LATEST ADDITIONS

When I reviewed the Integra Research RDC-7 preamplifier-processor in our February 2001 issue, I waxed enthusiastic about the unit's promised upgradeability—on that issue's cover, we even tagged it "Ready for Y3K!" Amid the Dolby/DTS battles of a few years ago, when a new "must-have" surround format was sent into the fray every six months, such an upgradeable chassis was exciting and welcome.

Photos by Tony Cordoza As I unpacked Athena Technologies' Audition Series home theater speakers, I recalled that Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom, reason, and purity. Was it wise and reasonable, I wondered, to expect purity of sound from a six-piece system that costs less than $1,500? If anyone could make such a system, though, I figured Athena could.

It's easy to visualize the operation of a CRT projector: three tubes, each operating much as the picture tube in the TV on your kitchen counter, flashing overlapping red, green, and blue analog images onto the screen. If you have a good model in top operating condition, and if you or your installer have slaved over its setup, you'll see an incredible picture—one that, on a home-size screen (not so large as to accentuate a CRT's main limitation of light output), is still as good as home video gets.

Convergence is upon us. Technology long associated with information processing is increasingly a part of many people's home entertainment experience.