After the 1973 original LP and the 2003 surround SACD, now comes the, um, hard-rock version of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. Just kidding! The hard rock here is actually a 3x10-foot section of a brick wall from a 175-year-old...
Though Denon's receiver line has long been one of the industry's strongest, it's also suffered from the same ossified in-the-black-box thinking that plagues all receivers. That's changed in a big way with the 2007 models unveiled at a Tuesday press event.
Lately it seems as though every component in a fully tricked-out home theater system wants to dink with the video - the DVD player, the receiver, the TV. Usually whatever is being done is described as some sort of upconversion. What does that mean, though? And perhaps more important, is it always a good thing?
At its Summer 2007 press conference today, Denon Electronics (a division of D&M Holdings) announced an all new line of A/V Receivers and its first entry into next-gen HD with an exciting new Blu-ray Disc player.
What size would you like your iPod-compatible speakers to be? Do you want Baby Bear, Mama Bear, or Papa Bear? Sierra Sound's iN STUDIO 5.0 fits into the middle category, as a monitor-sized pair of speakers with an iPod dock atop the left one. The review sample came in festive high-gloss Ferrari red, pleasing me no end, though you can have basic black or boring old traditional iPod white if you prefer.
If you follow S&V with any regularity, you know that I'm a HUGE fan of satellite radio. So I was quite pleased to see yesterday's reports of the possibility of a la carte pricing plans for Sirius and XM in hopes of pushing the proposed merger...
THX is about to take its home theater involvement to a new level with a new program whose working name is Blackbird. If the THX folks pull it off, Blackbird could resolve several issues that plague home theater buffs.
