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This Week
New Blu-rays for November 27, 2012: Tales of the Underworld, the Supernatural, and the Extraterrestrial
Josef Krebs  |  Nov 27, 2012

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This Week
New Music for November 27, 2012: Steals, Deals, and Reimagining the Past
Mark Smotroff  |  Nov 27, 2012

The Music Deals Never Stop...

Or so it seems as labels and retailers extend their groovy deals post Thanksgiving and into the December holiday season. Here are a couple cool ones we've heard about:

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Premiere Design
Hart Audio D&W Aural Pleasure Speakers
Bob Ankosko  |  Nov 27, 2012
Barrister-turned-speaker-maker David Hart had the human ear in mind when he designed this unique speaker—but I see a giant molar turned on its side. I’ll let you decide what to make of it and whether it’s worth the asking price of $64,000 per pair in bronze, $300,000 in silver, or upwards of $5 million in gold (shown). Why so expensive? Remarkably, the 28-inch-tall cabinet is cast in solid bronze, silver, or gold, which explains the 110-pound weight (in bronze). Add to that the 200 hours it takes to cast and hand-finish each pair at Hart’s factory on Isle of Wight.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Jaws
Shane Buettner  |  Nov 26, 2012
Picture
Sound
Extras
Interactivity
Steven Spielberg’s Jaws was the first summer blockbuster, a classic that not only cemented its director and stars in film’s pantheon, but transcended cinema altogether, taking a huge bite out of global pop culture. To this day, there are 40- and 50-somethings who quote this movie’s dialogue daily and still won’t go in the water. It’s the best monster movie ever made, and of course it’s legend that the unbearable suspense created by not seeing the beast for the first hour of the movie was due to the mechanical shark, Bruce, not working, forcing Spielberg and company to develop brilliant devices to have a shark movie without the shark.
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Headphone Reviews
Review: Pro-Ject Hear It One Headphone
Brent Butterworth  |  Nov 25, 2012

I bet your average dude on the street can’t name a single audio company that’s not in the headphone biz now. For an audiophile, it’s easier. As I look around my listening room, I see lots of them: AudioControl, Canare, Hsu Research, Krell, Rotel, Sunfire, and Sonus Faber, none of which have (yet) entered the personal audio field. But that’s changing. The Pro-Ject RM-1.3 turntable sitting atop my audio rack now shares its brand with two headphones, the $129 Hear It One and the $79 Hear It Two.

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Out Of The Blu
Butter, Doctor Who Season Seven Part One, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Chris Chiarella  |  Nov 23, 2012
In yet another unfortunate consequence of the decline of brick-and-mortar video stores, we can't walk in and say "Gimme the Butta'."
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Tech2
Songs to Buy By
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Nov 23, 2012

I use my iPod to deal with crowds. If you’re like me, sometimes you just like cranking up some tunes to push the world out to more acceptable distance. This is especially true trying to shop during the holiday season.

So for the always-hectic Black Friday weekend, I figured I’d put together a few songs that are, shall we say, not sticky-sweet holiday shopping tunes. Drown out that Bing, Nat, and Perry, and power through the season with these.

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Wireless Multiroom Speaker Reviews
Review: Bowers & Wilkins A7 AirPlay Speaker
Brent Butterworth  |  Nov 21, 2012

When B&W launched the Zeppelin back in 2007, it created a whole new category: the high-end lifestyle audio system. The Zeppelin cost a whopping $599, but it sounded much better than the other iPod docks of its time, it looked like no other audio product in history, and it sold like crazy.

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Editor's Eye
Of Holidays and Hollywood
Rob Sabin  |  Nov 21, 2012
As the holiday seasons kicks off, a report from dealnews.com suggests that Black Friday will see some insane TV deals—like 55-inch 1080p HDTVs going for $499.
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TV ReviewsLCD TV Reviews
Vizio E601i-A3 LCD HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 20, 2012

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $1,000 At A Glance: Impressive overall performance • Outstanding value • 2D only

It’s long been true that if you wait long enough, the price of technology will drop down to meet your budget. Flat-screen HDTVs are prime examples. We’ve recently seen manufacturers respond to the current global financial malaise by squeezing their beans hard enough to produce decent sets for around $1,000. While it’s difficult to say if this trend is due to economic conditions or pressure from price-aggressive new manufacturers, Vizio has been in the vanguard of the young guns making life difficult for traditional HDTV companies. And the company’s not standing still. Exhibit A: Vizio’s new $1,000 E601i-A3. Like its big brother, the 70-inch, $2000 E701i-A3, it’s a true budget buster, but for a change, the budget they’re busting isn’t yours.

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