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Audio Video News
Klipsch to Live Stream Johnny Cash Tribute
SV Staff  |  Oct 17, 2016
If you’re a Johnny Cash fan mark your calendar: Klipsch, in partnership with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, will live stream the 21st Annual Music Masters tribute concert honoring the “Man in Black” this Friday, October 21, 7:30 p.m. EDT.
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Ask S&V
Do Wires Running to a Pair of Speakers Need To Be the Same Length?
Al Griffin  |  Oct 17, 2016
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q Do all speaker wires running to matched sets of speakers need to be the same length? I’m using 12 AWG wire to connect my AV receiver to speakers with an impedance of 6 ohms. My plan was to use 3-foot runs to my right and center speakers, a 10-foot run to the left speaker, and 26-foot and 36-foot runs, respectively, to the left and right surrounds. Will this create a problem? —Dan Donna / via e-mail

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Tech2
Review: The Needy Sons "Vis-A-Vis"
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Oct 15, 2016
One of my favorite bands of all time is Buffalo Tom. The main voice behind them, literally and figuratively, is Bill Janovitz. While BT still releases albums (all too infrequently), Janovitz keeps himself busy with other projects (like the excellentFireworks on TV! and Walt Whitman Mall).

Janovitz’s latest project is The Needy Sons, a four-piece with Mike Gent, Ed Valauskas, and Eric Anderson. They released an EP last year, and have finally put out a full length album.

I am enjoying it greatly. Here’s why.

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Audio Video News
Facebook Announces Streaming to TVs
SV Staff  |  Oct 14, 2016
Facebook has announced plans to enable its users to stream videos to their TV.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Dr. Strangelove
Fred Kaplan  |  Oct 14, 2016
Picture
Sound
Extras
Dr. Strangelove is one of the great American films: not just a savage anti-war satire but a jeremiad against the mechanization (and resulting dehumanization) that spawned the nuclear-war machine and might turn a burst of insanity into the death of all life on the planet. (The film’s subtitle: “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.”) It was an amazingly daring movie for its time: early 1964, the peak of Cold War tensions, barely a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis, on the eve of escalation in Vietnam—and here’s Stanley Kubrick, joined by Terry Southern, author of Candy, The Magic Christian, and other naughty novels, portraying the top brass as mentally off, our political leaders as feckless, and the holy of military holies, the nuclear deterrent, as a Doomsday Machine. And it’s funny as hell!
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Allegiant
David Vaughn  |  Oct 14, 2016
Picture
Sound
Extras
With Erudite’s leader overthrown, Four’s mother is now in control of Chicago, and instead of getting on with their lives, it’s payback time for those who oppressed the people under the previous leadership. Tris wants no part of this, and she and Four lead a team of rebels on a daring escape beyond the wall where they face an even larger threat. Tris is then befriended by the mysterious leader, but Four’s spidey sense tells him to be on guard—and for good reason.
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Editor's Eye
The AVR Is Alive and Well...Thanks to Atmos
Rob Sabin  |  Oct 14, 2016
In last year's annual AV receiver issue, I pondered the future of the AVR and whether it might just become a relic; a big black box rusting in the heap at the Ol’ Tech landfill, its unruly interconnects and speaker cables still clinging on for dear life and aimlessly seeking terra firma, yet another reminder of those days when the good stuff still had wires attached to it.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Bragi Announces Voice-Controlled Wireless Earbud
SV Staff  |  Oct 14, 2016
Bragi, the German Kickstarter-launched company has announced The Headphone, a lower-priced follow-up to its first product, the Dash wireless earbud featuring an integrated gesture-controlled music player and heart tracker.
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Audio Video News
Ransomware Targets Smart TVs
Mark Fleischmann  |  Oct 13, 2016
You’re kicking back with your smart TV. Suddenly the screen locks up. Even more surreal, your TV claims to represent a law enforcement agency and accuses you of crimes you haven’t committed...
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AV Receiver Reviews
Arcam AVR850 A/V Receiver Review
Daniel Kumin  |  Oct 13, 2016
Audio Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $6,000

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Outstanding seven-channel power from uncommon amp topology
Dirac Live auto setup and room correction
Winning remote handset
Minus
Lacks wireless
connectivity
Premium pricing

THE VERDICT
Reference-grade seven-channel power, an unusual (and unusually effective) auto-EQ system, and refreshing simplicity and straightforward ergonomics in a pricey, albeit very attractive and well-executed package.

Arcam’s new flagship A/V receiver, the AVR850, is about the most expensive receiver you can buy today: $6,000 here in the Land of the Free(-ish) (not counting a slightly more expensive, similarly spec’d model sourced by Arcam for AudioControl). That’s a lot of simoleons for a box that, on the surface anyway, doesn’t do quite as much stuff as the big-brand models, doesn’t have as much claimed-on-paper power or as many colored lights or flashing displays, and which exudes a substantially simpler design aesthetic. So what do you get for your extra couple of kilo-clams?

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