Audio Video News

Home theater brawn and cutting-edge connectivity define the AVR-1913, which packs seven 90-watt amplifiers for room-shaking 7.1-channel movie action and supports AirPlay technology for wireless music streaming from your favorite Apple device. Highlights include more than a dozen sound modes, six HDMI inputs (including one up front for quick camcorder hookups), a front-panel USB input, and an Ethernet port so you can access Pandora, Flickr, and other Web content from your living room. Speaker setup is fully automated thanks to Audyssey MultEQ processing, and an onboard video upscaler converts standard-def video to 1080p. Get High: Dolby Pro Logic IIz processing literally heightens surround-sound realism when you add a couple of height channels to your setup. Prepare to duck and cover. Price: $580

Denon • (201) 762-6665 • usa.denon.com

Panasonic P55VT50 3D Plasma HDTV

Panasonic’s new top-line plasmas offer too many advancements to describe fully here, but home theaterphiles will appreciate Infinite Black Ultra technology, which com- bines an improved filter to block more ambient light and new circuitry that reduces the pixel’s idle brightness for even deeper blacks. The sets are also now capable of reproducing 24,576 gradations of light, allowing for much finer shadow details. Research in Motion: New 2500 Focused Field Drive technology is said to detect image movements like the human eye and adjust the panel drive circuitry accordingly, result- ing in faster response time and a further improvement in clarity on fast motion over last year’s panels. Price: $2,500

Panasonic • (800) 405-0652 • panasonic.com

SIMPLE SHELVING SOLUTIONS TV SMART SHELF

The TV looks great on the wall, but where are you going to put your components and how are you going to hide those unsightly cables? The TV Smart Shelf solves both problems and is designed to fit most stationary TV wall mounts from 32 to 60 inches. A glass shelf is supported by two L-shaped brackets that attach to the TV mount using four wing nuts and bolts. Cabling is hidden behind removable covers on the support arms.

Flexible and Sturdy: The shelf is made of 0.4-inch-thick tempered glass with a weight capacity of 30 pounds. Price: $140 for 3-foot clear- or black-glass shelf; $200 for 4-foot black-glass shelf; $170 for 4-foot clear-glass shelf.

Simple Shelving Solutions • (419) 665-6597 • flatscreenshelving.com

MK SOUND 950F SPEAKER

Rounding out its 950 Series of home theater speakers, MK describes the 950F as a “powerful speaker of deceptively modest stature.” An open-back silk tweeter—the same one used in the company’s professional studio monitors—join dual 5.25-inch midbass drivers in a slender, 4-foot-tall enclosure that sports a black satin finish, metal mesh grille, and wide base with spikes. Magnets hold the curved grille in place to eliminate that annoying buzzing you can get with plastic grilles. The 950F plays down to 80 Hz, so you’ll want to pair it with a subwoofer. The MK Touch: Proprietary Phase Focused crossovers aim to deliver “razor-sharp imaging” and uncolored sound over a wide listening area. Price: $2,000 per pair

MK Sound • (855) 657-6863 • mksoundsystem.com

ATLANTIC TECHNOLOGY ICTS-6 HT IN-CEILING SPEAKER

Can a couple of speakers mounted in your ceiling sound as good as a pair of freestanding speakers? The audio gurus at Atlantic Technology think so, and they point to their latest in-ceiling speaker as proof. Intended to serve as front-channel speakers in a home theater or as a stereo pair in a wholehouse audio system, the ICTS-6 HT pairs a 6.5-inch woofer and a 1-inch silk-dome tweeter in a low-profile frame that’s 9.6 inches wide and 5 inches deep. The Fine Print: The woofer is angled 15 degrees to improve imaging and intelligibility, and the tweeter can pivot up to 30 degrees to further focus the sound. Three-position tweeter-level and boundary-compensation switches provide even more sonic refinement. Price: $400 each

Atlantic Technology • (781) 762-6300 • atlantictechnology.com

OSD AUDIO PS88 POWERED SUBWOOFER

Think of the PS88 as a small subwoofer that will rattle your rafters without blowing up your bank account. In a nutshell, a heavy-duty, 8-inch, long-throw woofer powered by a 180-watt digital amplifier and augmented by an 8-inch passive radiator dips down to 25 hertz, producing bass that’s “faster and tighter” than larger, more expensive subs. The usual volume, crossover, and phase controls are provided, along with line- and speaker-level inputs and an LFE setting that bypasses the controls. Save Your Back: The PS88 measures 10 by 11 by 10 inches and weighs only 16 pounds, making it easy to move around. Construction is 0.6-inch MDF with a black lacquer finish. Price: $300

OSD Audio • (888) 779-4968 • outdoorspeakerdepot.com

BREFFO SPIDERPODIUM GADGET STAND

Tired of holding your phone or tablet? Put it on a Spiderpodium and watch your favorite Tosh 2.0 episodes, or enjoy a hands-free Skype session. Available in two sizes, the featherweight “take everywhere, use anywhere” stands will cradle any compact device—cameras, camcorders, handheld game systems, portable projectors, you-name-it—and are flexible enough to position it at any angle. The Spiderpodium Tablet is designed for larger devices, such as a digital SLR camera or tablet, and weighs just over 3 ounces (its little brother is only 1 ounce). About Those Arachnid Legs: They’re made of soft rubber and fold flat so you can slip the little creature in your travel bag. Price: $20; $35 for tablet version

Breffo • (866) 345-2278 • breffo.com

WISDOM AUDIO L8i IN-WALL SPEAKER

Ideal for fans of planar-magnetic driver (PMD) technology who have large rooms with reflective surfaces, the L8i marries a 4-foot thin-film PMD with eight woofers in a narrow 4.3-foot structure that mounts flush in the wall. Sonic Revelation: Besides producing a large sweet spot, the speaker’s line-source design reduces floor and ceiling reflections to preserve dialogue intelligibility and musical detail. As Wisdom puts it, everything is clearer because you hear more of the speaker and less of the room. The L8i belongs to the Insight Series, which includes smaller in-wall models that lack the controlled directivity of the L8i’s line-source design, instead radiating sound in a conventional point source pattern. Price: $5,000 each; small models range from $1,250 to $3,000

Wisdom Audio • (775) 887-8850 • wisdomaudio.com