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Legacy Audio Classic HD Speaker System
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jul 05, 2013

HD Speaker System
Performance
Build Quality
Value

Metro Subwoofer
Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
Price: $10,580 (standard finish, updated 3/10/15)
At A Glance: Folded-planar magnetic tweeters • Treble and bass trim switches • Biwire and biamp capable

Every company has its genesis story, be it the back of a napkin or something more grandiose. Apple, of course, is famous for starting out in Steve Jobs’s parents’ garage. Lutron’s backstory isn’t quite as well known, but its unassuming beginnings were in the bedroom founder Joel Spira and his wife intended to use as their first child’s nursery. (“Sorry, kid, you’ll have to sleep on the couch. Daddy’s got a solid-state dimmer to invent.”) Similar to Apple, Legacy Audio’s birthplace was in a garage; but this garage was far from Cupertino. Instead, it was located in the midst of the cornfield-filled upper Midwest where, according to Legacy, Bill Dudleston and “a stubborn Dutch craftsman,” Jacob Albright, built the company’s first speaker, the Legacy-1, in 1983. Thirty years later, though, what the heck does any of this have to do with Legacy Audio’s loudspeakers today? Really, who gives a flying flip about two dudes, a garage, cornfields, and some woodworking equipment? (Hmm…cornfields. Wasn’t there a movie about that? “If you build it, they will listen.”)

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Ears On
This Is My Rack
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jul 05, 2013
In every review I write of a surround receiver or speaker system, I tap out a graf on associated equipment used to audition the product. You can always find it between the product description and the listening notes. Whenever I read an audio review, I feel cast adrift if the reviewer doesn't disclose what's in his reference system. After all, the receiver I use to review a set of speakers, or the speakers I use to review a receiver, may exert a significant effect on the product's performance and how I perceive it. So does the room, for that matter, and maybe I'll tackle that subject someday. I use asymmetrical long-wall placement in a room with six sides where no two sides are the same length. That should make for an interesting blog. In the meantime, here's a more detailed description of what's in my rack, moving from top to bottom.

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Tech2
Star Wars: Galaxies LIVES!
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jul 04, 2013

At the end of 2011, I wrote about the shutting down of Star Wars: Galaxies, the massively-multiplayer online game set in Lucas's fantasy universe. I hadn't played the game in years, not since Sony irreparably massacred the gameplay, dumbing it down and alienating its core players.

But now it's back. Not in hobbled "NGE" form, but with old-school Jump to Lightspeed-era gameplay.

I couldn't resist this walk down memory lane. So, after all these years... how does it hold up?

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Headphone Amp/DAC Reviews
Test Report: NuVo Technologies Wireless Audio System
John Sciacca  |  Jul 03, 2013

As a custom installer, I hear a lot of requests, andone of the things people ask for most is wireless audio. Sending music around the home without the hassle, cost, or mess associated with long runs of wire is the modern American audio dream.

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TV Reviews
Test Report: Panasonic TC-P60ST60 3D Plasma HDTV
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jul 03, 2013

There’s an argument to be made that Panasonic’s ST50 Series plasma was the best TV to come out last year — not the company’s more expensive VT50 model, which was Sound & Vision’s Video Product

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Grace Notes
Movie Premiere: The Lone Ranger
Leslie Shapiro  |  Jul 03, 2013

The story is familiar to everyone: A Texas Ranger is left for dead. He dons a mask and with his sidekick Tonto, they fight against injustice in the wild west. In the pantheon of heroes, perhaps none is as iconically American as this one. Yes, we have Superman and all the other super heroes, but the Lone Ranger lives and breathes the authentic American West.

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Audio Video News
A/V for the Great Outdoors
Bob Ankosko  |  Jul 03, 2013
Ah, summertime. The smell of lavender wafts through the air. A warm breeze rustles through the trees while you kick back on the patio and savor the latest craft beer. It’s almost time to head inside to watch the Yankees take on Detroit. If only you could watch the game outside… Well, you can. In honor of America’s favorite season, we present 10 products that will add pleasure to your backyard experience. Read on, and you may soon be the envy of the neighborhood.
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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Review: Marine Speakers
Brent Butterworth  |  Jul 03, 2013

In my career as a reviewer, I've always focused totally on home and portable products, because other speaker categories seemed so different and I figured I couldn't be good at everything.

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This Week
This Week in Movies & TV, July 02, 2013: Smart Kookies
Josef Krebs  |  Jul 02, 2013

The Producers

When on-the-skids Broadway theatrical hustler Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) has his financial books examined by timid, nervous nebbish accountant Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder), the casual conversation that ensues persuades each of them that by producing a really, really dreadful play in order to ensure a massive flop, they can make more money than if they had a hit.

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This Week
This Week in Music, July 2, 2013: Fireworks!
Ken Richardson  |  Jul 02, 2013

In the days around the Fourth of July, the people who run record companies take a lot of time off. They assume you’re more interested in having picnics and watching fireworks than in buying music. Accordingly, this is a customarily light week on the album-release schedule.

Of course, you could always celebrate the holiday by cueing up some “American” albums that have already been released this year, such as Patty Griffin’s American Kid, the Putumayo label’s American Playground, and Willie Nile’s American Ride. Then there’s Wings over America. And don’t forget that bree is an All American Girl.

Yolanda Kondonassis is another American girl (born in Norman, Oklahoma), and if you’d like to hear some American music, you could (with a nod to Tom Petty) listen to her harp:

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