Tom Norton

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Star Receiver
Tom Norton  |  Sep 06, 2007  |  1 comments

Pioneer's new flagship receiver, the SC-09TX is loaded with all the bells and whistles, including a display screen, 10 channels of 140Wpc ICE digital amplification that may be combined for 7 channels at 200W per, HDMI 1.3a, Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio decoding, and THX certification. Reportedly four years in development, it won't ship until January 2008, so that will give you time to gather the $7000 you'll need to buy it.

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StarGlas Walkabout
Tom Norton  |  Sep 08, 2007  |  1 comments

Take the Starglas material discussed in the last entry, make it 2" thick, and you can have your TV picture on the floor and even walk all over it.

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CES 2012
Status Acoustics
Tom Norton  |  Jan 15, 2012  |  2 comments
Take me to your leader. The 8T is the leader, or at least the first entry in a new line of speakers that's an offshoot of RBH. The four midrange drivers in the upper array have beryllium cones. The tweeter is a beryllium dome tweeter from Scan-Speak. At $50,000/pair, however, they're not for most of us, though the layout is vaguely similar to a B&W home theater speaker system from the late 1990s. The shape of the woofer enclosure here also suggests an intriguing configuration for a floor-mounted center channel speaker for use below a projection screen—though no center speaker is likely to match the 8T.
CEDIA 2012
Steinway-Lingdorf's Towering LS Delivers Best-of-Show Sound
Tom Norton  |  Sep 09, 2012  |  1 comments
With its line-array Model LS at the left and right consisting of fifteen 5.25-inch woofers and eight AMT tweeters, a similar array in the center partially hidden by an acoustically transparent screen, a stack of eight 12-inch woofers in each front corners, and a complementary setup in the rear, Steinway-Lingdorf produced the most dynamic sound, by far, at the CEDIA EXPO. All of the speakers were multi-amped, and Lingdorf’s proprietary room compensation was included. The gunfight from Open Range was so loud, but clean, that I needed ear muffs. None being handy, fingers in the ears sufficed after the first few volleys whizzed over my head. It can all be yours for a few bucks short of $500,000.
Stewart Cabaret
Tom Norton  |  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.
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CEDIA 2009
Stewart Covers Up
Tom Norton  |  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.
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CEDIA 2012
Stewart's Popular Price Cima Screens
Tom Norton  |  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
Tom Norton  |  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.

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Suave Soavo
Tom Norton  |  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.

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Suovo Part 2
Tom Norton  |  Sep 19, 2006  |  0 comments

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

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