LATEST ADDITIONS

Former Spice Girl “Scary Spice”, Mel B, and current star of both “Mel B: It’s a Scary Life” and “Dance Your A** Off” is getting some Phase Technology, Induction Dynamics, and SoundTube speakers in her (no doubt, plush) home in California. I’m sure as part of a quid pro quo, Mel B is going to appear at the Phase Technology/Induction Dynamics/SoundTube (all part of the MSE Audio Group) booth on Friday, September 24th, in order to sign autographs and attract as much attention to the booth as possible. I was never a fan of the Spice Girls, nor do I watch any of Mel B’s current TV efforts – but I will go by the booth; not on Friday, though, because they’re having free beer on Thursday. (I’d have gone by regardless of the free booze since Phase Tech is one of my favorite all-around speaker companies.)

We will be covering the show live from Atlanta, Georgia.

Denon is continuing its 100th anniversary proceedings by declaring its "Centennial Partners," a group of 5 home theater technology companies that Denon says has been vital in its projects. The partners read like a Who's Who in home audio, and...

Price: $16,470 (as tested) At A Glance: One-of-a-kind, best-in-class movie interface • Very expensive • Music management not at same level • Blu-ray playback currently cumbersome • Standout pure performance

Escape Physical Media

Going back several years, I remember my first reaction to learning of the Kaleidescape paradigm. Then, media servers didn’t exist, and a Kaleidescape starter system cost a startling $30,000. On paper, it looked like its principal novelty was ripping and playing back DVD movies without having to load a disc into a player. My first thought was something like, “Wow, life is really expensive for people who don’t want to get up and walk a few feet to grab a disc and put it into a DVD player.” Of course, this was exceptionally ignorant and shortsighted. My cynicism lasted roughly two and a half to three seconds into actually using a Kaleidescape system. Much like the Apple products that are so near and dear to my heart, Kaleidescape’s power is in the interface. The library management and organization is a metadata-enriched, best-in-class experience. It’s about changing the way you browse and experience your content at least as much as it’s about storing your digital content on a server. What’s better still, it’s dead simple to use. You could hand the remote to your mom, and she’d be watching a movie in seconds. But power users can dig deeper and find movies by their favorite actors, directors, genres, and more.