LATEST ADDITIONS

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Q I am finally upgrading my Pioneer Elite receiver and plan to replace it with a new model that has HDMI 2.2 inputs. Unfortunately, the new receiver that I have in mind lacks a phono input. To get that feature, I’d have to fork over $500 more for a step-up model. Is there any way to use the phono preamp in my old receiver and hook it up to the new one? Also, how good are the built-in phono preamps in receivers compared to standalone models? —Kevin Olds /Via e-mail

A year before The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper, Brian Wilson had completed “Good Vibrations,” the first pop song with orchestral backing and the most expensive single ever produced. By then, its genius composer had begun his descent into madness, which, by the 1970s, would find him bedridden for several years before being placed under the care of Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti). Astonishingly accurate to its finest detail, Love & Mercy, which flashes between Wilson, “Rock Star” prodigy of the mid-’60s (Paul Dano) and “Rock Bottom” burnout of the late ’80s (John Cusak), is compelling on historical, musical, and emotional levels.

Doppler Labs announced that it has started shipping its Kickstarter-funded Here Active Listening system, a set of unique wireless earbuds controlled by a smartphone app that lets users “instantly control and personalize their live audio environment.”

PRICE $690 as reviewed

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Big sound, small price
Efficient and easy to drive
Proper surround sound at a soundbar price
Minus
Black vinyl is the only finish

THE VERDICT
Polk’s T50 system is all about value with a capital V— delivering a real 5.1 experience including a powered subwoofer and floorstanding tower speakers at a soundbar price.

“What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar.”—Thomas R. Marshall

American vice presidents aren’t usually remembered for much, but Woodrow Wilson’s VP Thomas R. Marshall will always be remembered for saying that America needed good cheap cigars. If you figure in a hundred years of inflation, Marshall’s five-cent cigar would still be well under a buck today, so clearly he was a man who wanted real value for the money. With that in mind, I reckon that if Marshall were alive today, he would be a huge fan of the Polk T Series speaker system.