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Audio Video News
Order Your 24k Gold iPhone 7 Now for Only $…
SV Staff  |  Aug 12, 2016
Leave it an entrepreneur to find an innovative (and ostentatious) way to capitalize on the launch of a popular tech product—in this case, the forthcoming iPhone 7.
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Audio Video News
DirecTV Streaming Service to Target Non-Pay TV Households
SV Staff  |  Aug 12, 2016
DirecTV plans to target the estimated 20 million U.S. households that don’t subscribe to pay TV with its forthcoming DirecTV Now “over-the-top” (OTT) Internet TV service, according to the cable industry news site FierceCable.com.
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Soundbar Reviews
Yamaha YSP-5600 Soundbar Review
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Aug 11, 2016

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $1,700

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Dolby Atmos and (via future upgrade) DTS: X
MusicCast, AirPlay, Bluetooth (both in and out), and Wi-Fi for music streaming
Minus
Larger than most soundbars
Remote control isn’t backlit

THE VERDICT
It’s pricey, but outstanding sonic performance and an impressive list of useful features makes the Yamaha YSP-5600 one of the best overall soundbar values on the market.

It had to happen: Somebody took Dolby Atmos and superglued it to a soundbar. It looks like Dolby Atmos in a Bar (DAIB) is the new Home Theater in a Box (HTIB). Oh, joy of joys.

I jest, of course. I’ve reviewed some really great soundbars—and Yamaha, the company behind this groundbreaking Atmos-enabled model, is no slouch when it comes to all-in-one theater systems. At $1,700, the new YSP-5600 is the most expensive, and most extensively featured, soundbar in Yamaha’s lineup. Measuring in at 43.25 inches wide x 8.38 high x 3.63 deep (without its stand), it looks to be the largest, too. From the size, heft (almost 26 pounds), and quality of construction (including a metal—not cloth—grille), it should be obvious to even the most unshakable soundbar skeptic that this aspires to be a serious speaker system, with or without the Atmos-enabling bits.

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Throwback Thursday
Flashback 1981: Introducing Music Television
SV Staff  |  Aug 11, 2016
When Music Television, better known as MTV, launched 35 years ago this month—12:01am on August 1, 1981 to be precise—the idea of a 24-hour video music channel was foreign (as it is again today) yet fascinating as we got to see beloved pop heroes “playing” music against often outlandish video sets.
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Ask S&V
Can You Suggest a Component for Storing My CDs?
Al Griffin  |  Aug 11, 2016
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I'm looking to load my CD collection into a hi-res ripper/music server that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. My plan is to connect it to my Pioneer SC-85 receiver so I can browse lists of artists and titles on my TV. Do you have any suggestions? —April Seale

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Audio Video News
AMC Plans for 100 Dolby Cinema Theaters
SV Staff  |  Aug 11, 2016
Dolby Cinema theaters equipped with the latest video and surround sound technologies have been so successful that Dolby Labs and AMC Theatres have announced an accelerated schedule to complete 100 new installations by the end of 2017, seven years ahead of the original plan.
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Audio Video News
Vinyl Obsession: Revilla Grooves on Main Thrives in the Age of Streaming
Bob Ankosko  |  Aug 10, 2016
I’m sure I wasn’t the only local who was surprised (or puzzled) to see an old-school record shop open up in Milltown, NJ, 15 minutes from Rutgers University’s main campus in New Brunswick. A welcome addition but I wondered how long a store specializing in LPs and vintage audio gear would last. Could it survive in the age of Spotify? A year after opening its doors, Revilla Grooves on Main is not only surviving but thriving...
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The Connected Life
Meet MowBot: Husqvarna's Automower Robotic Lawnmower
John Sciacca  |  Aug 10, 2016
I’ll be honest, when I first heard about Husqvarna’s Automower robotic lawnmower, my first thought was, “Well, that’s stupid.” I mean, why would someone need a Roomba for their lawn? Dumb.

Then I thought about it a little longer and started to weight the cost of the Automower versus my personal time and cost of cutting the grass or what I have been paying someone else to do it, and how nice it would be to come home and always have a perfectly groomed lawn, and Automower started to make a lot more sense. Then when I started to think about all the grief I get from my lawn guy – broken sprinkler heads, not coming for weeks at a time, yearly price increases – I started getting really excited about the prospect of letting a robot cut my grass.

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Audio Video News
Vizio Rolls Out HDR10 Update for M-, P-Series TVs
SV Staff  |  Aug 10, 2016
Vizio today announced the availability of a firmware update that enables playback of HDR10 high dynamic range (HDR) content on its M- and P-Series SmartCast TVs.
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Subwoofer ReviewsAccessory Reviews
SVS SoundPath Subwoofer Isolation System Review
David Vaughn  |  Aug 09, 2016

Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $50

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Easy to install
Tames unwanted vibrations
Minus
Why aren’t these standard issue?

THE VERDICT
If you have touchy neighbors who complain about vibrations from your subwoofer, you need these in your system.

I love bass, always have, always will. The same can’t be said for my wife, who constantly tells me, “Turn it down. You’re going to wake the dead, or worse, go deaf!” Part of my problem is that my home rests on a raised foundation with a wood subfloor underneath my carpet, which means my dual-subwoofer setup transmits plenty of vibrations from the subwoofer to the floor, which then resonate through the rest of the house. In fact, on certain low-frequency scenes in movies, you can literally see my windows vibrating. But is this really a problem?

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