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Surround Processor Reviews
Rotel RSP-1576MKII Surround Sound Processor Review
Al Griffin  |  Mar 03, 2021  |  2 comments

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $3,500

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Dolby Atmos and DTS:X processing
Dirac Live Full room correction
Fully backlit remote control
Minus
No Dolby Vision pass-through
Music streaming options limited to Bluetooth
Lacks setup and control app

THE VERDICT
Rotel's RSP-1576MKII lacks some features you'd expect to see on a surround sound preamp/processor circa-2021, but audiophile-grade sound quality and Dirac Live Full room correction help make up for any deficits.

Any new surround sound processor circa-2021 is bound to have a heap of demands placed upon it. Along with support for the latest immersive audio formats—Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, etc.—there's music streaming, Auto EQ/room correction, and HDMI video switching of the latest 4K/high dynamic range video formats. And because a surround sound processor serves as the main user interface in an A/V system, ergonomic considerations are paramount—how easy is it to switch between sources and tweak audio settings like surround, subwoofer, and center-channel levels on the fly?

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Signals
Dear Best Buy,
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Mar 01, 2021  |  4 comments
First, congratulations on your company's many successes, including your recent decisions that helped you to weather the lock-down storm. You strike me as a company that is well-run, and I hope you will agree that every well-run company listens to its customers. So, on behalf of audio/videophiles everywhere, I am asking you – begging you – to take into account one very special need of our community.

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Music Disc Reviews
Zappa: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Deluxe Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 26, 2021  |  0 comments
Performances
Sound
It's hard to fathom counterculture icon and multitalented musician nonpareil Frank Zappa left this mortal coil almost three full decades ago in December 1993, given the sheer range of archival and new releases that continue to arise from the vaults of his legendary Utility Muffin Research Kitchen (UMRK)—a.k.a., Zappa's onetime home studio. Fact is, many of them were personally sequenced, mixed, and/or produced by the man himself before his untimely passing at age 52.
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New Products
SVS Launches 1000 Pro Series Subwoofers
SV Staff  |  Feb 26, 2021  |  0 comments
Ohio-based speaker manufacturer SVS has launched the 1000 Pro Series, an entry-level subwoofer offering. Consisting of two models, the sealed cabinet SB-1000 Pro and ported cabinet PB-1000 Pro, the new subs feature all-new 12-inch high-excursion drivers, a 325 watts RMS/ 820-plus watts peak power Sledge STA-325D amplifier with fully discrete MOSFET output, Analog Devices DSP, and control via the SVS subwoofer control app.
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Audio Video News
Best Gear of February 2021
Bob Ankosko  |  Feb 25, 2021  |  0 comments
Spring beckons and so does the long-awaited return to normal life as the pandemic winds down. Though February was short, we learned a few things from our Top Picks for the month: (1) Subwoofers don’t have to look like subwoofers, (2) you can’t judge a speaker by its looks, and (3) you don’t have to spend thousands to get a big-screen TV that delivers terrific picture quality. Will one of our February gems help you rediscover your passion for music and movies or gaming (Pac-Man anyone?) and push your home entertainment experience to the next level? There’s only one way to find out.
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Audio Video News
The SVS Virtual Audiophile Happy Hour Returns
SV Staff  |  Feb 25, 2021  |  0 comments
The SVS Virtual Audiophile Happy Hour returns with a momentous announcement today, Thursday, February 25 at 6p.m. ET, live on the SVS Facebook page and YouTube channel! For the first time in SVS history, full details of new products will be revealed via live stream and questions taken on the fly.
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Subwoofer Reviews
KEF KC62 Subwoofer Review
Daniel Kumin  |  Feb 24, 2021  |  3 comments

Performance
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $1,499

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Incredible extension from incredibly small design
Highly flexible controls and features
Wireless option
Elegant finish
Minus
Limited peak output
Pricey

THE VERDICT
KEF’s KC62 delivers impressively deep bass in an elegant, ultra-compact package, though its output is best suited for smaller rooms or listening at more moderate levels.

Mankind has sought to get more and deeper bass from smaller and smaller designs ever since the first Neolithic audiophile blew through a conch shell and thought, "Damn, I wish this went lower, louder!"

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SmartStream
How to Stream PBS Programming
Barb Gonzalez  |  Feb 24, 2021  |  1 comments
While PBS Passport has a variety of the stations' programming, a PBS Channel subscription through Amazon Prime Video offers a deep dive into different genres.
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Stream On
Qello Brings Live Concerts into Your Home and Beyond
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 24, 2021  |  4 comments
Qello seeks to corner the market on streaming concerts and music documentaries but do they offer enough diverse material to satisfy our hunger for content?
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A/V Veteran
Taming the Room Monster
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 23, 2021  |  3 comments
Anyone who has read any of my speaker reviews over the past few years knows that my current room has bass issues (the photo here is, sadly, NOT my room!!). Welcome me to the club; rooms without bass problems are few and far between. Only the obsessed worries about a peak at 30Hz, but erratic response higher in the bass, particularly in the 80 to 200Hz region, can have serious negative effects on the overall sound. To little response there can reduce a source's natural weight, particularly on large scale music or home theater effects. Too much and the bass sounds bloated.

Once you get above a certain frequency, usually between 200 and 500 Hz (known as the Schroeder frequency, after the physicist who first identified it and not the Peanuts character), the room's effect on the sound becomes less significant.

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