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Audio Video News
CEA Expands Guidelines for Ultra HD TVs
SV Staff  |  Jul 23, 2014
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has announced expanded guidelines for Ultra High-Definition (UHD or Ultra HD) TVs, monitors, and projectors. Devised and approved by CEA’s Video Division Board, “Ultra High-Definition Display Characteristics V2” are voluntary and build on the Ultra HD definition the association announced in October 2012.

The guidelines, which take effect in September, address picture quality and interoperability and are designed to provide clarity for consumers and retailers. A TV, monitor, or projector may be referred to as “Ultra High-Definition” if it meets the following minimum performance attributes:

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Surround Sound System ReviewsSubwoofer ReviewsTower Speaker Reviews
Monitor Audio Silver 10 Speaker System
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 23, 2014  |  First Published: Jul 22, 2014

Monitor Audio Silver 10 Speaker System
Performance
Build Quality
Value
Monitor Audio W-12 Subwoofer
Performance
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $5,925 ($6,600 as shown in gloss black)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Crisp, open sound
Superb imaging
First-rate fit and finish
Minus
Two-way center channel
Limited subwoofer output

THE VERDICT
The center speaker suffers the usual off-axis quirks of a two-way design, and the small sub came up short for the deepest movie bass, but Monitor’s Silver series is a triumph, a treat to hear, and well worth seeking out for a serious audition.

Monitor Audio offers an exceptionally wide range of speakers, from the decidedly expensive (but not nosebleed high-end) to the modestly priced. In 2010, I reviewed the company’s relatively affordable Silver RX system. That line has now been completely redesigned, losing its RX moniker and morphing into the Silver series. Like the RXs before them, the Silvers were designed at Monitor’s U.K. headquarters and are built in a company-owned plant in China. For this review, we’ve selected the largest of the floorstanders, the Silver 10, along with the Silver Centre, the Silver W-12 subwoofer, and, instead of the Silver FX dedicated surround speakers, a pair of Silver 2s to serve the surround channels.

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A/V Veteran
Ultra HD, Part II: Is it Soup Yet?
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 22, 2014
A few months back I wrote about the hazards of assuming that any Ultra HD set you might buy today will be future proof. At the risk of repeating myself, some of the points I made there are worth going over again in a different, shorter form—not least of all because new readers are unlikely to devour a long, two month old blog!
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Audio Video News
Samsung 105-inch UHD TV Available for Pre-Order
SV Staff  |  Jul 22, 2014
Samsung today announced that the 105-inch 4K/Ultra HD it previewed at CES in January is now available for pre-order for $120,000. The largest TV of its kind, the model UN105S9W is built to order and features a curved screen mounted on a metallic frame, which can be removed for wall mounting.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
42: The Jackie Robinson Story
Corey Gunnestad  |  Jul 22, 2014
It’s all in how you play the game

Picture
Sound
Extras
Interactivity
There may be no crying in baseball, but for the longest time in America, there sure was no shortage of bigotry and intolerance in it. But in 1947, after nearly a century of incompliant segregation in the big leagues, two men changed the game forever when the color barrier was finally broken and baseball legitimately became America’s national pastime. When team owner Branch Rickey hand-picked a promising young player named Jackie Robinson from the Negro Leagues and brought him to play major league baseball with “dem bums,” the Brooklyn Dodgers, it truly was a milestone in American history.

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New Products
A New Use for Old Wires: Intellegg Moxivo Multiroom Music Kit
Bob Ankosko  |  Jul 21, 2014
If you’re one of the six in 10 Americans who have ditched land-line phone service to become a cell-phone-only household, Jeff Eggebraaten has a proposition for you: Use the phone lines running through your walls as a cheap and simple way to spread music around the house. The founder of Intellegg devised a set of cables that make it possible to shuttle music from a computer/laptop or iPod/MP3 player in one room to existing stereo systems or powered speakers in up to five other rooms at the same time. “It’s like plugging an iPod into a stereo, but with Moxivo there’s a phone line in between,” Eggebraaten says.
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Audio Video News
Labels Smack Pandora for Pre-’ 72 Grab
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jul 21, 2014
Several major labels have sued Pandora for streaming pre-1972 music without paying for it. Why would Pandora even attempt such a thing? Well, federal copyright law extends only that far back. However, copyrights can still be protected at the state level, so Vivendi, Sony, Warner, and ABKCO are suing in New York state courts. They point out that their music enables Pandora to rake in subscription fees and ad revenues, yet “it refuses to obtain required licenses or pay for its commercial and profitable exploitation of plaintiffs’ valuable property.” Pandora retorts that “the time, effort, and cost of securing such licenses could be significant,” while removing the pre-1972 music “could harm our ability to attract and retain users.”
Vote
What Sort of Surround-Sound Setup Do You Have?
SV Staff  |  Jul 21, 2014
What Sort of Surround Sound Setup Do You Have? The new Dolby Atmos surround format that’s looming on the horizon got us thinking about surround-sound configurations and what’s most popular among Sound & Vision readers. Which leads us to our question of the week:

What sort of surround-sound setup do you have? Indicate below and tell us about your setup in Comments.

What Sort of Surround-Sound Setup Do You Have?
5.1/5.2 channels
59% (891 votes)
7.1/7.2 channels
30% (456 votes)
9.1/9.2 channels
3% (53 votes)
11.1/11.2 or more channels
2% (23 votes)
No surround for me. Good old-fashioned 2-channel stereo is all I need.
6% (96 votes)
Total votes: 1519
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Audio Video News
MartinLogan Expands Motion Speaker Series
SV Staff  |  Jul 21, 2014
MartinLogan has announced that three models will be added to its popular Motion Series of speakers at the end of the month.

The Motion 60XT floorstanding (shown, $3,000/pair), Motion 50XT center ($900), and Motion 35XT bookshelf models ($1,200/pair) feature a new Folded Motion XT tweeter with a radiating surface 40 percent larger than its predecessor, bigger woofers, increased power handling, and higher efficiency, according to the company.

Additional refinements include rear-firing, low-turbulence bass ports, custom five-way binding posts, and reinforced internal bracing. The new models are voice-matched for mixing and matching and available with a high-gloss piano black or high-gloss black cherrywood finish.

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Tech2
An Interview with Indie Band Just Off Turner
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jul 20, 2014

From songwriting to touring and recording to shows, we sit down with Just Off Turner, an LA-based indie rock band, to talk about making music in today’s world of Spotify and iTunes.

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