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Subwoofer Reviews
Sunfire XTEQ10 Subwoofer Review
David Vaughn  |  Sep 24, 2015
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $1,750

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Small form factor is décor friendly
Satisfying bass response
Minus
Can’t deliver the sonic impact of a bigger sub
Better values can be found in the market

THE VERDICT
Given the Sunfire’s dainty size, I didn’t expect much, but it delivers in spades with music and should be adequate with movies for many listeners.

My name is David Vaughn, and I’m a bass-a-holic. There isn’t a 12-step program to cure me of this disease—and even if there were, I’d avoid the treatment like the plague. There’s nothing like feeling the thump in your chest when an explosion rocks the room in the latest Hollywood blockbuster or hearing the windows rattle to some classic rap from the early 1990s. (Hell, who would have ever thought that “classic” and “rap” would go together in the same sentence?)

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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Terk Aids Cord-Cutters with New HDTV Antennas
SV Staff  |  Sep 24, 2015
Terk, the 30-year-old brand specializing in radio and TV antennas, has introduced two amplified indoor HDTV antennas aimed at cord cutters.

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SmartStream
New Amazon Fire TV Lineup Has 4K, Gaming, More
Barb Gonzalez  |  Sep 23, 2015
The next generation of Fire TVs is coming in October along with updates on the existing models. Amazon is upping the ante with great new features and capabilities.
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Ask S&V
Why Would I Pay $300-Plus for a Blu-ray Player?
Al Griffin  |  Sep 23, 2015
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I am looking for a new Blu-ray player and have a question. What’s the difference between inexpensive models and ones that cost $300-plus? It seems to me that inexpensive models have as many features, if not more, than pricey ones. If it’s a question processing power or something else, does that make a huge difference in picture and sound quality? —Edwin Vela

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Audio Video News
Soundbars Are for Music Too
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 23, 2015
Once a soundbar is mounted on the wall below the TV, a lot of folks are tempted to use it for music. An NPD Group survey found that 55 percent of soundbar owners use it for such things as podcasts and radio (though probably not vinyl). That makes sense, since more than 80 percent of bars have Bluetooth capability to communicate with mobile devices. Among 18-to-34-year-olds, 66 percent use the bar for music. As soundbars wax, other product categories wane. Forty-five percent of soundbar owners retired a home theater in a box system and 35 percent retired an A/V receiver.
Premiere Design
What Would Mozart Think?
Bob Ankosko  |  Sep 23, 2015
Poet Audio Pandoretta 360° Wireless Sound System

When I stumbled upon Poet Audio’s Pandoretta, I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at. I knew it was a speaker and not some sort of fancy air-filtration system, but what kind of speaker? Was it a new take on Yamaha’s Digital Sound Projector with an array of tiny drivers behind all those holes? It didn’t occur to me that the stainless steel “grille” might be an elaborate design element. Yet that’s exactly what it is.

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Audio Video News
Nielsen: Streaming Up, Traditional Pay-TV Down
SV Staff  |  Sep 23, 2015
Nielsen is reporting that the number of U.S. households subscribing to streaming TV services was up 18 percent during the second quarter of 2015 compared with the same period in 2014, while the number of traditional pay-TV homes decreased by 100 million, a drop of 1.2 percent, according to Broadcasting & Cable.
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Audio Video News
A New Use for Vintage TVs
Bob Ankosko  |  Sep 23, 2015
In what may be the most creative (and craziest) stunt for a music video, UK director Joe Connor hitched a pair of vintage Sony TVs to a weather balloon with GoPro cameras in tow and sent them to orbit. All to promote the song “Call You Home” by Kelvin Jones. A YouTube post of Jones singing the song went viral last year, eventually leading to a deal with Sony Music.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Polk Introduces Omni S6 Wireless Speaker
SV Staff  |  Sep 22, 2015
Polk today introduced the Omni S6 wireless stereo speaker. Intended for medium to large rooms, the $350 speaker is the latest addition to the company’s Omni line of wireless speakers.
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Signals
Google Patent Application Is Downright Creepy
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Sep 22, 2015
As you may have noticed, things are becoming more complex. Blame Moore’s Law, or whatever. But things are complicated. To help us manage that complexity, companies are devising even more complicated things that give us, the human users, the illusion of simplicity. However, a recent Google patent application, aimed at simplifying the operation of things like home entertainment systems, is just downright creepy.

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