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Surround Sound System ReviewsTower Speaker Reviews
Fluance XL7F Speaker System
Brent Butterworth  |  Oct 01, 2013
Performance
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $800

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Crazy-affordable prices
Great cosmetics for the money
Minus
Sounds a little unrefined

THE VERDICT
It’s not without flaws, but the $500/pair XL7F tower delivers a surprising value.

I actually did a double-take when I added up the price of Fluance’s XL7 speaker system. Two tower speakers for the price of a good pair of minimonitors. A center speaker for the price of a cheap Blu-ray player. A pair of minimonitors for the price of … well, an inexpensive pair of minimonitors. And the whole shebang for about what most Sound & Vision readers I know would spend for a decent subwoofer. Shipping’s free, too!

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Custom Installation How-ToThe Connected Life
The Connected Life: Control Your World
John Sciacca  |  Oct 01, 2013
Coupled with high-speed Internet and the growing app marketplace, smartphones are often the most important tech device in many of our lives, with phone calling often the least used feature. The exciting news for techies is the amount of control available for your home from anywhere in the world, and much of this amazing tech is affordable and DIY-friendly to install!
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LCD TV ReviewsTV Reviews
LG 55LA7400 3D LCD HDTV
Al Griffin  |  Oct 01, 2013
2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE
$2,299

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Bright, crisp 3D display
Unique Magic Remote
Voice Mate feature
Minus
Below-average picture contrast

THE VERDICT
LG’s mid-level set is undoubtedly Smart and a very good value, but its less than stellar contrast and picture uniformity make it an also-ran in the LCD TV race.

At first look, there’s nothing groundbreaking about LG’s 55LA7400, the mid-size model in the company’s LA7400 line of 3D-capable LCDs (47- and 60-inch versions are also available). To be honest, its feature list is packed, yawn, with lots of stuff we’ve seen before from LG: TruMotion 240-hertz display, edge-arrayed LED backlight with local dimming, passive 3D using polarized glasses. Where the LA7400 series starts to get interesting is when you look beyond the video specs to the Smart features and connectivity options—things video enthusiasts routinely dismiss but in reality are futuristic and cool. As one of the big three companies pushing the Smart TV envelope (Panasonic and Samsung are the other two), LG takes this stuff seriously, and it hopes you will too.

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Headphone ReviewsSignals
SMS Audio Street by 50 ANC Headphones
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Oct 01, 2013
Much to the dismay of audiophile old fogies, the audio scene has been overrun by punks and their celebrity endorsements. Everywhere you look (Dre, I’m looking at you) you see audio gear, headphones in particular, with a famous DJ or other artist name attached. Of course, even old fogies were young once, and now it’s another generation’s turn to discover how cool audio is.
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Bluetooth Speaker Reviews
Review: Lyrix Duo Bluetooth 2-in-1 Speaker
Leslie Shapiro  |  Sep 30, 2013
Every morning, my inbox is filled with press release after press release announcing some new Bluetooth wireless speaker. Everybody seems to be making them, and every company is trying to find an edge—some way to elevate themselves above the fray. Different shapes, multiple colors, small or large, they all do the same thing. But the Lyrix Duo caught my eye as something different, something unique. I needed to find out if different is also good.

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CEDIA 2013
Focal Goes to Great Lengths
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 30, 2013
Focal has a whole new line of loudspeakers slotting in just below the company's Electra range. The Aria series' signature feature is the use of cones consisting of a layer of flax sandwiched between layers of fiberglass. The result is said to produce a diaphragm that's stiff, light, and less time consuming to produce than the layered cones used in Focal's more pricey designs. There are currently five models in the range, shown here with the flagship 948 ($5000/pair) in front. The Aria CC 900 center is not shown, but somewhat disappointingly it's a conventional two-way woofer-tweeter-woofer design and not a 3-way with a centered, vertically-arrayed midrange and tweeter.
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CEDIA 2013
Acurus Previews Act 4
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 30, 2013
The Acurus ACT 4 7.1-channel pre-pro sports all the latest audio formats and is expected to ship early in 2014 for $4000. The accompanying 7.1-channel Acurus amplifier is available now at $4299.
CEDIA 2013
ATI's Signature Amp
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 30, 2013
Morris Kessler knows his way around an amplifier. His name may be a little less well known to audiophiles than Dan D'Agostino, Nelson Pass, and John Curl, but he has been quietly designing great amplifiers for many companies at least as long as any of them--and longer than some. His current company is ATI, well known for producing solid-performing, high-value audiophile amps. This is his signature design, the first to feature his name on the front panel. Available from 2-channels at $4000 and $8000 for 7 channels, it sports 400 W continuous into 8 ohms and, in 7-channel form, weighs in at 143 lbs! It should be available in January.
CEDIA 2013
Boulder and Bolder
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 30, 2013
Pricey, high-end, dedicated 2-channel audio electronics were thin on the ground at CEDIA--they always are--but we did see amps from Constellation, Krell, Aragon, Theta, ATI, D'Agostino, and Esoteric (Esoteric is now distributed in the US by Integra). There was also this Boulder amplifier. Boulder is located in Boulder, Colorado, in case you missed the connection, which is just a stone's throw from CEDIA's Denver location.
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CEDIA 2013
Epson Demos PowerLite Projectors at CEDIA
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 30, 2013
Epson offered impressive demos of its PowerLite Pro Cinema 4030 ($2499) and 6030 ($3499) projectors, the former in 3D, the latter in 2D. Each of these models come with 3 year parts and labor warranty (90 days on the lamp), a spare lamp, and a ceiling mount. Both are finished in black and are available only through "CEDIA" channels--that is, to the custom installer. But the on-line or conventional shopper can get the same performance as the 6030 with the new PowerLite Pro Cinema 5030 (shown here) at $2600 (a wireless version is available at $2900).
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