Custom Installation Equipment Reviews

Known for fine furniture, Ethan Allen adds home entertainment cabinetry to their catalogue. Called the Smart Wall, this beautiful wall unit not only houses a flat panel TV and all your AV components but it provides several options for bookshelves, drawers, storage and file cabinets plus full crown molding. There are up to 17 modular components that can be configured in any number of arrangements based on your personal needs. It can function as an all-in-one media room, home theater, and office.

Integration and contemporary styling is what everyone is looking for so Samsung's new Blu-ray players certainly embrace both these concepts. The BD-P4600 is a wall-mountable Blu-ray player and the HT-BD8200 is a Home Theater Sound Bar with an integrated Blu-ray Player. According to Samsung they are heralding a new direction for the Blu-ray industry and moving away from the traditional square (and boring) black boxes.

If you are looking for an unusual speaker that will fit anywhere, including unconventional spaces, and still be decorative, you should check out the JBL Control NOW indoor and outdoor loudspeakers. The quarter-round shape allows for the uniquely versatile speaker to be installed in a wide variety of places including areas where other speakers can no be installed. Priced between $249 and $279, these guys won't break the bank either.

Long before the iPod gained dominance as the defacto portable media device, audiophiles were voicing their concerns about where the music world might be headed with the popularity of lowfi MP3 music files. For some the introduction of Krell's S-300i Integrated Amplifier, which interfaces with the iPod, could be seen as a "if you can't beat them join them" strategy. A different perspective would be that the iPod is no longer considered a lowfi product.

There may be plenty of Blu-ray players out there already but Integra believes they have something special to offer their dedicated customers. Known for their premium performance products, Integra releases the DBS-6.9, their first Blu-ray player, which delivers full 1080p video at 24 frames per second, the native frame rate for most original motion pictures and HD content.

For a bold statement, the designer loudspeakers from NACSound will surely get noticed and compliment the most daring contemporary dcors. Direct from Italy, these handmade custom speakers are distributed in the US and Canada by Sonance, a leader in custom hidden solutions for loudspeakers. The NACSound for Sonance speakers are hardly meant to be hidden and in fact, should be prominently displayed.

Offering up one of the more unique solutions for concealing a projection screen, Beamax has introduced the X-series Dellegno, which allows an 80-inch screen to ascend vertically from the stylish and contemporary cabinet, transforming a room-friendly piece of furniture into a large screen experience.