stereo

Most speaker docks are on the small side, with an eye toward portability. Consequently, they're rarely powerful enough to fill a room with sound.

One option, of course, is a traditional stereo system with a receiver, a pair of speakers, and wires all over the place. What is this, the '70s?

Another option: pack that entire stereo into a single, floor-standing speaker that docks your iPhone or iPod -- no wires required (except for power, natch).

Like this one: for a limited time, you can get the Fluance FiTSD600 2.1-channel tower speaker dock for $249.99 shipped. That'… Read more

Apple's new iPad Mini does have two stereo speakers, despite Amazon's attempt to fudge the facts.

On Sunday, the retail giant unveiled a comparison chart on its home page pitting its own Kindle Fire HD against Apple's iPad Mini. With all the stats stacked in favor of the Kindle, Amazon said that its tablet offers dual stereo speakers while the iPad Mini is stuck with just mono sound.

Though Amazon has since taken down the chart from its home page, another chart contrasting the two 7-inch rivals now says the iPad Mini has a single speaker.

But … Read more

Bluetooth speakers are all the rage these days, but when you stream your music library, Pandora playlists, and the like to a Bluetooth speaker, the audio gets compressed. And that makes audiophiles angry.

Plus, why listen to a relatively small sound system when you've already got a big, honking stereo? What you need is some Bluetooth-style way to beam your tunes from your iDevice to those sweet speakers -- but without the Bluetooth-style compression.

There's one way, and it's on sale! Through November 4, Shoptronics has the Nyrius NiAA300 Digital Wireless Audio Transmitter System for $59.99 shipped … Read more

What does a 120-year-old Thomas Edison cylinder record player have in common with a brand-new $299 Big Jambox Bluetooth speaker? Both play music in monophonic sound. Everything old is new again.

Home audio was strictly a single-speaker pursuit from the dawn of recorded sound through the late 1950s, when stereo changed the way we listen to music. Multichannel home theater's popularity peaked in the late 1990s, but starting with iPods and sound-bar speakers, mono was back in style. More recently sales of battery-powered, mono Bluetooth speakers started to take off. While these lo-fi systems may contain stereo pairs of … Read more

Parrot's Asteroid was one of the first car stereo systems to be based and powered by the Android operating system, but it won't be the last after the Asteroid Smart, the Asteroid Tablet, and the Asteroid Mini join the original later this month.

The Asteroid Smart will sit at the top of the new lineup, packing a 6.2-inch capacitive, multitouch screen. The unit fits into a standard double-DIN car stereo and, like the rest of the Asteroid lineup, is powered by a heavily customized version of Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). The unit features four standard USB ports (… Read more

This is an update of a deal I wrote about earlier this year.

If you own an iDevice, you've got access to an embarrassment of music-streaming app riches. To name a few: Pandora, Slacker, Spotify, and my new favorite Songza, which streams music based on your mood or activity.

(And don't forget SiriusXM Internet Radio. That deal from Friday is still active, provided you remove the promo code from the form and leave that field blank.)

Of course, to really make the most of those kinds of apps, you need a powerful stereo to which you can beam … Read more

Adding blinking lights to anything is a surefire way to make it totally obnoxious. For some of you, that's a good thing.

Here are two techniques you can use to add sound-reactive lights to your stereo, boom box, computer, or pretty much anything that makes music.

The first option is to use something like an EL Wire Sound Kit. These are sold online from various places and include some combination of electroluminescent wire, a power adapter, and a special power inverter that drives the wire's power in response to sound picked up by an integrated microphone.

The whole … Read more

Here's the dream. You want to walk into your home, cue up some music on your phone, and have it start playing on a nearby speaker. No cables, no docks -- just instant, effortless, wireless music.

For iPhone owners, there's a very clear, prescribed solution: AirPlay. But my phone is Android. It's supposed to have more "does" but what exactly am I supposed to do?

Well, there are a bunch of options out there for Android users looking for an Airplay alternative, and in this How To, I'm going to walk you through my … Read more

This is an update of a deal I wrote about last year.

Yesterday I wrote about a great new app called Songza, which streams music based on your mood or activity. To really make the most of that and similar apps, you need a nice, powerful stereo to which you can beam those tunes.

Something like this: For a limited time, Newegg via CNET Marketplace has the Pioneer X-SMC3-S Music Tap AirPlay Music System for $179.99 shipped when you apply coupon code CNETXSMC3. It sells elsewhere for $199 and up.

The X-SMC3-S is a home stereo system for folks … Read more