bargain, especially at times like these. Well, I forgot all about Yard sales... The going rate for records at yard sales is 50 cents! It is also pretty common for yard sale records to be in good shape as well. So I can get two full records for the price of a song on itunes...
I think we'll need to do a little feature on importing records into your computer soon.
We do have some information about this on our "How to connect your PC to your Stereo" page.
Let us know if you are interested and we'll try to get it done sooner rather than later.

Understanding Audio and Video Wire and Cable

2008-09-16T20:18:00.004-04:00

We just added a new article - Understanding Audio and Video Wire and Cable
It is a tutorial on Audio and Video Cables, from a slightly technical perspective, although we try to explain things in mostly laymen's terms with examples and clear, easy to understand specifics on the differences of varying cable parameters. It is not a FAQ, but more or less an overall tutorial. We hope it's easy enough to read and learn from. Please comment and we'll fix it too your liking.
In any case, why not take a shot and see if you can add a bit to your cable IQ?

Understanding Audio and Video Wire and Cable

Thermalright

2008-09-10T18:00:00.003-04:00

Thermalright PC Cooling Products

RAM Electronics is proud to announce it is an Authorized Thermalright dealer.
Our Goal over the years has always been to provide the best products available to save our customers the time and trouble of spending hours doing research.
Thermalright is a perfect example of this, as they are the best reviewed, most imitated Computer Heatsink Manufacturer out there. Of course you don't have to take our word for it, just read the reviews at the Silent PC Cooling sites, Gamer Overclocking Sites and Performance PC Sites and you'll soon come to the same conclusion. So if you want to build an Ultra Quiet HTPC or a Killer Gaming Rig, or just want to replace your current cooler, they have a very over engineered soultion at a great price.

Thermalright Company info
Thermalright is an elite design house that manufactures cooling products for computer components for the best quality and performance your money can buy. In 2002, AMD released its first generation Thunderbird CPU and since then they have been there every step of the way to counter high voltage and high heat with innovative design and highly acclaimed cooling solutions not only for AMD but for Intel as well. One of early well known solutions was the SK-6. With many positive and rave reviews under its belt Thermalright bolted to the top as the heat sink manufacturer mostly preferred by Overclockers and enthusiasts around the World. To this day, innovation never left their vocabulary as they keep coming up with leading edge designs staying ahead of the competition

Thermalright Products

Thermalright Reviews

New iPod Extreme - Docking Connector Line output cables

2008-08-27T18:07:00.004-04:00

iPod Extreme Audio cables for Home and Car Stereo

We try to keep busy in the summer doing the usual summer stuff, and a lot of us do it with our iPods. If you also like to do things with your iPod, we have something new, right off the drawing board you might find enhances the relationship!

The Home Audio iPod Extreme - Awesome noise free sound with extremely wide bandwidth.

Due to the big difference in audio quality available from the iPod Docking connectors "line output" compared to the headphone output, we have designed these cables from the ground up to give you the ultimate sound quality from your iPod. We offer two types - one designed primarily for home audio use to your stereos left and right stereo audio RCA connector inputs, and one designed for Car audio with a mini stereo plug for your cars "Aux" input. Both are made with the same high grade silver plated Teflon twisted pair wires.

And the Car Audio iPod Extreme:

Mini Plug Stereo Connection for Car Audio "AUX" Inputs.
Same great sound, Same nice looks, Same durable construction. Available now to hear your iPod like you never heard it before!

Features:
· Silver Plated Copper wire
· Teflon Insulated
· Dual Twisted Pairs for low noise, excellent sound quality
· Silver Soldered
· Techflex Jacket
· Super low Capacitance for wide bandwidth
· Custom made to order in the USA!

Links:
iPod Extreme mini
iPod Extreme RCA

Setting up your new/old turntable and cartridge

2008-08-20T16:47:00.003-04:00

Setting up your new/old turntable and cartridge
I received the old Denon DP-45F turntable I mentioned in the last blog entry and a new Grado Cartidge (RED) I bought on ebay and hooked them up to my Denon 3805 Receiver. I use this system for my Computer audio and iPod audio while working or using my computer. The speakers are Reference 3A Dulcets - it's a nice sounding little system.

While spending 5 figures on a turntable, tonearm, cartridge and ancillaries seems easy for some, it is not my cup of tea. Plus, I cannot afford tea like that! There are plenty of great, old turntables that are easy to afford for those interested in testing the waters of "analog audio" - "LP records" to us normal people.
Ebay is filled with plenty of Thorens, Dual, Garrard, Pioneer, Technics Turntables and all sorts of other brands from yesteryear that probably only 40 somethings or older may remember. There are plenty of yardsale or fleamarket options, but in all cases you have to be careful to not get a "project" TT - a turntable that needs repair. Do your homework before buying a turntable. Get a top model Turntable from the mid to late 70's and up and it should have a pretty nice tonearm. Get a new Grado Black, green, blue, red or Shure M97XE cartidge online for a good price and you have the basic hardware for high quality playback. You'll also need a receiver or amp with a good "phono" preamp section for best results.
Getting Started:
Setting up a cartridge in your new/used turntable is unfortunately a bit of a PITA. You have left CD world and are in a new land of DANGER. It would not be so difficult if your needle were indestructible, but unfortunately that is not the case. It's a teensy weensy little diamond glued onto a glob of material glued to a teensy weensy little shaft, etc. We are talking FRAGILE.
Wiring:
You have to get the wiring right, and you need to be very careful with the tiny gauge wires involved - they break very easily. The little sockets involved are certainly strange to a newbie (or more accurately - non oldbie?). The wires are color coded and the cartridge should come with a wiring guide. The markings on cartridges are so small they are hard to see and are sometimes incomplete enough that relying on them is tricky, so hopefully you have the paperwork on your cartridge.
Alignment and Setup:
Alignment in the head shell is necessary so that the cartridge stays as close as possible to 90 degrees perpendicular to the record grooves while traversing the record and parallel to the platter/record. This is not fun to do, and particularly dangerous for the needle. You can buy numerous alignment devices, but there are also easy to use printable pdf versions that you can print out, and as long as you are very careful, and can find a way to accurately poke out the "center hole" for the spindle of your turntable, they can do the job very well.
Setting up the proper "tracking weight" (how much weight the needle has applied to press down into the record groove) is hugely important to how well the needle can track the grooves, as well as how much the needle may adversely effect the wear on the grooves. It's a balance between the two you need to achieve. Too light - and you get distortion as well as groove damage since the needle has limited groove surface area contact and tends to get bounced around. Too heavy and the needle is just not compliant enough to follow the grooves with all the weight applied and scrapes off the sharp edges (dynamics and high frequencies) until you get - mush. There are digital gauges which are nice, but a bit pricey. They should work very well. Then again, "manual" gauges like the Shure SFG-2 can be had for less. The negative part is they are not "brain dead" setup gauges. You will need to be careful with your needle, you may need to read and understand directions - and at this point you are probably pretty tired of "tools" like that! In any case, a manual gauge is not going to ever stop working unless you lose it.
BIG NOTE: Always RAISE the needle before making adjustments. It will take more time, but your needle will survive the process!
Anti skating - Easy - Just set it equal to the Tracking force you use. Most turntables should work very well set this way.

Here are some good links to more info to help you out.
Info:
Align Your Turntable Cartridge:
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/freestuff.htm
Tonearm Alignment:
http://www.theanalogdept.com/tonearm_alignment.htm
Cartidge Setup:
http://www.audiophilia.com/features/cartridge_setup.htm
Record Cleaning:
http://www.sleevetown.com/vinyl-cleaning.shtml

Hopefully you have local used record stores that have bins and bins of records for $1 for you to hunt through.
Have fun, and happy listening!

How to connect your Computer to your Stereo

2008-08-13T16:42:00.003-04:00

We updated our Howto page: "How to connect your Computer to your Stereo"
[Why? I bought a turntable on ebay]

Well, we finally got around to an update of our popular "How to connect your Computer to your Stereo" page. Not a huge update, mainly added some extra info on connecting your Turntable to your computer and added links to some good free software.

It should be getting some further updates pretty soon. Why? Mainly because I just bought a turntable. Yeah, maybe I'm crazy - they are noisy, inconvenient, and can get to be an expensive hobby all in themselves, but I just miss playing records.

What brought all this on? Well, I was browsing around in the used CD store when I just couldn't help but browse through some of those $1 records they had virtually tons of. I kept finding old records I liked until the next thing I knew I was browsing through the $2-$5 sections. I stopped myself before I went crazy, since I gave up on my old Garrard Belt drive turntable years ago and had nothing to play them on.
What is it, nostalgia? I know there is a big vinyl resurgence lately, but I never once was tempted to shell out $25 for Norah Jones latest on 180g vinyl, and $2500 for a turntable. Don't get me wrong, I always enjoy listening to high end audio systems at all the high end audio shows, but give me an sacd, DVD audio or hopefully soon some Blu Ray Audio disks - nice clean digital audio on click and pop free disks! Well, I guess I miss the whole reverential process involved that I remember so well from my youth. You find that big 12"x12" square among all your other records, take it out and figure out the tracks you like, clean the disk carefully and set it down on the platter. Then you cue up the arm and move it - just right there - carefully to right over the gap in the tracks and let it slowely drop down... ahhh, I miss that.

No, I'm not one of those that thinks analog just has to sound better. I'll get back to you on that, I guess, since I don't even have a needle yet... Maybe I'm getting old and want to go back to my youth, but then it seems that a big part of the vinyl comeback is amongst the young. Young people were scouring the heck out of those huge bins of LP's. Maybe size matters? I always did miss the SIZE of Records - CD's were more like little toys. You can hardly read the writing. And Digital downloads? Yes, I have my share, but that's even more of a disconnect to having something palpable in your hands - something to sit back on the couch and look at while the record played.

So, while I don't even have the turntable I "won" on ebay - a nice Denon table (the nice Duals were just too high) that was quite nice and a bit expensive in its day, and I have not even ordered a cartridge for it yet, I am definately looking forward to getting it all together and working (supposing it arrives in one piece) .

Yes, I may get bored with the whole thing very quickly, and go back to strictly iPod, CD and my skimpy sacd and dvd audio disk collections for the ease of use, but I may not. Perhaps I'll ride out the recession picking up old $1 records that maybe I never checked out in my youth. Maybe I'll splurge on a few $3 and even $10(!) records that I know I enjoy. In any case it's not going to cost me a fortune to check it out.

How to connect your computer to your HDTV or Standard Def Television

2008-07-23T19:18:00.005-04:00