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Streaming Device Reviews
Boxee Box Media Streamer
Barb Gonzalez  |  Aug 30, 2012

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $180 At A Glance: Includes Web browser • Connect to Slingbox via the Slingbox app • Direct access to movies from the Web, Vudu, or your own digital collection

The Boxee Box is unlike any other media streamer or media player. From its cockeyed box shape that’s missing a corner and its froglike logo, to its menu organization and social video-sharing features, it’s easy to see that Boxee stands out.

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Headphone Reviews
Review: Astro A50 Gaming Headset
Timothy J. Seppala  |  Aug 30, 2012

When I reviewed the Astro A40 MLG edition headset and wireless mixamp late last year, my complaints were minor. Since then, they've become my go-to cans; I even use them for transcribing interviews. It's overkill, I know. I've used them exclusively for the past eight months because I haven't heard another gaming headset that sounds anywhere near as good. That is until I spent quality time with Astro's new model, the A50.

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New Products
New Gear: The New Logitech UE Personal Audio Lineup
Michael Berk  |  Aug 29, 2012

Logitech's 2008 acquisition of IEM leader Ultimate Ears was an interesting move given the ultra-high end and music professional orientation of the brand, and even more interesting is the fact that while the new Logitech UE lineup does include an IEM offering, the majority of the rebranded line lives outside the ear - and well outside it, in some cases.

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Tech2
Review: Edifier Spinnaker Desktop Speakers
Brent Butterworth  |  Aug 28, 2012

Even in a tech-packed place like the January Consumer Electronics Show, the Edifier Spinnaker stood out like a. . . well, like a pair of red rhinoceros horns at an electronics trade show. I noticed it from about 70 feet away and rushed right over to see it. These days, you see lots of crazy designs for audio systems, but the Spinnaker looked crazy-cool, not crazy-silly. I demanded a review sample right then and there.

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New Products
New Gear: Klipsch Gives the Image One Headphone a Makeover and a Wireless Sibling
Michael Berk  |  Aug 28, 2012

We took a long listen to Klipsch's Image One on-ear headphone when it launched last year, and found them to be a highly competitive portable phone, especially when judged against the mic/remote-sporting on-ear competition of the time - most of which (like the Bowers &Wilkins P5) cost a lot more or (like the Beats Solo) simply didn't sound as good.

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Ask S&V
Where Should I Set My Subwoofer Crossover?
Rob Sabin  |  Aug 28, 2012
i just upgraded to a bigger subwoofer, a JBL ES250P rated at 400 watts RMS and 700 watts peak power. The sub specs say it can play down to 25 Hz, which is very low, and the sub has a crossover adjustment that goes from 150 Hz to 50hz. My HSU Research speakers are rated down to 60 Hz. Should I set the subwoofer crossover at or near 60 Hz? Or all the way up to 150 Hz? I currently have my system crossed over at 100 Hz.

Bob

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This Week
New Blu-rays for August 28, 2012: A Rich HD Harvest of TV Series
Josef Krebs  |  Aug 28, 2012

Boardwalk Empire: Season 2

"After you get what you want you don't want what you wanted at all." A great sense of loss runs throughout Boardwalk Empire, the Terence Winter-created, Martin Scorsese-executive produced gangster series set in Atlantic City of the Roaring Twenties.

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Vintage Gear
The NHT SuperZero Speaker
Steve Guttenberg  |  Aug 28, 2012
Over-performing little speakers were always part of the high-end scene, but NHT’s SuperZero was the one that broke the mold. I recently spoke with NHT founder and president Chris Byrne to learn more about this classic speaker. The model that preceded it was, naturally enough, the Zero, but it didn’t take off, so it was redesigned with a different tweeter, a Japanese 1-inch soft dome made by Tonnegen. The woofer was a 4.5-inch treated paper cone driver, made in San Diego. The SuperZero sold for $230 per pair in 1993.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Chinatown
Shane Buettner  |  Aug 28, 2012
Picture
Sound
Extras
Interactivity
Chinatown is an impossibly perfect movie from the glory years of the 1970s, when great filmmakers were routinely working within the Hollywood system. Consider that Chinatown’s 1974 Oscar competition was Coppola’s The Godfather: Part II and The Conversation, and you get the idea. Robert Towne’s complex but tightly woven screenplay, set amid L.A.’s 1930s water wars, is a clinic on screenwriting. Every detail is of great consequence as the misdirection peels away and the baser, more painful truths are revealed, culminating in a haunting, unforgettable ending that starkly reveals the cynicism of the film’s title.
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Subwoofer Reviews
Sunfire Atmos Subwoofer
David Vaughn  |  Aug 28, 2012
Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
Price: $2,000 At a Glance: Extremely small form factor • Powerful, tight bass response • Impeccable build quality

Bob Carver is a legend in the A/V industry, and when he formed Sunfire in the 1990s, the company’s name became closely associated with subwoofers. In 1996, the Sunfire True Subwoofer, as it was marketed, was born, and it popularized what eventually became a whole new subcategory (so to speak) of the speaker industry. The 11.5-inch cube produced a copious amount of bass from a small enclosure by utilizing specially designed drive units and a patented Tracking Downconverter (TDC) amplifier that could dynamically adjust its power supply based on the incoming signals.

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