Audio and Video

AV connections disasters: Speakon mistakes

You can plug 6.3 mm (1/4″) plug to some (but not all) Neutrik Speakon connectors. I mean incorrectly like this: Or like this When you can make the plug to fit in, the plug shorts 1+ to 2+ connections with some potentially bad consequences. Also the 14″ plug can get short circuited. Fun fact is

Phantom power issues

48 volt phantom power that is common in pro audio mixer mic inputs can kill the sound card in your laptop or computer (and some other devices). Here Dave Rat shows a quick and easy test to make sure you do not accidentally damage your valuable computer. Don’t Let Phantom Power Kill Sound Cards –

Friday Fun: AI music videos are here

This modern era of GPU-accelerated AI applications have their benefits. Pulling useful information out of mountains of raw data, alerting users to driving hazards, or just keeping an eye on bee populations are all helpful. Lately there has been a rise in attempts at producing (or should that be curating?) with help of AI works

Speakon power

I just saw this Facebook post in AC Disaster group and had to react to it! Source: Post by Jerry Hicks at AV Disasters Facebook group (used with permission) Almost clever! You can actually plug in US charger to speakon connector and have it to make contact with two “pins” (1- and 2-). You can

HDMI firewall

Any device sporting a chip and some form of communications protocol can be hacked – that’s almost as strong a law as those governing gravity. Besides audio and video data, there are a number of parallel protocols in HDMI that transmit more information than we’d expect. There is I2C configuration data, HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content

HDMI power HDMI 2.1a Amendment 1

The HDMI Forum has published a supplement to the HDMI standard. The new version has made HDMI 2.1a Amendment 1. This new release brings with it only one new feature: support for more powerful power feed to HDMI cable. The only new feature in the standard is known as HDMI Cable Power. HDMI cable has

Speaker to line level attenuator

I saw in Facebook DIY audio group a question about suitable voltage divider resistance values to step down an amplifier’s output (approx 28vrms) to for example around 2.8v. The aim is to use the speaker outputs of an integrated amplifier or AV receiver to run an external power amplifier. Its obvious that a 10:1 ratio

Audio transformer DC

Transformers will only work with a changing current (AC). Transformer only works on AC and can’t be operated on DC i.e. it has been designed to be operated only and only on alternating current and voltage. The transformer works on the principle of mutual induction, for which current in one coil must change uniformly. The