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Surround Sound System ReviewsSubwoofer ReviewsTower Speaker Reviews
Polk Audio T50 Speaker System Review
Michael Trei  |  Feb 25, 2016

T50 Speaker System
Performance
Build Quality
Value
PSW108 Subwoofer
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $690 as reviewed

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Big sound, small price
Efficient and easy to drive
Proper surround sound at a soundbar price
Minus
Black vinyl is the only finish

THE VERDICT
Polk’s T50 system is all about value with a capital V— delivering a real 5.1 experience including a powered subwoofer and floorstanding tower speakers at a soundbar price.

“What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar.”—Thomas R. Marshall

American vice presidents aren’t usually remembered for much, but Woodrow Wilson’s VP Thomas R. Marshall will always be remembered for saying that America needed good cheap cigars. If you figure in a hundred years of inflation, Marshall’s five-cent cigar would still be well under a buck today, so clearly he was a man who wanted real value for the money. With that in mind, I reckon that if Marshall were alive today, he would be a huge fan of the Polk T Series speaker system.

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Audio Video News
GoldenEar Founder to Appear in NJ on Saturday
SV Staff  |  Feb 25, 2016
Sandy Gross, audio innovator and founder of GoldenEar Technology, will demonstrate the company’s latest speakers at Electronics Expo in Wayne, New Jersey on Saturday, February 27. The store is located at 491 US 46 West, Wayne, NJ 07470.
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Audio Video News
Giving a Voice to Forgotten Radios
SV Staff  |  Feb 25, 2016
Vintage radio repairman Allen Chiang appreciates the sound and design of long-forgotten radios. Models dating back to the pre-TV era when families gathered ’round the “talking box” to listen to the news and iconic serials like The Shadow or Buck Rogers. Sixties-era radios that conjure images of The Jetsons and a quaint vision of the future.
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SmartStream
Mighty's Mini Music Device Plays Spotify Without a Phone
Barb Gonzalez  |  Feb 25, 2016
Mighty Audio has launched a Kickstarter campaign for an iPod Shuffle-like device that stores and plays Spotify playlists.
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Ask S&V
Is There a Sonic Benefit to Bi-amping Speakers?
Al Griffin  |  Feb 24, 2016
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I recently purchased a 5.1 Klipsch Reference Premiere speaker system and a Pioneer Elite VSX-90 receiver. The Klipsch front towers are capable of being bi-amped, and the Pioneer receiver has a bi-amp output setting. Is there a sonic benefit to bi-amping speakers? —Michael Holly

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The S&V Interview
Danny Hutton and Three Dog Night Bring Sonic Joy to the World
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 24, 2016
Three Dog Night is a band that brings together the best of many worlds. They have one of those storied catalogs that just won’t quit, so you might be forgiven for forgetting how many of their songs you automatically know. A sampling of TDN’s 21 Top 40 hits includes the No. 1 singles “Joy to the World,” “Black and White,” and “Mama Told Me (Not to Come),” along with other instant-sing-along favorites like “One,” “Liar,” and “An Old Fashioned Love Song.” (See? Toldja you knew ’em all.) I called TDN vocalist Danny Hutton while he was sitting outside his Laurel Canyon home enjoying a short touring break to discuss Three Dog Night’s unique approach to making albums, why singing harmony comes naturally to him, and his view of the band’s enduring legacy. No doubt it will all be joy to you and me.
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Audio Video News
Is that UHDTV You're Eyeing Up a Power Hog?
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 24, 2016
Ultra HDTVs and associated technologies are the next chapter in video history. But they also use an average of 30 percent more energy than regular HDTVs. According to a report from the National Resources Defense Council, this may add $1 billion to U.S. consumers’ energy bills.
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Audio Video News
OLED Starts to Break Out Globally
SV Staff  |  Feb 24, 2016
The global market for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs grew nearly sevenfold in 2015, topping the $1 billion mark for the first time, according to a report from Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
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Audio Video News
Retro Mania Run Amok: Long Live the…Cassette?
SV Staff  |  Feb 24, 2016
Vinyl is cool but cassettes are cooler. Apparently the cassette tape revival—oh, you hadn’t heard?—is greatly exaggerated.
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4K TV ReviewsOLED TV ReviewsTV Reviews
LG 65EF9500 OLED Ultra HDTV Review
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 23, 2016

2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $6,000

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Blacks are truly black
Fine detail
Near-perfect off-axis viewing
Minus
Pricey
Annoying calibration menus

THE VERDICT
LG’s recent price adjustments have made the company’s OLED sets more approachable, though hardly cheap in the biggest-screen Ultra HD models. But in today’s market, you’re unlikely to find a UHDTV that offers better performance than this one.

While OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology offers most of the benefits of the now sadly departed plasma sets (and in some ways, more benefits), it’s been difficult to manufacture at commercially viable prices. So far, only LG is actively marketing OLED in the U.S. (though we hope others will follow). A recent drop in LG’s prices for OLED sets has rendered them more affordable, though still far from generating “Attention, Shoppers” announcements at K-Mart.

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