LATEST ADDITIONS

CEDIA Expo 2011: Projector Roundup

Geoffrey Morrison | Sep 12, 2011

Perhaps it was because I wasn't paying attention, but I didn't expect a lot of big projector news to come out of this show. Yeah, I was wrong.

Tech2

HTPC Update #1: Hardware Headaches and Menu Tweaking

Geoffrey Morrison | Sep 12, 2011

I've been living with my HTPC for just over a month now, and I've come up with enough new observations to warrant a new installment (well, maybe enough to fill a bunch of articles) so. . . behold!

Been setting up your own living-room computer? Read on for my latest tips, tricks, and plain old complaints. I think most of you will find some of these useful. And some of you - I hope - will find most.

CEDIA 2011

You Won't Know 'Em From Adam

Rob Sabin | Sep 12, 2011

Adam Audio is a virtual unknown in the home theater world, but their monitors grace a good many recording studios across the land. The company came to CEDIA with their new GTC (Grand Theatre Components) speaker line, which features an unusual modular construction. Look closely at the picture and you'll see that the driver pods are modular and on their own screw-down plates. This allows the mid/tweeter cluster to be reoriented for L/R or center channel duties, insuring that the proprietary Heil-style ART (Accelerating Ribbon Technology) planar tweeter is always optimal for the application. The design also allows the plate to be physically moved from the top of the speaker to the center location for center channel use. Likewise, in situations where the speakers are mounted into a faux wall (as they are here) or behind wall fabric, the mid/tweeter can be repositioned to better ensure ear-level placement. The three models are all ported cabinet designs but only the top two, the GTC77 and GTC88 (just a bigger versioin of the 77) feature the modular construction. All three cabinets average about a foot deep. The GTC77, with an X-ART tweeter, 4-inch midwoofer and two 7-inch subwoofers is expected to start shipping soon at around $1,500 to $2,000 retail.

Music Reviews

Listening in High-Res: Phish Out of Water

Philip Ryan | Sep 12, 2011

Can't make it to the gig? These days, that won't stop you from listening in high resolution - soundboard recordings aren't the cassette tapes of yore anymore. FLAC HD is the format of choice nowadays, and our new blogger Philip Ryan (who in his spare time serves as the technical editor of S+V's sister publications Popular Photography and American Photo) will be checking out a wide range of high-res recordings to see how close he can get to being there.

CEDIA 2011

New NAD AVRs at CEDIA

Rob Sabin | Sep 12, 2011

NAD was at the show with a slew of new products, among them a revamped 4-model AV receiver line: the T 748 (100 watts x 7, $900), T 757 (120w x 7, $1,600), T 777 (140w x 7, $3,000), and the flagship T 787 (shown here, 200w x 7, $4,000). The big news for enthusiasts is that NAD's future-proof MDC design has moved down in the line and now begins with T 757, the lowest price yet for an MDC receiver. MDC stands for Modular Design Construction and allows the unit's input/output circuitry to be user-updated as needed over time to swap in new HDMI versions or introduce new flexibility. Portions of the receiver's jack-pack are on slide-in/screw down modules that can be changed from the rear panel. Home Theater's review of the T 757 is coming soon.

CEDIA 2011

NAD and Monitor Chase a Blimp

Rob Sabin | Sep 12, 2011

Monitor Audio and NAD both showed high-end, high-performance iPod docks at the show that take straight aim at B&W's successful $600 Zeppelin iPod dock. NAD's VISO 1 is a $700 model that has PSB's renown speaker designer Paul Barton behind it and plays music from a mounted iPod or via a lossless Blutooth connection. Meanwhile, Monitor's Technical Director Dean Hartley is the brains behind that brand's new two-model i-deck series.The i-deck 100 ($499) is the more compact unit with a pair of the company's 3-inch C-CAM bass drivers and two 3/4-in C-CAM Gold metal dome tweeters. The iDeck 200 ($599) is the flagship, with a pair each of 4-inch woofers and 1-inch tweeters. Both offer a clever automatic EQ system in which a built-in microphone picks up three bass tones sent out when you first power the unit up, allowing it to detect its proximity to room boundaries and adjust the bass accordingly. Given the engineering talent behind the Monitor and NAD docks, it's no surprise that both sounded pretty good for an iPod dock, even on a crowded show floor.

CEDIA 2011

Sanus Basics Go Tool-Less

Rob Sabin | Sep 12, 2011

Sanus showed off a revision of its value-priced ready-to-assemble Basics Series furniture line with an attractive new feature: tool-less construction. Really, not even a screwdriver. The screws and screw cams/posts of yesteryear have been replaced with a combination of internally hinged parts (such as drawers) that are already partially constructed and simply fold out to their final shape, and easy-to-use lever cams that pull the final pieces together and hold strong. The new designs both speed and simplify construction—something to celebrate if you've ever pieced one of these together the old way.

CEDIA 2011

RTI SURFiR Tackles The Problem With iPads

Rob Sabin | Sep 11, 2011 | First Published: Sep 12, 2011

Manufacturers of control systems and many other products have embraced the iPad in a big way, building apps that turn these small flatpanel computers into easy-to-use, high powered touchscreen controllers. But the iPad's (or iPhone's) strength as a do-it-all device is also a weakness if you're going to use it as a remote control. The reality is that these multipurpose machines can be quite inconvenient if at the moment you need to switch an input on your receiver or press the Pause button for your disc player your tablet isn't woken up, unlocked, and running the correct page of the control app in its open window. And that assumes the device hasn't walked away altogether with another family member who needs it for web browsing or a round of Fruit Ninja. RTI's solution, believe it or not, is a second inexpensive remote to keep around as a backup. The new SURFiR ($149, shown next to the iPad) is an option for anyone using one of RTI's controllers and the company's RTIPanel app for Apple iDevices. Unlike the company's usual remotes, the SURFiR requires no programming, and system commands you execute with it automatically update the RTIPanel display—the two track each other. Apps are great, but if you're busy looking at email and just want to make a quick volume adjustment, the SURFiR companion remote is intended to provide quick, easy, tactile control at low cost.

CEDIA 2011

Bryston HDMI Processor Debuts at CEDIA

Rob Sabin | Sep 11, 2011 | First Published: Sep 12, 2011

Canadian audio manufacturer Bryston Ltd. was showing off its soon to be released SP3 surround processor at CEDIA 2011. Taking a purist approach, there's no video processing to potentially muck up the audio signal, but the unit provides convenient HDMI v1.4 video pass through from each of seven HDMI inputs, and should a higher HDMI version ever be required, modular construction insures that a factory upgrade can do the trick. The prototype on display was a 7.1-channel model that decodes all the latest Blu-ray codecs and steers the audio to either balanced or RCA outputs. There's also a pair of AES/EBU inputs and a USB input along with the usual mix of analog and digital stereo inputs. Bryston sales VP James Tanner said the SP3 uses all discreet Class A circuitry in its analog stages for optimal sound quality, and great care was taken in the circuit topology to keep incoming video signals away from the audio, including dedicated power supplies for the video and audio circuits with no shared common grounds. Price is expected to be $9,500 when the SP3 ships at the end of September.

This Week

September 4: Phish Keeps the Hits Coming at Dick's

Philip Ryan | Sep 11, 2011

With two shows of very solid playing in the bag, we come to the end of the Colorado run. The guys are firing on all cylinders from the beginning, though they get tripped up a little in the second half of the first set - they're obviously going for it, but can't seem to get there.

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