LATEST ADDITIONS

This Week
This Week in Movies & TV, March 26, 2013: Presidents, Popes, & Prisoners
Josef Krebs  |  Mar 26, 2013
January 1865, with the American Civil War in its fourth year, two months after Abraham Lincoln's re-election, there is much to be done, a nation to be remade in a new form. Lincoln - directed by Steven Spielberg from Tony Kushner's screenplay, based in part on a biography by Doris Kearns Goodwin - depicts the true events confronting the president and his monumental political challenge to amend the United States Constitution to permanently abolish slavery.
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Desktop Speaker Reviews
Review: Audioengine P4
Brent Butterworth  |  Mar 26, 2013

Audioengine is the darling of the desktop audio set, producing mostly small, affordable powered speakers that tend to be used on desks and credenzas. The P4 is the company’s sole passive speaker, with a 0.75-inch silk-dome tweeter, a 4-inch Kevlar-cone woofer, and a front-slotted cabinet. At 9 inches high, it’s the second most compact model in this roundup.

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Soundbar Reviews
Polk SurroundBar 9000 IHT Soundbar
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Mar 26, 2013

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $800 At A Glance: Learns commands from your TV’s or other remote control • Wireless subwoofer with automatic pairing • Built-in Dolby Digital and DTS decoding

Addicted, as millions of us are, to the near instantaneous gratification of loaded DVRs and streaming services capable of providing lifetimes of mindless entertainment, it’s no surprise that we want speed and simplicity to apply to the entire process of watching TV. In fact, digging the remote control out from under the couch cushions ought to be about the limit of the physical and mental effort involved.

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This Week
This Week in Music, March 26, 2013: Welcome to the “Machines” of the Strokes and Depeche Mode
Ken Richardson  |  Mar 26, 2013

The Strokes: Comedown Machine

New release (RCA)
Photo courtesy of RCA

I had pretty much given up on the Strokes some time ago. The band’s early, early promise just wasn’t bearing fruit anymore. But here we have Comedown Machine, and waddayaknow, things would seem to be looking up.

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This Week
This Week in Music, March 26, 2013: Welcome to the "Machines" of the Strokes and Depeche Mode Page 2
Ken Richardson  |  Mar 26, 2013

The Strokes: Comedown Machine

New release (RCA)
Photo courtesy of RCA

I had pretty much given up on the Strokes some time ago. The band's early, early promise just wasn't bearing fruit anymore. But here we have Comedown Machine, and waddayaknow, things would seem to be looking up.

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Remotely Possible
Digital Killed the Sound City Studio Star
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Mar 25, 2013
At first glance, you’d think a documentary about a defunct recording studio would have a hard time maintaining the interest of anyone other than a recording engineer for its entire 108-minute runtime. When I tell you that this documentary spends a great deal of those 108 minutes reverently reminiscing about the analog mixing console at the studio, it’s likely you’ll start wondering what insane, “analog forever”, diehard audiophile thought this subject would ever appeal to more than a dozen or so people. Frankly, it’s the sort of film you’d expect to find in the mosh-pit discount bins of DVDs and Blu-rays in the aisles of Walmart.
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Power Amplifier ReviewsSurround Processor Reviews
Review: Emotiva UMC-200 preamp/processor and UPA-700 7-channel amp
Daniel Kumin  |  Mar 25, 2013

Emotiva. The name sounds like the latest cure-all marketed by Big Pharma on the evening news programs. (Remember “restless leg?”) It is, in fact the consumer-audio brand of Tennessee’s Jade Designs. And Jade Designs, in turn, is the direct-to-consumer brand founded by a longtime veteran of the rough-and-tumble electronics OEM (original equipment manufacturing) world.

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Wireless Multiroom Speaker Reviews
Review: Dynaudio Xeo 5 wireless speakers
Daniel Kumin  |  Mar 25, 2013

Wireless is, uh, in the air these days. Audio, video, telecom, and most everything else up to and including war-making are all proceeding nicely without any lengths of braided copper trailing behind. But too much of the time, this is more about wireless-ness than about what happens when the signal gets wherever “there” is. (Unless, that is, you have the misfortune to be riding in a car in the mountains of northern Pakistan…)

Not this time. And the rather unexpected reason is a new family of wireless speakers dubbed Xeo from Dynaudio, the Danish loudspeaker (and transducer) maker that is as widely respected in the hushed confines of pro audio as in the rough-and-tumble of high-end hi-fi.

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Custom Installation How-ToHome Movie Theaters
Passion and Patience: Delays and Budget Didn't Deter This Homeowner
Kim Wilson  |  Mar 25, 2013
Photos by James Hollingsworth

Back in 2001, James Hollingsworth got the home theater bug when a sales consultant asked a very simple question: "Do you want a TV, or do you want a home theater?"

During what he thought would be a routine new-TV purchase, James was introduced to possibilities he never imagined. He thought the 65-inch TV he was watching looked impressive until the sales guy dropped down a 100-plus-inch projection screen.

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3D Blu-ray Player ReviewsBlu-ray Player Reviews
Review: Oppo BDP-105 universal disc player
Al Griffin  |  Mar 25, 2013

When I reviewed Oppo’s BDP-93 — the company’s first universal player to support Blu-ray 3D and high-rez FLAC audio playback — I wrapped things up by saying it could be the last disc player you’ll ever need. Turns out I spoke too soon, because Oppo keeps finding new ways to make the whole disc-player concept relevant.  Its most recent offerings include the BDP-103 ($499) and the BDP-105 under review here, a $1,199 version that has been hot-rodded for two-channel-audio enthusiasts.

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