LATEST ADDITIONS

Mike Mettler  |  Aug 31, 2018
Performance
Sound
Always the pauper, never quite the prince. Such was the case for Love, the racially integrated Los Angeles psychedelic/folk-rock hybrid who were always on the cusp of breaking through the ether during those heady revolutionary times of the late 1960s, but just couldn’t totally get there. While the sounds of other SoCal Sunset Strip brethren like The Doors and The Byrds made the leap into mass consciousness, Love’s impact initially came at more of the cult-favorite level—though their multicultural influence has only grown over the ensuing years, especially within the British alternative scene of the early ’90s.
Al Griffin  |  Aug 31, 2018
The IFA show happening right now in Berlin, Germany is as much about home appliances as A/V electronics — I’ve never seen so many refrigerators in one place in my life. Still, there are interesting products to report on, particularly the new 8K TVs from Samsung and LG.
John Sciacca  |  Aug 31, 2018
I’ve spent the past 20 years in the custom installation industry, and it would be no exaggeration to say I’ve worked with more than a thousand clients during that time. A regular part of my job is consulting with clients on the design and installation of media rooms and home theaters. (The difference between the two: a media room is a social, multi-use space, while a home theater is a purpose-designed room for watching movies.) Sometimes the project is a new build (the best). Other times it involves repurposing a room or trying to fix and improve an existing room.
Barb Gonzalez  |  Aug 30, 2018
Netgear’s Orbi Voice is a melding of smart speaker technology and mesh networking that makes sense.
SV Staff  |  Aug 30, 2018
Ready or not here it comes. Samsung today unveiled an 85-inch 8K TV that will become the first 8K set available for sale in the U.S. when it ships in October.
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Aug 29, 2018
Less than a week before the CEDIA Expo 2018 is set to begin in San Diego, Sonos has taken the wraps off of the company's all-new Amp. Replacing the CONNECT:AMP, one of Sonos's earliest products (originally called the ZP120) that has been in its lineup for 12 years, the Sonos Amp is more than twice as powerful (125 watts per channel) and features an entirely revamped design—both on the inside and the outside—enabling it to be used in more custom applications (including powering up to 4 speakers in stereo or mono, a feature often requested by custom integrators) and within more decors (as well as AV racks) than its predecessor. In addition to more power...
Daniel Kumin  |  Aug 29, 2018

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $599

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Class-leading DSP surround
5.1.2-channel Dolby Atmos/DTS:X decoding
Useful Scene memory feature
Wireless surround speaker (and multiroom) option via MusicCast speakers
Minus
No 9-channel (front- and rear-height) Atmos/DTS:X expansion option
Slow DLNA audio streaming respons

THE VERDICT
Yamaha’s unique DSP-surround technology sets apart what is otherwise still a strong A/V receiver in a highly competitive market niche.

I get to review a lot of A/V receivers. Familiarity breeding— well, familiarity— I confess that I tend to sort new examples into one of three classes. The flagship models cost a lot, pump out 140 or so watts from each of at least nine and often more channels, and they tend to cram in every conceivable feature. Entry-level jobs are cheap, five- or seven-channel affairs that usually top out at 65-or-so real watts per channel and incorporate more basic feature sets.

SV Staff  |  Aug 29, 2018
HDR10+ Technologies, the joint venture between 20th Century Fox, Panasonic, and Samsung, stepped up its game in the fight for HDR supremacy yesterday with the announcement that Panasonic and Samsung have deployed HDR10+ firmware in 2018 TVs.
SV Staff  |  Aug 29, 2018
Indy Audio Labs (IAL), owner of the high-performance brands Aragon and Acurus, has announced that it will showcase an upgraded 20-channel version of the Acurus ACT 4 home cinema processor and three other products, including a new lower priced surround processor, at next week’s CEDIA Expo.
SV Staff  |  Aug 28, 2018
Yamaha today announced that it will ship its third-generation Aventage-series CX-A5200 AV preamplifier in September and follow up with the companion MX-A5200 amplifier in December.

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