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     Where can I get an adapter that will connect a pair of headphones to speaker outputs? I'm looking at getting an amp that does not have a headphone output.  
     Ideas?
 Phil Elliott, TORONTO, ON

     We do have ideas, Phil, but they may come as a disappointment. There is no convenient way to connect headphones to your amplifier without putting up with a huge performance hit. And we mean a performance hit even when you're not listening to the headphones.
     Several companies used to offer headphone adapter boxes, including QED, which had a whole catalog of such audio accessories. But consider what that involved. The box was connected to the output of your amplifier, and the loudspeaker cables were connected to binding posts on the box itself. Thus when you wanted to listen through speakers, the amplifier output passed through a short cable to the box, through the box's internal wiring (usually a printed circuit board) and a switch, and then out through another set of binding posts. That might have been convenient, but it sure didn't sound good.
     Come to think of it, it may not have sounded good with the headphones either. Most headphones are a lot more sensitive than loudspeakers are, or appear so because they sit right on your ears, and the tiny residual hiss or hum of the typical amplifier, inaudible through speakers, can sound like a freeway at rush hour through phones. Some adapter boxes included resistor pads to cut the sensitivity, but we you might guess that didn't help the quality any. As far as we know the major brand adapter boxes are now in the past, and only low-cost versions can be found today. You probably don't expect us to recommend any of them.
     What we would recommend is a dedicated headphone amplifier. A number of companies offer them at widely varying prices, including Creek, Grado and Antique Sound Lab, to mention but three. Connect it to the "tape out" jacks on your preamplifier or integrated amplifier, so that you can turn down the volume on your main system and still listen to the headphones.
     Want to do it for even less?  We know someone who for five bucks at a yard sale, picked up an old amp which happened to have a headphone jack. An amp like that may or may not sound as good as a real headphone amp, but it's sure easier on the wallet.

     I’m looking at using a Sony PlayStation 3 as a Blu-ray player for my Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-110FD plasma. I do not own a home theatre setup, but do have a Linn analog two-channel audio system. I would like to connect the PS3 to the plasma via HDMI, but would also like to connect analog stereo to my audio system for better sound.  
     Is there a way to connect analog two-channel stereo audio from the PS3 to my Linn?  
Tony G., MONTREAL, QC

     We don't own a PlayStation 3, Tony, but we believe it can't be done, at least not in the way you would like, because the console is not able to separate its audio and video. You can set the console's preferences to output both audio and video via HDMI (you will of course need an HDMI cable), but we know of no way to send video out through HDMI and audio through the analog jacks.
     The workaround is to set your TV set to mute its internal speakers and feed audio via its own left and right front analog jacks. That means putting the audio through the TV set's audio circuits, and there will be something of a performance hit. On the other hand you'll be getting the best possible picture on your Kuro plasma.

     I have a quick question for you regarding the (re)connection of my speakers, which are ProAc Tablette Signature 2000's.
     The tweeters on this model are offset from the centred woofer. For the life of me I cannot remember whether the correct setup is to have the tweeters on the inward or outward side to maximize audio quality. I recently moved, and of course did not take note of the original configuration, and my instruction sheet has magically gotten lost in the move!  
     Is there a general rule here or does it depend on the speaker make.  
Ian Beswick, NORTH YORK, ON

     Both, actually, Ian. The general rule for nearly all speakers is that the tweeter needs to be on the inside. But just to complicate things there is at least one exception. All Reference 3a speakers are meant to have the tweeter to the outside. That was true when Daniel Dehay was the designer, and it’s still true not that Reference 3a has become a Canadian company.
     Why should it be toward the inside? Our guess is that this places the tweeter (slightly) farther away from the side walls, whose reflections in the higher frequencies can mess up the coherence of the music big time. A second possible explanation is that it is more difficult to maintain a stereo image at higher frequencies, and so it’s best if the tweeters are closer together.
     So what does Reference 3a know that the others don’t? And why do some top designers place their drivers in line? Beats us.

     We're looking for a system that allows us to copy cCDs and play them wirelessly at home. The Logitech Squeezebox is an option, but it is just a bit unfriendly in terms of the main DAC itself. For example, the switches on it are not defined by a mechanical click when depressed.
     I'm looking for something I can control from my Windows XP-based computer. So, essentially, a large hard drive filled with CDs, with software on my PC that is wireless, and a wireless DAC connected to my preamp. That sounds like the Squeezebox configuration, but of course as I noted, the SB is a bit inaccessible.
     Any thoughts or suggestions are most welcome since we'd like to enjoy the same convenience as others out there with high quality sound.
Chris Chamberlin,
Frontier Computing, TORONTO, ON

     Chris, for the benefit of readers who haven’t met you, we should explain that you are non-sighted, but that your company is dedicated to making life better for the disabled through technology.
     The buttons on the Squeezebox remote are less of a problem than the gorgeous fluorescent screen, which, alas, will do you little good. We can read ours from across the room, but you need a device that can be made to talk to you. We would suggest getting one of the new inexpensive compact laptop computers, which can be had for not much more than the Squeezebox itself, which is to say it’s not expensive at all by audio accessory standards. You can install your favorite accessibility software, and you can get it to stream music from your main computer over your Wi-Fi network.
     You will, of course want a proper interface between the laptop and your digital-to-analog converter. The Blue Circle “Thingee” would be a very good choice, and we are in the midst of reviewing an upscale device that would also do the trick.