Pro Audio Technology, the Lake Forest, CA-based speaker specialist that blurs the line between pro and consumer audio, has introduced a trio of horn-based high output/high sensitivity home theater speakers company founder Paul Hales says are “by far the finest loudspeakers we have ever produced.”
Harman Kardon You'll feel surrounded by surround sound choices with Harman Kardon's AVR 520. The receiver decodes Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1- and 6.1-channel soundtracks, including DTS-ES Discrete. You'll need an outboard amp if you have one or two back surround speakers, though, as there are only five powered channels, rated to deliver 75 watts each into 8 ohms.
PioneerEvery listening room has its own shape, size, and furniture - all of which affect sound. With the supplied microphone, Pioneer's thrifty VSX-815 receiver will automatically adjust its five-band equalizer to customize sound to best match your digs.
Sherwood With built-in bass management for its multichannel analog inputs, the Sherwood Newcastle R-963 may be the first digital surround receiver that's truly ready for the DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD formats.
MitsubishiNot only does Mitsubishi's WD-62825 rear-projection HDTV have a big, 62-inch screen for high-definition shows to stretch out in, but it also has a built-in 120-gigabyte hard disk for recording them. The disk has room for 12 hours of high-def programming or 72 hours at standard-def.
Marantz With its silver finish and flat, brushed-aluminum faceplates, the Marantz Duetto stereo music system has an elegantly futuristic look. Both the SR110 two-channel receiver (top) and the CD110 CD player measure 8 1/4 x 3 x 12 2/8 inches and have drop-down covers over their front-panel controls.
Toshiba Connect Toshiba's RD-XS52 DVD/hard-disk recorder to your TV by its digital HDMI output, and it'll upconvert standard-def video from TV programs, DVDs, and even camcorder footage to the 1080i or 720p HDTV formats.
Panasonic With portable music players, the question is, how small can you get? About 1 5/8 x 1 3/4 x 5/8 inch, according to Panasonic, whose SV-SD80 digital audio player, shown larger-than-life below, weighs less than an ounce. It uses postage-stamp-size Secure Digital (SD) memory cards and can play music encoded in the MP3, WMA, and AAC formats.
Sharp Flat-panel LCDs are starting to light up the TV world, and Sharp's 30-inch Aquos LC-30HV2U is one of the largest so far. With its wide 16:9 screen and 1,280 x 768-pixel (WXGA) resolution, the set is a respectable HDTV monitor, and its 3 1/2-inch depth makes it suitable for wall mounting.