Karaoke Setup and Buying Guides

Guides cover the questions that come up before and after the box is open: choosing a machine, getting lyrics onto a TV, setting up the mics and singing outdoors.

• How to Choose a Karaoke Machine

  Five checks: lyrics, mics, power, inputs and the box list.

• How to Connect a Karaoke Machine to a TV

  HDMI, RCA, and what to do when a machine has no video output.

• How to Set Up Wireless Karaoke Mics

  Power, pairing, volume and feedback, step by step.

• Karaoke Apps and YouTube: How to Sing Along at Home

  How apps and YouTube fit with a machine, and what to check first.

• Outdoor Karaoke Setup: A Simple Checklist

  Power, placement, weather and volume for a backyard or picnic.

The basics, briefly

Lyrics on a TV. A machine with an HDMI port can send its screen to a TV. Older CD+G machines, such as the Singing Machine SML385, use RCA cables for the lyrics instead. A Bluetooth-only machine plays the sound, but the lyrics stay on the phone or tablet you are singing from.

Wireless or wired mics. Wireless mics give singers room to move. Check whether they charge in the machine, take AA or AAA batteries, or recharge by cable. Wired mics need no batteries, but they need a free mic jack on the machine.

Feedback. That squeal happens when a microphone picks up its own sound from the speaker. Keep singers behind or beside the speaker rather than in front of it, and if it squeals, lower the mic volume first.