LATEST ADDITIONS

Focal Gets Cranky
Tom Norton  |  Sep 08, 2008
This crank, located in the rear of the third generation Focal Grande Utopia (above) is provided to rotate the separate driver cabinets to the correct angular displacement, dependent on the listening distance.
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Tower Speaker Reviews
Polk RTi A9 Speaker System
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 08, 2008
“i” is for intense.

Every audio reviewer thinks back on specific products and sometimes wishes that he or she bought them following the review. For me, one such product was the Polk RT3000p. The two-piece speaker featured a powered subwoofer, with the mid-tweeter section perched on top in a separate cabinet. The system had a gutsy, meaty quality to it that beautifully suited movie soundtracks.

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Now You See It
Tom Norton  |  Sep 08, 2008
Now You Don't. This fold out home theater seat, for that overflow movie night crowd, Salamander Designs' Jump Seat Ottoman is a footrest by day and a chair by night. $1000 and up, depending on finish.
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Piano Concerto
Tom Norton  |  Sep 08, 2008
I couldn't find the keyboard.
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Zebras and Tigers and Leopards
Tom Norton  |  Sep 08, 2008
For that safari-themed home theater come these tasteful acoustic panels from Auralex. Available in a wide variety of other floura and fauna prints.
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Acoustic Treatment II
Tom Norton  |  Sep 08, 2008
On a little more tasteful note were a variety of acooustic absorbers, diffusers, and bass traps from MSR.
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Integra Goes ISF
Tom Norton  |  Sep 08, 2008
Integra has upgraded its DTC-9.8 pre-pro to the DHC-9.9 ($2000). The latter now includes Imaging Science Foundation's Certified Calibration Controls (ISFccc), which here provide separate high and low adjustments for red, green, and blue--for each input. The DHC-9.9 also adds THX Loudness Plus, Audyssey Dynamic Eq, and Audyssey Dynamic Volume. In case you were wondering, however, the DTC-9.8 cannot be upgraded to DHC-9.9 specs. All of these features will also be included in Integra's top two receivers, the DTR-8.9 and the DTR-9.9.
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Pioneer KURO PDP-6020FD Plasma HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 08, 2008
Deeper and darker.

When Pioneer released its first KURO plasma sets last year, its eighth generation of plasmas overall, they met with nearly universal praise. Critics acclaimed the KURO series for the new standards it set with the depth of its blacks. Fittingly, the word “kuro” means deep, dark, and penetrating in Japanese.

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Other Tech
Front Projectors Hit New Lows -- and Highs, Part II
Kevin James  |  Sep 07, 2008

Given the wide disparity of price points we're seeing at CEDIA, custom installers are hoping to maintain their steady stream of upscale customers while embracing a category relatively unknown just a few years ago: first-time projector owners with considerably lower budgets.

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Other Tech
Runway Models (of Speakers)
Brent Butterworth  |  Sep 07, 2008

Some people's idea of a perfect speaker might not be a big ugly black box that delivers pristine performance. Obviously, these folks' priorities are way out of whack.

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