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Reference TracksThe S&V Interview
Little Steven Explores His Musical Roots in Soulfire
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 19, 2017
Believe it or not, even Little Steven—Bruce Springsteen’s longtime guitar foil and songwriting soundboard in The E Street Band, and the decorated Godfather of the Underground Garage and Outlaw Country radio formats—feels the need to recharge the creative batteries every now and then. “This record turned out to be a really wonderful reset, reintroduction, and rebirth of myself,” Little Steven admits about his first solo album in 18 years, Soulfire (Wicked Cool/UMe). “It was a wonderful opportunity to start again, and really show my roots in a way I had never done before. I mean, I never put a blues song on a record before, I never did a doo-wop song before, and I never did a cover of anybody before I did this thing!”
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
House of Marley Brings Sustainable Design to Wireless Earphones
SV Staff  |  Jul 18, 2017
House of Marley, the company co-founded by the son of the late reggae icon Bob Marley, has introduced a Bluetooth-enabled wireless version of its top-selling Smile Jamaica earphones.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Audio-Technica Ships All-Digital Wireless Headphones
SV Staff  |  Jul 18, 2017
Audio-Technica today announced that the all-digital wireless headphones it previewed seven months ago at CES 2017 are now available.
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Pixels & BitsS&V VideosSpecial Features
Pixels & Bits: Episode No. 1
Rob Sabin,  |  Jul 18, 2017
In this first episode of Sound & Vision's podcast Pixels & Bits, Editor-in-Chief Rob Sabin and Contributing Technical Editor Steve Guttenberg discuss their roots in high-end audio; the affordable Magnepan MMGi magnetic planar speakers (4:00); the problem with "feature glut" (9:00), and whether Sonos sacrificed too much sound quality to gain simplicity with its Playbar soundbar (14:20).

Comments are welcome on these subjects, along with your suggestions for future episodes!

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Signals
Why I Didn’t Buy the Benz
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jul 18, 2017
I like German cars, and I cannot lie. Porsche, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz. What wonderful machines they are. Give me more than adequate horsepower, a six- or seven-speed manual transmission, a soulful exhaust note, and I am in heaven. On my most recent car shopping expedition, I fell in love with a car, then I pressed a button and immediately fell out of love.
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Audio Video News
Harman Acquires Arcam
SV Staff  |  Jul 17, 2017
Harman International, the legendary audio brand recently acquired by Samsung, today announced its acquisition of U.K-based A&R Cambridge Ltd., a.k.a. Arcam, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jam Industries.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Sharp Aquos TVs Previewed at CES Now Available
SV Staff  |  Jul 17, 2017
Hisense USA has announced that the Sharp Aquos TVs previewed seven months ago at CES 2017 are now available in screen sizes from 32 to 65 inches at prices ranging from $230 for a 32-inch HD model to $1,300 for a 65-inch 4K/HDR-capable set.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Denon Unveils ‘Fully Loaded’ $1,000 AVR
SV Staff  |  Jul 17, 2017
Denon today introduced a “fully-loaded” 7.2-channel AV receiver that supports passthrough of all three high dynamic range (HDR) formats—HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma).
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Editor's EyeAudio Video News
LG OLED Sweeps 2017 TV Shootout
Rob Sabin  |  Jul 14, 2017
Photo by Matt Murray, Courtesy Value Electronics

In what appears to be an ongoing trend, LG took top honors Thursday at this year's TV Shootout at CE Week in New York. This marks the 4th consecutive year that LG's current top OLED model, this time the 65-inch E7, was declared the annual "King of TV" — a title even more deserving than in year's past thanks to the set sweeping all three of the judging categories.

But despite what by now seems like a familiar or expected result, this year's event was more competitive and interesting than in recent years, with at least one set that very nearly equaled the LG, and others that failed to come as close as we'd have expected.

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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Solus Audio Entré II Loudspeaker Review
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jul 14, 2017

Performance
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $1,795/pr

AT A GLANCE
Plus
I-PAShd cabinet design
Planar magnetic folded tweeter
Minus
Bass extended but not slammin’
No matching center speaker
Low rated sensitivity

THE VERDICT
The Solus Audio Entré II is a well-rounded performer whose special attribute is an elaborate bass-enhancing enclosure.

Life has a way of setting us up for disappointment. So we develop a hard shell of skepticism and rote responses: There is no free lunch. You can’t get blood from a stone. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. There’s no such thing as an honest politician. Don’t order the fish on a Monday. And to that list, add: You can’t get big bass out of a small speaker. Little speakers that try to sound big just end up with a bloated bass hump and a turbulent, chuffing port.

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