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Audio Video News
Monitor Audio Upgrades Flagship Speaker Series
SV Staff  |  Dec 04, 2015
Monitor Audio is not shy when it comes to boasting about its new flagship series of speakers, hence the opening line of its press release: “The Platinum II range has produced the most musical, accurate, and beautiful loudspeakers Monitor Audio has ever made.”
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Audio Video News
S&V Poll: 4K TVs Top Black Friday Purchases
SV Staff  |  Dec 04, 2015
Earlier in the week we asked what your top AV purchase was if you ventured out to shop on Black Friday...
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Audio Video News
Sony to Stop Making Betamax Tapes (Seriously)
SV Staff  |  Dec 03, 2015
Yes, we know…you (and everyone else) thought Sony stopped making Betamax tapes decades ago but it turns out they’re still in production—that is until Sony puts the final nail in the Betamax coffin in March 2016.

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New Products
2015 Holiday Gift Guide
Bob Ankosko  |  Dec 03, 2015
I know you don’t want to be the guy or gal who gives questionable—OK, useless— presents. Apart from the awkward head-nodding and forced smiles, the act of giving a bogus gift reflects badly on you, as in: I ran in Target a quarter to five on Christmas Eve and grabbed the first [tie/sweater/gloves/underwear] I saw. Don’t go there! We’ve already screened a dozen gifts for you at prices starting as low as 30 bucks. All you have to do is find a match for that special person(s) on your list. How hard can that be?
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SmartStream
Second Generation Chromecast and Chromecast Audio Review
Barb Gonzalez  |  Dec 03, 2015
The newest Chromecast model has hardware and software improvements. Do you need to upgrade to the second-generation Chromecast or to the Chromecast Audio?
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Audio Video News
Free Preview of New Comedy Channel Starts Today
SV Staff  |  Dec 03, 2015
Starting today, you can preview NBCUniversal’s new streaming comedy channel Seeso for free as part of a web-only free Beta period that runs through January 6.
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Audio Video News
Raumfeld Announces Pre-Sale Discount for Wireless Speakers
SV Staff  |  Dec 03, 2015
The compact One S speaker, reviewed as part of the Top Pick winning Raumfeld wireless multiroom audio system, is now available at a presale discount on raumfeld.com, according to the company.
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Ask S&V
How Do I Combine My Home Theater Sub with Desktop Speakers?
Al Griffin  |  Dec 02, 2015
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I store my music collection on an iMac and use iTunes for playback. I have a plan to use two JBL powered studio monitors and an old Sunfire MKII subwoofer for a desktop speaker system. Here’s my question: How do I set the system up for optimal sound quality? Should I buy a USB DAC? If I did, how would I integrate it with the speakers and sub? Is there a DAC with three RCA outputs and a built-in subwoofer crossover? —Rick Martinez

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Music Reviews
Rush: Fly by Night, A Farewell to Kings & Signals — High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-ray
Mike Mettler  |  Dec 02, 2015
Performance
Sound
“Be cool or be cast out.” So goes one of the pivotal lines in “Subdivisions,” the indelible lead track from Rush’s transitional 1982 album Signals, and it’s also a statement that aptly describes the band’s own fortunes as it navigated a hard-won ascendance from perennial cult favorite to mass acceptance over the course

of its five-decades-and-counting career. The band recently completed a triumphant 40th anniversary tour dubbed R40, celebrating its genuine Rock & Roll Hall of Fame legacy by performing a 23-song set in reverse chronology. (Actually, “Reverse Chronology” sounds like a lost track from the band’s mid-’80s synth-centric period.) I saw Rush’s late-June stop at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and marveled at the ever-present breadth of the band’s sound and how bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer Neil Peart were able to modernize decades-old material like “Jacob’s Ladder” and “Lakeside Park” without compromising each track’s initial, individual compositional integrity and charm.

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Audio Video News
ESPN Wants to Stand Alone
Mark Fleischmann  |  Dec 02, 2015
ESPN is tired of being just another channel in someone else’s pay-TV system. Its parent company Disney is considering going direct to consumers with a video streaming service, as HBO is already doing with HBO Now. CEO Bob Iger raised the prospect in a CNBC interview, though he added the move is at least five years away, presumably because of existing contracts with pay-TV providers. Analysts said the service could get consumers to shell out between $21 and $28 a month.

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