LATEST ADDITIONS

LCD TV ReviewsTV Reviews
Samsung UN60F8000 3D LCD HDTV
Al Griffin  |  Nov 22, 2013

2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $2,300 (updated 2/2/16)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent picture quality for an LCD HDTV Innovative remote control
Minus
Overly wide Arc Stand base

THE VERDICT
Samsung’s F8000 Series represents an evolutionary leap in the company’s LCD TV offerings.

My last experience with a Samsung TV (aside from the company’s KN55S9C OLED, reviewed in the November issue) was a memorable one. The company had just endowed its Smart Hub interface with voice control, and, consequently, it was the first TV I ever found myself talking at. Or screaming at, rather, since that feature proved useless in practice. Another reason was its performance: The Samsung was one of the best sets I’d tested in recent memory.

Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
Vizio to Add Full-Array LED Backlighting to 2014 TVs
Bob Ankosko  |  Nov 22, 2013
Stepping up its TV game in 2014 by putting a “big emphasis on picture quality,” Vizio announced yesterday that it will add full-array LED backlighting with local dimming to its 2014 E Series line of LCD TVs. The line will include a 55-inch model that will sell in the “mid $700” range, according to a spokesman.
Continue Reading »
Tech2
Invisible Cities: The Seamless Meeting of Art and Technology
Lauren Dragan  |  Nov 22, 2013
Have you ever listened to a pair of headphones and thought that it seems as though the music was being performed right in front of you? Or maybe you’re in a public place, listening to music as you walk, and all the day to day mundanity around you takes on a more profound glow? Or sometimes, if you pay attention, it seems as though events are lining up to the rhythm: someone is walking to the beat, or speaking at just the right moment? Now imagine that all of those things were happening at the same time and you’ll have a small idea of what it was like to attend Invisible Cities, an opera composed for headphones and performed live at a functioning, bustling train station.

Continue Reading »
SmartStream
Google Play Music iPhone App (Still) Better Than iTunes Radio
Barb Gonzalez  |  Nov 21, 2013
Google Play Music is now available as an iPhone app. See how it compares to the Android version and to iTunes Radio
Continue Reading »
Ask S&V
Can I Use an AV Receiver with Electrostatic Speakers?
Al Griffin  |  Nov 21, 2013
Q I have been reading A/V magazines for years, as well as conducting my own research, and am still a little confused about how to select the right amplifier to use with MartinLogan electrostatic speakers. The literature I’ve read clearly indicates that the ohm rating of a receiver is just as important, or more so, than its wattage per channel when considering an A/V receiver to pair with speakers. Does the ohm rating of MartinLogan electrostatic speakers make them incompatible with typical AVRs?
Continue Reading »
Surround Sound System ReviewsBookshelf Speaker ReviewsSubwoofer Reviews
Gallo Acoustics Nucleus Micro SE Speaker System
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 21, 2013

Nucleus Micro SE Speak
Performance
Build Quality
Value
TR-1D Subwoofer
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $1,614

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Highly compact steel sphere enclosures
Transparent sound quality
Big soundstage with no restrictive sweet spot
Minus
On-wall or near-wall placement well advised
Tricky subwoofer mating
Likes a lot of power

THE VERDICT
A sub/sat system whose great strengths are its midrange clarity, wide dispersion, and décor-friendly form factor.

The interaction between speaker manufacturers and the public they serve has changed markedly since the days when I was a longhaired college kid buying my first speakers. Back then, design ideas flowed in one direction, from the top down, from the drawing board to the sales floor—and if you bought a speaker, you nearly always bought a box speaker. Now speaker-design imperatives flow in both directions. With a greater variety of beckoning form factors, speaker buyers influence the design process simply by choosing the products that fit into our lives.

Continue Reading »
Home Movie Theaters
A Movie Buff’s DIY
Kim Wilson  |  Nov 21, 2013
Inspired by his grandmother’s architectural and interior designs, Rudy Brown set out to surprise his family with a home theater that he built from the ground up. Beyond inspiration was the sheer desire to build a dedicated theater space. Rudy knew drywall, framing, and painting, but he got the rest of his knowledge from frequenting the DIY section of AVSforum.com and reading Home Theater magazine.
Continue Reading »
Music Reviews
The Clash
Mike Mettler  |  Nov 21, 2013
Performance
Sound
Punk. Rock. Reggae. Hip-hop. Ska. Dub. Soul. Jazz. Rockabilly. No, this isn’t a listing of all the sections in one of the only remaining cool record stores left standing; this is the breadth of the genre-bending legacy of The Clash. And the sonic scope of Sound System is set to prove The Clash may very well be The Only Band That (Still) Matters.
Continue Reading »
Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Silver Linings Playbook
Fred Kaplan  |  Nov 21, 2013
Picture
Sound
Extras
Silver Linings Playbook is the most oddly enticing rom-com in a long time. Think Billy Wilder filtered through Martin Scorsese, which isn’t a bad way to describe the flip sensibility and kinetic style of writer-director David O. Russell at his best (Three Kings and Flirting with Disaster, not I Heart Huckabees). It’s a movie about crazy people: self-destructive and socially oblivious in various ways to varying degrees, all of them finding a place in the sun through love, family, community, music, and sports.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
‘Super Tickets’ for New Hobbit On Sale Today
SV Staff  |  Nov 21, 2013
Advance ticket buyers also receive digital HD version of the movie

Regal Entertainment announced that Super Tickets go on sale today for director Peter Jackson’s highly anticipated The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which opens in theaters on December 13.

Continue Reading »

Pages

X