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How Many Separate Subs in Your System?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jul 06, 2012
Most home-theater sound systems include one or more subwoofers that are separate from the main speakers. In fact, I generally recommend using separate subs at least for movie soundtracks, which often include lots of low frequencies, because the best placement for bass drivers in a room is often not the same as the best placement for the drivers that reproduce the rest of the audio range. And the judicious placement of more than one sub can significantly smooth out the bass response of most rooms so that everyone can enjoy the same great bass no matter where they sit. On the other hand, many audiophiles prefer to have full-range main speakers, claiming that the sound is more integrated than it can be with separate subs.

How many separate subs do you have in your system? Or do you use full-range main speakers without a sub? What led you to your decision in this regard?

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

How Many Separate Subs in Your System?
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Audio Separates Buying TipsAV Receiver Setup
How To Set Up a Power Amp
Kim Wilson,  |  Jul 06, 2012
So you've taken the leap and opted for separates, and now you're wondering how to set up the power amp properly with you're A/V preamp/processor. Relax, it's not difficult at all.
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Tech2
A Plea FOR a Connected Life
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jul 06, 2012

It seems a growing number of people - or at least a growing number of op-ed contributors - have latched onto the idea that technology is bad, scary, and limiting our lives to ones and zeros. "The Flight From Conversation" and "The 'Busy' Trap" being two notable examples. It's something that Nathan Jurgenson calls "The IRL Fetish" (thanks Brian Lam of The Wirecutter for the link).

Jurgenson breaks down the idea better than I can. What I want to do is present the other side. I want to voice my strong and eternal support for the wonder that is the modern connected life.

Because, dammit, it's awesome.

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A/V Veteran
Audio in Technicolor
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 05, 2012
It may surprise you to learn that Technicolor is now a French-owned company, with its main offices outside of Paris. It may also be new to you that, to a significant degree, the company is now involved in audio post-production work, rather than the film processes for which it is best known.
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Accessory Reviews
Air Def TV
David Vaughn  |  Jul 05, 2012
Do wireless HDMI kits really work? We test three to find out.

In late 2003, HDMI-equipped consumer-electronic devices started to appear on the market. Unfortunately, the transition to digital has been anything but smooth. Although HDMI was a vast improvement over DVI (Digital Visual Interface) in its ability to carry both audio and video in one cable, it came with its own set of issues.

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TV ReviewsLCD TV Reviews
SunBriteTV Model 4660HD Outdoor LCD HDTV
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jul 05, 2012

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $2,795 At A Glance: Built-in multifan airflow cooling system • Discrete IR input • Watertight cable entry compartment cover

A number of years ago, I wrote an article about putting together a backyard home theater using an inflatable front-projection screen from Sima. It was a blast—and more than just a blast of air from the pump that inflated the Michelin-Man-dream-date, 72-inch-screen-covered blimp in less than 6 minutes. I took the setup to a friend’s house one Saturday during my “research” where we had a three-family movie night on the patio in his backyard. Sodas and margaritas flowed freely that evening. Much popcorn was popped. I don’t think any of us remember the actual movie, but to this day none of us has forgotten how much fun we had—more fun, as a matter of fact, than we’d ever had watching a movie the proper way inside the house.

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Headphone Reviews
Review: Tivoli Audio Radio Silenz Noise Canceling Headphones
Michael Berk  |  Jul 05, 2012

Tivoli's staked out a secure place for itself on the bedside tables and desks of stylish folks worldwide, and now they've decided to bring their tasteful finishes and wooden accents to the category everybody's getting into these days - headphones.

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Tech2
Reel Audio: The Klipsch Tapes on CD
Brent Butterworth  |  Jul 04, 2012

Back in the mid-1950s, there weren’t a whole lot of stereo recordings available. How, then, could an audio engineer evaluate the equipment he was designing? For Paul Klipsch, founder of Klipsch Speakers, the answer was to make his own recordings.

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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 118: The Chat Room
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jul 03, 2012
In this episode, I show you around my new podcast studio, which is also my home recording studio, and then answer questions from the chat room, including how to position speakers, the different types of 3D for commercial cinema and home, HDMI cables, the difference between THX post processing and audio codecs from Dolby and DTS, full-range speakers and subwoofers, Dolby Atmos, Disney's WOW setup disc, and much more.

Run Time: 1:02:21

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Premiere Design
Cue Acoustics PS1 Wireless Speaker System
Bob Ankosko  |  Jul 03, 2012
Simple, modern, elegant—the PS1 from Cue Acoustics is definitely not your father’s speaker. Think of it as a forward-looking system for discriminating listeners who crave a simple setup that’s free of wires, hulking speakers, and an ugly stack of components (like the ones collecting dust in the back of your den). Promising big sound and a vivid soundstage, the PS1 system is extremely compact and provides everything you need to pump up the volume except an audio source: a pair of speakers, each with its own built-in 150-watt digital amplifier/processor, and a wireless transmitter that streams uncompressed audio from your TV, PC, smartphone, tablet, you-name-it, to wherever you decide to put the speakers (which, by the way, must be plugged into an AC outlet). Want to grab your tablet and play impromptu DJ at a party? As long as the tablet supports the DLNA connection standard, you can stream audio wirelessly to the PS1’s iPhone-size transmitter, which runs it through a signal processor and sends it to the speakers; otherwise, you can go old school and plug a cable into the transmitter’s digital (optical S/PDIF) or analog (3.5mm stereo) input.
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