Surround Speaker System

Snell XA 2900
($24,500; reviewed by Thomas J. Norton, September 2002)

In its standard finish of black oak (except for the AMC900THX dipole in-wall surrounds), Snell's premier XA 2900 home-theater package is not exactly a looker—but then, it isn't intended to be. While superbly built and available in optional high-quality wood finishes, the XA 2900 is primarily designed as a built-in, custom-installed system for large, high-end home theaters. As such, it will often be spec'd into homes without the owners auditioning it beforehand. That's not something we encourage anyone to do when shopping for speakers, particularly very expensive ones, but no buyer is likely to be disappointed with the Snells.

The XA 2900 front speakers are derived from Snell's top-of-the-line, $30,000/pair XA Reference towers—a pretty fair pedigree to start from. And it shows. The main difference is that the smaller XA 2900 responds down to only 40Hz; you'll need one or more great subwoofers (not included in the price of the package recommended here) to complete the system. So equipped, and properly set up in a good room (four room- and position-compensating switches help accomplish this), the Snells really sing.

The system's only significant sonic signatures are a bit of midrange forwardness not visible in the speakers' excellent measured response, and a slight lack of air at the top that is barely perceptible in the measurements. Otherwise, the XA 2900s are chameleonlike in telling it like it is on both music and soundtracks. The system's maximum output capabilities were well above anything TJN could test in his 3200-cubic-foot home theater room. In his five months with the Snell XA 2900 system, he found it to be a consistently superb and excellently engineered performer.

JBL Performance
($6394; reviewed by J. Gordon Holt, June 2002)

"Realism is one of the Performance's strongest suits," spake JGH in his review of this JBL winner. It excelled at reproducing the size of sources—both musical instruments and film effects. Its output capabilities were impressive. The system's subwoofer responded strongly down to 30Hz, pumping out over 106dB at 35Hz in his room before overloading. "The JBL Performance won't be everyone's snifter of cognac," observed JGH (a comment that can be applied to any speaker), "but it's certainly one of mine. People who know real music, as well as film buffs, will almost certainly love it."

Subwoofer

Earthquake SuperNova MKIV-15
($2900; reviewed by Steven Stone, September 2002)

Steven Stone got all shook up over the Earthquake SuperNova MKIV-15 subwoofer. Scoring high in all the critical requirements for a subwoofer (loud, deep, clean, and fast), it produced bass down to below 20Hz, and did so with panache and style. Whether the program material was music or film, the SuperNova performed with aplomb, improving on the low bass in his room even over his resident L/R front speakers, Dunlavy SC-VIs, each of which has two 15-inch drivers in a box large enough to have required piano movers when he bought a new home just up the street from his old one. Of course, a good powered subwoofer has the advantage of positioning flexibility, and its dedicated amp can be tailored to provide the best system performance. In this case, that performance was so good that SS concluded, "There might be better subwoofers on the planet, but I haven't heard them."

Hsu VTF-3
($849; reviewed by Robert Deutsch, December 2002)

Hsu knows Hsub—that's all they make. Sold directly from their California factory, the company's products have always been great buys and great performers, and the long-awaited VTF-3 is no exception. Yes, it comes in a plain box finished in that ubiquitous black textured material. Yes, if your decorator sees it, you'll have to call the paramedics. But hide it behind the philodendrons and watch the leaves wave. Bob Deutsch found the VTF-3 to be a prodigious performer, pumping out low bass in a way reminiscent of subwoofers that sell for much more. Got a big room? Buy two and follow Russ Herschelmann's recommendations for setting up multiple subs to smooth out a room's bass response. Either way, you'll find it hard to believe that you got bass this good for so little cash.

Digital Video Recorder

JVC HM-DH30000U D-VHS recorder
($2000); reviewed by Joel Brinkley, July/August 2002)

While other manufacturers were pumping out HDTVs and wondering when the program producers were going to come around, JVC did something about it. They arranged for the release of HD movies on D-VHS tape and built the HM-DH30000U D-VHS deck to play them. With its proprietary copy-protection scheme, the system is called D-Theater. A compatible JVC DTV set-top box with a FireWire output, which will allow consumers to digitally record satellite broadcasts from the Dish system, is promised for next year. Copy-protection issues may render that combination less flexible than we might hope, but the tuner could expand the usability of this deck enormously. We have a few issues with the HM-DH30000U, and with D-Theater as it currently stands (not enough titles, particularly hot new films, and occasional short dropouts), but the fact is that this is the only source of pre-recorded HD movies available to consumers. If that isn't worth special recognition, we don't know what is.

Pioneer Elite DVR-7000 DVD recorder
($2000; reviewed by Scott Wilkinson, March/April 2002)

Scott Wilkinson has been waiting for recordable DVD technology to appear for a long time. So it was no surprise that he got very excited when Pioneer introduced the DVR-7000 DVD recorder, which uses the DVD-R/RW format for maximum compatibility with conventional DVD players. (However, that compatibility comes at a price: most of the editing features are unavailable in the recording mode that allows a disc to be used in normal players.)

Designed as a replacement for the VCR, the DVR-7000 includes all the features you'd expect in such a device, including an NTSC tuner, 8-event timer, VCR Plus+, and one-touch recording. There are extensive controls that let you tweak the picture quality of the tuner and each external input, which is great for poor-quality VHS transfers; another set of controls lets you tweak the displayed image. The quality of recorded images is superb, as is the playback of commercial DVDs.

"The Pioneer DVR-7000 is an exceptional product by any measure," SW wrote. "As with any early-generation technology, it's expensive, but prices should fall in the coming years as they do with most things digital. And unlike other early-generation products, this one has virtually no bugs to fix in its descendants." With its size, durability, longevity, and nearly instant access to any point in the program, it's no wonder that SW prefers recordable DVDs to clunky old VHS tapes.