LATEST ADDITIONS

Tech2
On Measuring and Calibration: Plasma Contrast Ratios
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Aug 31, 2011

I just finished a plasma TV review for an upcoming issue of S+V. As I was writing up its brightness and contrast ratios, I realized there could be some confusion about the numbers.

If you measure the contrast ratio of plasmas (all plasmas, not just this one) the same way you do other types of televisions - namely LCDs and projectors - they post poorer numbers than other technologies.

This isn't a performance issue as much as it's a measurement issue. And why that is . . . that's kinda interesting.

Continue Reading »
Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Monitor Audio Gold GX50 Speaker System
Mark Fleischmann  |  Aug 30, 2011

Performance
Value
Build Quality
Price: $7,480 At A Glance: Two-way monitors with ribbon tweeters • High-quality parts including silver cabling • Three veneer and two lacquer finishes

No home theater system is complete without both a big screen and surround sound. But it’s no secret that the former is more popular than the latter. Surround’s Achilles’ heel is the audio/video receiver, with its peculiarly named features and labyrinthine menus. On the other hand, speakers are fairly straightforward. They usually have no controls aside from a few on the sub. Cable connection is red to red, black to black. Placement is key to performance but as much a matter of simple experimentation as knowledge. You don’t need to be a nuclear physicist to hear bass get louder when you shove a speaker toward a corner.

Continue Reading »
Custom Installation How-ToHome Movie Theaters
Dream Theater: From Hobby to Profession
Mike Ellsworth  |  Aug 30, 2011
Photos by Kristine Crosby

When it came time to build a home theater in the basement of our home (14.5 by 18.5 feet), my wife set the tone by requesting a traditional movie theater décor with a touch of whimsy. On the technical side, I was most concerned about the installation and soundproofing to ensure it sounded as terrific as it looked. The walls, stage, and seating platform are all filled with insulation, and the walls are covered with sound panels, made from 1-inch-thick batting, and covered with velvet fabric and then framed with wood trim boxes. Molding added the extra bit of elegance, and pillars gave the room dimension and function. Doubling as sound panels, two of the pillars have cabinet doors. One of them opens to reveal the equipment rack; the other has shelves for storage.

Continue Reading »
Curtain Call
California Streaming
Michael J. Nelson  |  Aug 30, 2011
Although I’ve lived a fairly mundane existence, there are several points of mild interest: I was once nearly killed by wasps. I have met Jesse “The Body” Ventura on a number of occasions (I preferred the wasps, for what it’s worth). And I once ate nothing but bacon for 29 straight days. No, I didn’t eat much bacon—didn’t eat much of anything at all—but yes, everything I did eat was bacon. Still, despite these moderately fascinating midlights (highlights is too strong a word), people seem inordinately intrigued by what I consider a biographical detail of little to no importance, something I’ve mentioned in this column before: that is my having had no source of regular TV (i.e., cable, satellite, or over-the-air) for more than a decade. “Why? What happened?!” they say, with the same pitying tone they might ask, “Are you ill? Have you had some sort of brain trauma?” (For the record, I can’t account for every hour I’ve been alive, but no, none that I can remember.)
Continue Reading »
Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Man Who Would Be King
Fred Kaplan  |  Aug 30, 2011
John Huston’s The Man Who Would Be King is one of those great films the likes of which “they don’t make anymore” (and, in fact, they rarely did), a grand tale of adventure and greed set against the great outdoors and the judgment of Nature. It’s based on Rudyard Kipling’s novel, but in many ways, it’s a throwback to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which Huston also directed, nearly 30 years earlier. This movie’s prospectors are former soldiers in Britain’s colonial army, seeking power and fortune by conquering tribal warlords in the mountains of Afghanistan, rather than American ne’er-do-wells panning for gold in the foothills of Mexico. But the outcome is the same: Our (anti-) heroes win everything then lose it all through avarice and arrogance. In Treasure, they dig up more gold than they can carry (or their capacity for mutual trust can endure); in King, they stumble into a cavern of riches, but one of them starts believing he really is a god (as they’ve tricked the natives into thinking), until the act is exposed.
Continue Reading »
Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 78: Fred Maher
Scott Wilkinson  |  Aug 30, 2011
Fred Maher, an audio engineer now working for DTS, talks about his career as a musician, recording engineer, and producer as well as the use and misuse of dynamic-range compression, the audible effect of lossy data compression, the art of mixing music for multichannel playback, DTS' new Neo:X algorithm that can upmix any smaller number of channels to 11.1, where to place 11 speakers, the benefit of 3D audio, answers to chat-room questions, and more.

Run Time: 1:01:11

Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
Apple: Obscured by Clouds
Michael Berk  |  Aug 30, 2011

Steve Jobs may have moved on, but Apple's quickly returned to shaking up the music and movie industries in the good old-fashioned way: with beta releases and rumors.

Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
MOG Comes to Boxee
Michael Berk  |  Aug 30, 2011

MOG, the streaming service that emerged victorious in our showdown with Spotify, comes to yet another venue - the Boxee Box, the digital media receiver S+V's Geoffrey Morri

Continue Reading »
Streaming Device ReviewsCustom Installation How-To
Review: Cambridge Audio Sonata NP30 Network Music Player
Daniel Kumin  |  Aug 30, 2011

Cambridge Audio is a British electronics maker with a long-running dedication to serious audio (minus the silly-expensive audiophile pricing) and a long-running commitment to quality digital playback. So, when the company first previewed a network music player in late 2010, it got my attention.

Continue Reading »
This Week in Music and Blu-rays: August 30, 2011
Brett Milano  |  Aug 30, 2011

This Week in Music

Brett Milano takes a listen to the latest new releases and reissues: Glen Campbell turns in a surprisingly unflinching swan song, the classic early work of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers gets a fresh mono release on CD and 180-gram vinyl, plus the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tommy Keene, Juliana Hatfield, Ice

Continue Reading »

Pages

X