Price: $2,599 At A Glance: High-end implementation of Class D amplification • Among first Rotels with HDMI 1.3, lossless surround decoding • Faroudja video processing but no auto setup
It’s Not Easy Being Green
Energy will likely be the defining challenge of our lifetimes. We use a lot of it but need to use less, so the ways in which we use it must become more responsible, creative, and resourceful. Will home theater continue to add to the quality of life in an energy-scarce future by bringing us closer to music and movies? Or will we write it off as just another accessory of sprawl, soon to be ruthlessly un-supersized? Is it possible to enjoy big pictures that are accompanied by big sound, while using less energy? This is the stage onto which the Rotel RSX-1560 A/V receiver walks, before an audience that is holding its breath.
Price: $3,800 At A Glance: Good blacks and shadow detail • Excellent resolution • Natural color • QC issues in our early samples
The LED Edge
It was CES, January 2009. The young lady standing next to the new Samsung 7000 Series LCD HDTVs was still perky. (It was early in the show’s four-day run.)
There is HD video flying all over the place, overworking wireless routers to the point of exhaustion. Belkin's new Gigabit Powerline HD Starter Kit does what any good Powerline system should do, sending heaps of data through a house's...
All I knew going into this was that I'd be dealing with a guy who was nuts about restoring stuff. What I ended up with was a glimpse of probably the most unusual home theater that has ever graced these pages.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/theint.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>With an intelligent script but sour ending, <i>The International</i> is another outstanding video encode from Sony. Using a mixture of 35mm and 65mm film, it showcases how great Blu-ray can look with meticulous attention to detail. The audio isn't as good as the video, but one scene in particular stands out in this regard and features one of the best gun battles I've viewed in the past couple of years.
In 1975, Meir Mordechai had a dream—to create the perfect speaker. Since then, his Israeli company, <A href="http://www.morelhifi.com">Morel</A> (short for Mordechai Electronics), has developed a wide variety of innovative drivers as well as finished speakers. Its latest flagship is the Fat Lady, named in reference to the famous saying, "It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings."
...and you know what that means: It's an official reason/excuse for yer vinyl-centric EIC to buy more wax! Yes, it's true — the folks who bring us that wonderful annual spring event, Record Store Day, are presenting Saturday, June...
Wireless music systems really can run the gamut from low end to something extremely snazzy and high-end like Sooloos. Yamaha’s new outfit finds itself somewhere in the middle, offering multi-room playback of all your audio files (iTunes AAC files,...
Price: $2,599 At A Glance: High-end implementation of Class D amplification • Among first Rotels with HDMI 1.3, lossless surround decoding • Faroudja video processing but no auto setup
