How To Setup A Karaoke System With Home Theater

For the picky ears, sound quality coming from most karaoke machines is not always enough. Connecting it to an external system will give you more flexibility in controlling the sound output. In this article, you will learn how to setup a karaoke system with home theater in no time at all.

You don’t need to be all technical to actually do this. However, you need to know what karaoke system you should be looking for in the first place. Not all of them have the capability to be hooked up to a home theater.

Read on as we also discuss what you should not expect from a home theater. For instance, it is not always the best choice to output vocals. By the end of this article, you should be able to have a clear knowledge of how to turn your home karaoke into a professional karaoke setup.

How To Setup A Karaoke System With Home Theater

Similar to our format with our how-to series, we have created two easy-to-read sections for you. There’s a section on what tools or gears you will need, and how to actually connect them.

What You Will Need

• Karaoke Machine

There are different ways to classify a karaoke machine, but in this article, we’ll divide them into those with built-in speakers and those with none.

Karaoke with no built-in speakers is usually those which have songs included. They can be loaded through USB, cartridges, or CD+G discs. They are specifically designed to be connected to a home theater or any external speaker system.

On the other hand, karaoke machines with built-in speakers are becoming quite a trend these days because it’s already a complete system in itself. Not all of these sing-along systems have an audio out, which allows it to be hooked up to a home theater.

What you will actually need is a karaoke unit which has an RCA connection for audio output. Specifically, that would be the white and red-colored jacks.

• Home Theater System

All home theaters are designed to receive audio from a variety of sources. First and foremost, you will need to have an available audio input to accommodate your karaoke. It will be quite a chore having to unplug your audio in from your TV or gaming console every time you’re planning to sing.

Did you know that professional karaoke machines have PA speakers which outputs great vocal quality? Hooking them up to a home theater will actually make the entire sound a lot better. That is because the music, or instrumentals, will sound great as well.

• RCA cables

These are your standard audio in/out cables. Sometimes it comes with the yellow plug for the video. If you don’t have these cables included with your karaoke purchase, you should be able to buy them online. Make sure that the cord has an appropriate length.

How To Actually Connect Them

STEP 1
Locate the audio out plugs from your karaoke machine. This is the color-coded as red and white. The audio input and output are usually placed side by side. You need to be sure that you plug it into the one labeled as “Out”.

STEP 2
Lay down the cable neatly and connect it to your home theater’s RCA “In”. Some home theaters have an additional label on groupings, like “AUX 1” or “AUX 2”. Take note of the grouping label where you connected plugged your RCA cable in.

STEP 3
Turn on your karaoke machine and your home theater. Change the source input in your home theater to the grouping label you took note earlier. If it doesn’t have one, you can just cycle through all available options until you hear the music playing.

STEP 4
Make the necessary adjustments to your karaoke and home theater for the mic volume and music volume, respectively. If you have pre-defined settings on your home theater, it i is recommended to set it to “Music” or “Stereo” for best results.

These are the basic steps you need to do to get everything up and running. Consult with your system manuals to be sure you can maximize the setup.

Your karaoke machine acts as both a mic receiver and your CD or music player, where you stream your songs from your device. The home theater acts as an external speaker with an amplifier and mixer, all rolled into one.

Professional Karaoke Setup

A great professional karaoke setup can be achieved easily nowadays. However, if you’re going to go big and are planning to make this part of your business you’re going to need to consult with a sound engineer.

The instructions here should be very much appropriate for a personal or home use, though. Basically, you’ll need to have the lyrics going out to your TV, the vocals to your PA speaker, and the music through your home theater speakers.

If you’re hosting a party, connecting your laptop to the karaoke system makes the ambiance more like a karaoke bar. Just add some lights and you’ll have a memorable karaoke party all the time.

Wrapping It Up

We do hope that this article has helped you in improving your karaoke’s sound quality. Even if you are already a great singer, it is just as important to have power and clear sound output from the speakers while singing. With your knowledge of how to setup a karaoke system with home theater, you’ll sure be enjoying your sing-alongs even more.