LATEST ADDITIONS

Shane Buettner | Sep 08, 2014

Have You Heard About the Lonesome Loser?

Picture
Sound
Extras

The Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis is a fascinating but bleak amalgam of people, places, and events at the dawn of the folk music scene in 1961 Greenwich Village, viewed through a visual pastiche inspired by the album cover for The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and a titular character who channels early folk institution Dave Van Ronk (in look and vocation, not temperament). While outrageously funny at times, with superbly chosen music exuberantly performed, this isn’t a farcical romp through the ’60s; it’s a black comedy about the artist versus the entertainment business that’s thematically reminiscent of the Coens’ polarizing Barton Fink.

Grace Notes Audio Video News New Products

Samsung Flaunts Flexibility with Bendable 105" Ultra HD TV

Leslie Shapiro | Sep 07, 2014

Samsung has a mind-bending new product that’s shaping up to be a real breakthrough, just revealed in Berlin at IFA 2014. Sure, Samsung’s new focus on curved TVs is exciting. But in addition to a complete lineup of 17 new curved TVs, including one that’s 105-inches (debuted at CES 2014), Samsung has announced a revolutionary 105-inch bendable TV. Yup—bendable! Stand back Gumby, step aside Elasti-Girl, Samsung’s flexing some serious muscle with this bad boy.

Tech2

Tasker: Phone Automation

Geoffrey Morrison | Sep 06, 2014

Are there repetitive things you do with your phone? Of course there are. Maybe you always turn on Pandora when you get in your car. Maybe you turn off your screen lock password when you’re home. Maybe you turn your phone on vibrate when you get to work.

What if your phone did this, and a whole lot more, automatically? What if it responded to any command you said. What if it read you your incoming texts while you were driving, and auto-replied that you were in the car?

This is the promise of the incredibly powerful app, Tasker.

New Products Premiere Design

Full Immersion: Auro-3D Auriga Home Theater Receiver

Bob Ankosko | Sep 05, 2014

Note to readers: See Clarification at the end of this article for an update.

Weeks before Onkyo and Pioneer announced the first Dolby Atmos-equipped AV receivers, we received a press release touting the “first ever immersive sound receiver”—the Auro-3D Auriga from Belgium-based Auro Technlogies. Intrigued by its high-end looks—and $16,700 price—we reached out to CEO and Auro-3D inventor Wilfried Van Baelen to learn more about the product and the Auro 3D surround-sound format at its core. Auro 11.1, which adds height and overhead channels to an existing 5.1 surround-sound setup, debuted in theaters in 2011 and today supports almost 500 screens worldwide, according to the company. Recent movies mixed in Auro 11.1 include Oculus, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and a number of foreign films.

Home Movie Theaters

Little Big Screen

Rob Sabin | Sep 05, 2014

At the highest level of execution, building a home theater is an expression of fine art, an engineering as well as aesthetic endeavor that combines technical know-how with inspired interior design, all with the idea of creating a room that wows its inhabitants no matter if the lights are on or off. The end game of a great theater room can be summed up in a single word: impact.

Ears On

Dirty Little Cable Secrets

Mark Fleischmann | Sep 05, 2014

Every review I write has an "associated equipment" graf in which I dutifully list all the major components of my reference surround system: speakers, subwoofer, surround receiver, and universal disc player. When I use my turntable, I list that as well as the phono cartridge and whatever I'm using as a phono preamp. But I never go into similar detail about another significant component in my system, namely the cables that tie everything together. Readers may be wondering what I use and why I use it. This blog will tell all my dirty little cable secrets.

Media Server Reviews

Russound XStream X1 Wireless Audio System

John Sciacca | Sep 04, 2014

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

PRICE $568 and up ($967 as tested)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Fast and simple setup
Long transmission range
Zero detectable latency
Minus
Optical input doesn’t support Dolby or DTS bitstreams

THE VERDICT
XStream works exactly as promised, beaming audio around the home with little effort. Easily integrates with existing audio distribution systems or functions standalone.

Thanks to companies like Sonos and Bluesound, wireless audio distribution systems are gaining real traction in the marketplace. And if you’re starting from ground zero, these can be terrific options for sending music around an existing home.

But what if you have an existing audio system you want to expand on? Say an older Elan, Niles, or Russound housewide system that’s feeding multiple rooms that you want to add to? Or if you purchased a multi-zone A/V receiver and want to add music to a far bedroom or porch? Or maybe you just want to add some surround channels to the back of a room or new Dolby Atmos speakers that wouldn’t be possible or cost effective to do with traditional wiring? If any of those sounds like you, Russound’s new XStream X1 wireless audio system might be the perfect solution.

Ask S&V

Can You Recommend an Old School-Type Receiver?

Al Griffin | Sep 03, 2014

Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I hope you can help me. I am old school: born in the early 60s, rocked out in the 1970s. I had a nice JVC stereo receiver that I bought in 1985, but it died after a couple of resistors got fried. What can I buy to replace it? I would like to play my vinyl records so I need a phono input. I also have a nice Onkyo Cassette Tape deck and a Technics Compact Disc player I want to use (both with the old red and white jacks). Plus I have four speakers that use copper wire to clip to the back of the receiver. Major volume potential is a requirement as I need to crank my 1970s rock! I don’t want to break the bank doing it, either. —Scott Wellington, Marietta, GA

SmartStream

Netgear Nighthawk X4 Router May be Best Choice for Streaming 4K Content

Barb Gonzalez | Sep 03, 2014

Whether you are streaming 4K video, have a multitude of devices connected to WiFi, or want speedy file transfers to multiple hard drives, check out Netgear's Nighthawk X4 AC2350 Router.

The S&V Interview

The Super Sonic Adventures of Butch Vig and The Emperors of Wyoming

Mike Mettler | Sep 03, 2014

From the smallest of triggers come great things. I was sitting in the dressing room at Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas on April 14, 2012 with Garbage drummer and co-producer Butch Vig before soundcheck, and we were looking at an album cover from his lesser-known ’80s band, Fire Town. “You know, one of the guys in this band, Phil Davis, and I have started a side project, a band called The Emperors of Wyoming,” Vig revealed. Initially released in late 2012 by Proper Records, The Emperors of Wyoming is a grainy, smoky spaghetti western come to life — pure Americana through and through, from the defiant twang of “I’m Your Man” to the harmonica-driven singalong jangle of “Cruel Love Ways.” Vig and the EOW gang decided to update the album for a 2014 Deluxe Edition released by Liaison Records (“a Super Duper Super Deluxe Edition,” Vig clarifies) by adding two covers — the Afghan Whigs’ “Rebirth of the Cool” and House of Love’s “I Don’t Know Why I Love You” — plus one original: “Drinking Man’s Town." Here, Vig, 59, and I get down to discussing the Emperors’ recording techniques, his views of hi-res audio, and what to expect from Sonic Highways, the new Foo Fighters record that Vig just finished producing, which is slated to come out in November. Right from the hilt of the holster, Vig and The Emperors sure know how to draw big.

Search form

LATEST ADDITIONS

Pages