LATEST ADDITIONS

Out Of The Blu
Mother's Day (2010), Hell on Wheels Season One, Walking Tall: The Trilogy
Chris Chiarella  |  May 04, 2012
Check out Rebecca De Mornay in a guilty-pleasure remake of an off-the-wall classic, or saddle up for the entire first year of AMC's hot (and sweaty) new Western hit, or pop in all three movies in the beloved series about a lone sheriff facing impossible odds.
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Wide Angle
The Day S+V Met MCA
Al Griffin  |  May 04, 2012

I met Adam Yauch back in 2000 when he and bandmate Mike D. spent an afternoon hanging out at the old Sound+Vision testing facility in NYC.

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Vintage Gear
Acoustic Research AR-3 Speakers
Steve Guttenberg  |  May 04, 2012
Edgar Villchur didn’t set out to start a speaker company; he just wanted to license his acoustic suspension designs to other speaker companies. In the early ’50s, he shopped the concept to the biggest names in the business, but not a single one was interested. So Villchur started Acoustic Research in 1952, and his very first speaker, the AR-1, was an immediate hit. Villchur’s design strategy used the elasticity of air within a sealed cabinet to provide the restoring force for the driver, which allowed his relatively small speakers to produce deep, low-distortion bass.
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Tech2
Why I Hate Sharing My Picture Settings
Geoffrey Morrison  |  May 04, 2012

One of the most common requests I get by email, and in comments on reviews, is to share what picture settings I've used to achieve the best image.

To put it bluntly: no. This isn't because my settings are some big secret, it's because I honestly believe sharing them is a bad idea, and I'd be doing more harm than good.

And once I list the reasons why, you may even agree with me.

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Video Processor Reviews
Lumagen Radiance Series and DVDO iScan Duo High-Definition Video Processors
Kris Deering  |  May 03, 2012

Lumagen Radiance Series
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value


DVDO iScan Duo
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: Lumagen Radiance Series: $1,995-$4,995; DVDO iScan Duo $1,299 At A Glance: Lumagen: Fully supports 2D/3D processing • Delivers staggering customization and features set • DVDO: Great value with lots of connectivity

When I got started in this great hobby of ours, video processors were pretty much reserved for the higher-end theaters I only dreamed of. We didn’t have pristine 1080p24 sources to feed our displays; we had stuff like VHS and Laserdisc. Displays weren’t nearly as consistent, either. Projectors were mainly for the ultrarich and required brute strength to install. Beyond that, it took considerable work to get them looking right. Calibration was anything but easy. Expensive outboard video processors were also a necessity for these beasts to wring the most out of our then-limited video options.

Now we’re living the video dream. Some may scoff or say otherwise, but they probably haven’t been around as long as I have. These days, even low-end projectors outperform the majority of the reference designs back in the day. Sources are of a much higher quality, and new prerecorded formats are progressive by design and require very little, if any, tinkering. Sure, we have some DVDs lingering around that still need to be deinterlaced, but the proliferation of high-end video-processing chips into TVs, Blu-ray players, and even A/V receivers has made it easier than ever to get solid deinterlacing and scaling in a relatively cheap platform.

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New Products
New Gear: The KEF LS50 Mini Monitor
Michael Berk  |  May 03, 2012

British loudspeaker firm KEF's been putting out quality designs for 50 years now, and they're showing no signs of slowing down.

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Ask S&V
Setting an AVR for Large or Small Speakers
Scott Wilkinson  |  May 02, 2012
I have an Onkyo TX-SR805 A/V receiver driving Paradigm Monitor 11s (front L/R), CC-390 (center), Mini monitors (surround L/R), and PW-2100 powered sub. I found a page on the Audyssey website that recommends setting the speakers to "small" after running the auto setup and letting the sub do the so-called heavy lifting. But the Paradigm dealer and everyone I have ever talked to about this says you should always set the speakers to "large" regardless of their actual size/low-frequency response.

What do you think about setting full-range speakers to small as Audyssey recommends? The SR805 does not have a "Large/Small" setting; it lets you specify each speaker as "full-range" or set a crossover frequency between 40 and 200Hz. Where should I set the crossover for the speakers? If the speaker cutoff is (for example) 80Hz, should the sub lowpass be set to the same frequency? If I set the Monitor 11s to 80Hz, does that mean information below 80 Hz will be sent to the sub? Does the amp still send full power to the speaker even though it is set to small?

Kevin Hoeft

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Projector Reviews3D Projector Reviews
JVC DLA-X30 3D LCOS Projector
Kris Deering  |  May 02, 2012

2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $3,500 At A Glance: Class-leading black levels • Outstanding pixel sharpness • 3D performance lacking

Last May, I had the pleasure of reviewing the first 3D projector offered from JVC, the DLA-X3. At just under $4,500, it represented an amazing balance of value and performance. This year, JVC has made some radical changes to its projection line, including two new projectors with its e-Shift 4K upscaling feature. Replacing last year’s DLA-X3 is the DLA-X30, which adds lens memory to the package along with some new 3D options. But the biggest news is that JVC has lowered the price by almost 25 percent. So does last year’s amazing value become this year’s doorbuster? Let’s find out.

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Tech2
Beating A Dead Horse: Why Test Standard Definition Anymore?
Geoffrey Morrison  |  May 02, 2012

The ability of a display to upconvert standard definition content (like a DVD, or many cable/satellite channels) was once a key component of its overall performance.

But now, most TVs do a reasonable job, and more important, I don’t think most people actually have any SD content.

Should we bother to continue testing it?

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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 109: Steve Guttenberg
Scott Wilkinson  |  May 01, 2012
Steve Guttenberg, a regular contributor to Home Theater and Stereophile as well as the author of the Audiophiliac blog on cnet.com, questions the validity of blind ABX testing and the value of objective audio measurements, especially as a predictive factor for user preferences and an indicator of how a device will sound in various real-world environments. He also talks about the differences between audio and video gear—for example, how many people seek out old audio products but not old video displays—answers to chat-room questions, and more.

Run Time: 1:06:32

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