eHow Tech Home Audio CD Players How to Use a CD Player
How to Use a CD Player
By Allen Moore
eHow Contributor
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CDs provide unmatched sound quality for music playback.
John Howard/Digital Vision/Getty Images
A CD is a digital data storage device most commonly used for storing music. Standard CDs can hold up to 700 MB of information, which translates to approximately 80 minutes of music. A precision laser burns the digital information into the surface of the disc in a series of dots and dashes. Another, less powerful laser in the CD player reads those dots and dashes and then transforms that information into an audio signal you can listen to through a stereo system or headphones.
Things You'll Need
RCA cable
A/V receiver
Speaker wire
2 speakers
CD
Connect the rear output jacks on your CD player to the CD input jacks on you're A/V receiver, making sure to connect the red connectors on the cable to the red jacks and the white connectors to the white jacks.
Connect the A/V receiver to the two speakers using speaker wire run from the speaker outputs on the back of the A/V receiver to the speaker inputs on the back of the speakers. Speaker wire consists of two wires run side by side in an insulation wrap, with one wire designated with a line marked on it. Make sure you plug the wire with the line on it into the same side output and input on the receiver and speakers; most have red and black jacks, so plug the wire with the line on it into the red on both ends to prevent phase inversion, which decreases sound quality.
Turn on the CD player and A/V receiver. Eject the CD tray by pushing the "Eject" button on the CD player. Place a CD in the CD player's tray, with the printed side of the disc facing up and then close the tray.
Tune the A/V receiver to the CD input. Push "Play" on the CD to begin playback of the disc. Adjust the volume on the A/V receiver to the desired level.