- published: 30 Aug 2011
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Helsinki ( listen (help·info); Swedish: Helsingfors, listen (help·info)) is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is 596,233 (31 January 2012), making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is located some 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of St. Petersburg, Russia and 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia. Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities.
The Helsinki Metropolitan Area includes the city of Helsinki and three other cities: Espoo and Vantaa, which immediately border Helsinki to the west and north, respectively; and Kauniainen, which is an enclave within the city of Espoo. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the world's northernmost urban area among those with a population of over one million people, and the city is the northernmost capital of a EU member state. Altogether 1.1 million people, approximately one in five Finns, live in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.
A music centre (or center) is a type of integrated audio system for home use, used to play from a variety of media. The term is usually used for lower end or sub-high fidelity or hi fi equipment. The term itself has been in use since the 1970s, though in more recent times the terms mini, micro or midi hi-fi, or integrated hi-fi have been preferred. The distinguishing feature compared to high-end equipment is that there is usually only one main unit, with maybe a pair of detachable or separate loudspeakers, though some equipment also has these built in to the main unit.
Integrated audio equipment has a long history, beginning with the integration of the record player and the wireless receiver. Such units were usually called radiograms or stereograms. Very often these were designed as items of household furniture, with a large wooden cabinet on legs. These units were originally monaural, and featured a single integrated loudspeaker in the main body of the cabinet. By the 1960s these units had become smaller, and had developed to include stereophonic reproduction. The necessity of having suitable separation of the speakers meant that the single cabinet designs evolved into three-box designs, and the main box could become much smaller. By the beginning of the 1970s systems were starting to be made of plastic and other materials rather than wood.