Tom Norton

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By: Tom Norton • Posted: Sep 04, 2008 • 0 comments

There's something about having to post blogs in reverse order to be able to show more than one photo, and than not doing it...which is why you'll be reading more about Stewart Filmscreen's new Cabaret decorative and functional screen case, shown here with a partially extended screen, and further on in other postings. All very confusing for what is a very simple and interesting product.

Stewart Covers Up

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CEDIA 2009

By: Tom Norton • Posted: Aug 31, 2009 • 0 comments

Stewart Filmscreen is showing several new products. AcoustiShade is a motorized window treatment that is designed not only to provide blackout in residential and commercial applications, but is also claimed to reduce noise contamination. It consists of three layers: a sound attenuating blackout layer, a decorative and acoustically beneficial face fabric, and an air space. These elements are surrounded by a frame that uses Stewart's Magnetic Blackout and Attenuation assist (MBAA) system (patent pending), which holds the blackout layer tightly to the frame to eliminate light leakage. Prices will depend on size, as the product is completely customized to fit your windows.

Stewart's Popular Price Cima Screens

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CEDIA 2012

By: Tom Norton • Posted: Sep 06, 2012 • 0 comments

Stewart Filmscreen has long been known for top quality projection screens, available in a blistering variety of screen materials. But they aren't exactly Blue Light specials. To attract more consumers to the benefits of a projection setup, Stewart has introduced a line of screens more affordable than its other offerings. Called the CIMA line, these screens will all be 16 x 9, fixed frame, and available in a range of standard sizes. Two materials will be available: grey with a gain of 0.9 and White with a gain of 1.1.

For those who have the spare cash, Stewart also demonstrated the latest version of its Director's Choice screen, offering an almost infinite variety of aspect ratios, settable and selectable by motorized masking at the touch of a button. The 15-foot wide model shown retails at just short of $60,000.

Stewart's Star Glass

By: Tom Norton • Posted: Sep 08, 2007 • 0 comments

At the 2006 CEDIA Stewart Filmscreen showed a new, frameless,self-supporting rear projection glass material, Starglas. The company has now come up with a wide assortment of possible applications. Here a glass panel is mounted in a shallow cabinet at the foot of a bed. When needed, it rises up to viewing height. The image is projected from the rear, perhaps, as here, from a projector mounted in a cabinet at the other side of the room (presumably, a bedroom of more than shoebox size!). Ta Da! A substitute for a large plasma. The glass in the Starglas panel, incidently, is safety glass.

Suave Soavo

By: Tom Norton • Posted: Sep 19, 2006 • 0 comments

Yamaha's new Soavo speaker line currently has five models, the Soavo 1 floor stander and and Soavo 2 bookshelf, plus a center, surround, and subwoofer. the big Suovo 1 is priced at $1800 (each). They're classy-looking and appear to be very well built. A brief 2-channedl audition in a small demo room on the show floor (not the best listening conditions) revealed an extremely tight bass response, but a rather forward midrange and high frequency balance. Still, they are definitely worth a closer audition under better conditions.

Suovo Part 2

By: Tom Norton • Posted: Sep 19, 2006 • 0 comments

Yamaha's new, high-end Soavo speaker line.

SVS Digs Deep

By: Tom Norton • Posted: Jan 11, 2007 • 0 comments

SVS is a company that specializes in subwoofers, sold mostly on-line. They had one of the few home theater demos at the Venetian, and the only one that actually used film as a program source. I know, that's tacky in a venue in which 99% of the demos are 2-channel audio, but they did their best.

SVS Goes Audyssey

By: Tom Norton • Posted: Jan 11, 2007 • 2 comments

Later this year, SVS will make its new AS-EQ1 system available. It’s an Audyssey-based bass room equalizer, operates in both the time and frequency domains, and is designed to correct the in-room performance of one or two subwoofers. It is expected to sell for $750.

Swans M6HT

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CES 2010

By: Tom Norton • Posted: Jan 07, 2010 • 0 comments

The M6HT system from Swans is more modest than the 2.3B system described above, but just as classy in its solid wood threads. Unfortunately, however, it was not on demo.

Swans' Song

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CES 2010

By: Tom Norton • Posted: Jan 07, 2010 • 0 comments

The audience is all ears listening to the flagship home theater system from Swans (more below), via Arcadia of California via Hi-Vi in China. For those who are interested, they were listening to Yanni Live at Mandalay Bay on a multichannel DVD.

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