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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Review: Polk Audio Blackstone TL350
Brent Butterworth  |  Aug 16, 2011

Since time immemorial (or at least the late 1980s), designers of compact subwoofer/satellite speaker systems have struggled against The Hole.

The Hole is the gap between the lowest note the satellites can play and the highest notes the subwoofer can play. The Hole can make voices sound thin, and can rob gunshots and other sound effects of their dynamic impact. But the usual methods for filling The Hole can cause worse problems than The Hole itself.

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Tower Speaker Reviews
Aperion Verus Grand Speaker System
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 15, 2011

Performance
Value
Build Quality
Price: $4,095 (updated 3/10/15)
At a Glance: Superior left-center-right uniformity • Excellent imaging and depth • Outstanding value

When Portland, Oregon–based Aperion Audio began selling speakers about 10 years ago, its business plan was simple: design the speakers here, build them where manufacturing costs are low (China—as with many of today’s speakers), and sell direct to buyers to avoid the middlemen—distributors and conventional dealers.

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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Definitive Technology ProCinema 600 Speaker System
Kim Wilson  |  Aug 15, 2011

Performance
Value
Build Quality
Price: $699 (updated 1/28/15
At A Glance: Exceptional sonic performance for the price • Coherent soundfield • Good fit for small rooms • Extreme volume can cause distortion • Lacks depth and punch of larger systems

The ProCinema 600 5.1 speaker system is small, compact, and unobtrusive, capable of blending into any environment. This sub-$1k system effortlessly provides a highly coherent surround field in a small room without degrading the sound quality, even at relatively high volumes. Using patented technology, the system delivers surprisingly good bass and midrange for a sat/sub system. Yes, it lacks the sheer depth, high impact, and fine details of more expensive systems with larger drivers and enclosures. But for basic home theaters in multi-purpose spaces, it not only gets the job done, it performs quite admirably for its size and cost.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Blu-ray Review: Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Josef Krebs  |  Aug 15, 2011

You don’t watch Fast Times at Ridgemont High for any home theater glories. More likely, it’s a favorite movie to get stoned to — er, a series of memorable vignettes of high-school teenagers attempting to lose their virginity while surviving soul-destroying service-industry jobs.

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Ask S&V
Time to Upgrade
Scott Wilkinson  |  Aug 15, 2011
I have an old (1997) Bose Acoustimass Lifestyle 12, and the AM/FM/CD player has stopped working. I want to know if I can still use the five cube speakers with a new A/V receiver and a new subwoofer. I hate to throw it all away, and I like the look of the cubes. Can I expect the speakers to work, and will I get a good sound out of them?

Dennis Couch

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Gadget Gary
Game Booey
Gary Dell'Abate  |  Aug 15, 2011

I've always considered myself a trivia whiz. I'd devour any and all trivia books I could find. As I got older, I played games on the computer and online. That eventually morphed to the present day, where I like to sharpen my skills on various gaming consoles. One of the best games I've found is Buzz!

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Track One
Bob Dylan: Never-Ending, Ever-Rolling
Mike Mettler  |  Aug 15, 2011

Bob Dylan, bard for the ages, brought his never-ending tour to Convention Hall in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on the torrential evening of Sunday, August 14, and reinforced his prowess as the key observer and interpreter of our ever-distressing modern times.

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Audio Video News
Motogoogle
Michael Berk  |  Aug 15, 2011

You've no doubt heard by now that Google's forked over somewhere in the neighborhood of $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola Mobility,  the mobile device business Motorola spun off at the beginning of this year.

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Tech2
Shine a Light (Remotely)
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Aug 15, 2011

Light is one of those intangible things that is stuff and whatnot. Wait, no it isn't. It's light. As in, "Aziz, LIGHT!"

On the one hand, it's either on or it's off. On the other hand, it's half-on, half-off, and you've programmed it to go half-off and half-on again at the touch of a button.

If you don't have kids to turn lights on for you (or maybe you have kids, and they don't turn them back off), Lutron has a host of products to make life a little easier. How much easier is best explained by experience. Which brings us to the aptly named Lutron Experence Center.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Mars Needs Moms 3D
David Vaughn  |  Aug 14, 2011
Nine-year-old Milo (motion-capture performer Seth Green and voice actor Seth Dusky) stows away on a Mars-bound alien spaceship as it races away with his mom (Joan Cusack), who has been abducted so the Martians can steal her mom-ness in order to raise their young. Once he arrives on the Red Planet, he's befriended by Gribbler (Dan Fogler), an immature young adult whose mother was also stolen by the Martians when he was a boy. It's a race against time as Milo struggles to save his mother from imminent doom at the hands of the aliens.

This is a decent family film that starts off pretty slow but picks up steam in the second act as you get to know the main characters. The motion-capture techniques developed by producer Robert Zemeckis in The Polar Express have improved over the years, especially with adult faces, but the children come across a little creepy. Despite the shortcomings in the story, both the 3D and 2D presentations are outstanding, and the DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtrack is definitely demo-worthy.

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