LATEST ADDITIONS

The S&V Interview
High Dynamic Range, HDR10+ Style
Bob Ankosko  |  May 19, 2022
15 Minutes with Bill Mandel, Co-Manager at HDR10+ Technologies, LLC

Sound & Vision talks high dynamic range and the evolution of HDR10+ with Bill Mandel, head of the Visual Solutions Lab at Samsung Research America and co-manager of HDR10+ Technologies, LLC.

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Subwoofer Reviews
M&K Sound X15+ THX Dominus Certified Subwoofer Review
David Vaughn  |  May 18, 2022

Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $5,999

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Deep bass response with extremely high output
Impeccable build quality
THX Dominus Certification
Minus
No built-in parametric EQ or room correction
No control app or handset

THE VERDICT
The performance of M&K Sound’s THX Dominus Certified X15+ is over the top. Highly recommended if you demand bass that can go extremely deep and loud even in the largest of rooms.

Let me state from the outset that I'm a fan of M&K Sound speakers. I have owned an M&K S-150 surround system for the past 18-plus years and have zero desire to change it out anytime soon. The first time I auditioned it in a Magnolia Hi-Fi store back in 2002 made me an instant admirer of the brand, and it took me two years of saving up to be able to afford a full 7.1 speaker package. I fully bought into M&K's—and THX's—principle that using a subwoofer/satellite configuration to separate and optimize the reproduction of low frequencies improves midrange purity and accuracy.

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The Connected Life
You’ve Got to Hide Your Screen Away
John Sciacca  |  May 18, 2022
No matter how large and thin your TV is, you have the equivalent of a giant black hole on the wall when the set is turned off. Here are five ways to hide your screen.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
KEF Celebrates 60 Years with Sleek Wireless Towers, Klipsch Updates Reference Lineup
Bob Ankosko  |  May 17, 2022
Two iconic names in British and American hi-fi are drawing on many decades of experience in home audio to advance the art and science of speaker design. KEF is celebrating 60 years with a sexy new wireless tower speaker, while the company founded by Paul W. Klipsch in 1946 works to refine its flagship Reference Premiere series and step-down Reference series yet again.
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A/V Veteran
Custom Home Entertainment in Covid Times
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 17, 2022
It's been a strange two years for home entertainment as Covid came and went, came and went, came and... It's been even stranger for home theater.
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Music and Soundtrack Features
Remaster Class: Simple Minds: Once Upon a Time
Mike Mettler  |  May 13, 2022
Talk about peaking at the exact right time. Scottish art-rockers Simple Minds had just hit their stride with February 1984's transitional Sparkle in the Rain and scored an unexpected No. 1 single in the summer of 1985 with the Breakfast Club soundtrack-only smash hit "Don't You (Forget About Me)"—and it was all precursor to the production power that propelled their October 1985 longplayer, Once Upon a Time, into one of the biggest albums of the MTV Decade.
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Spatial Audio File
All I Wanna Do, Is Spatial Audio
Mike Mettler  |  May 13, 2022
A veritable houseful of tracks by L.A. legends The Doors came onto the Dolby Atmos marketplace last week. Being a consummate fan of the legendary envelope-pushing ’60s band, I just had to check them out, most especially one of my absolute favorite tracks of theirs—“Riders on the Storm,” the last cut on Side 2 of their April 1971 swan song of sorts, L.A. Woman. I say “swan song” only because it was their last album with vocalist/lyricist/shaman-in-chief Jim Morrison as frontman. (Sadly, and somewhat mysteriously, Morrison passed away in Paris, France just three short months after L.A Woman was released.)
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Audio Video News
Study Finds a Thriving Market for Vinyl Records
Bob Ankosko  |  May 12, 2022
In the age of streaming where you can summon any song, band, or music genre in the snap of a finger, the lingering presence of vinyl records seems quaint — a fad embraced by hipsters, nostalgia seekers, and aging hippies. But the latest statistics from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) show that the rebirth of vinyl that began more than a decade ago has real staying power.
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Subwoofer ReviewsTower Speaker Reviews
Perlisten Audio R5t Loudspeaker and D15s Subwoofer Review
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 11, 2022

R5t Tower
Performance
Build Quality
Value

D15s Subwoofer
Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $7,000/pair (R5t tower), $5,000 (D15s subwoofer)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Clean, uncolored sound (R5t)
Surprisingly powerful bass (R5t)
Excellent build quality (R5t)
Stunningly dynamic performance (D15s)
Excellent build quality (D15s)
Minus
Pricey (both)
Not the best option for very large rooms (R5t)

THE VERDICT
Perlisten Audio's R5t towers and D15s subwoofer offer stunning performance and good looks, but in this case the great sound and build quality will cost you.

Even the most veteran A/V enthusiast is unlikely to have heard of Perlisten (short for Perceptual Listening) Audio, but that situation should soon change. Founded by a group of audio industry veterans, the company was formally launched in 2021. For a new speaker outfit, the number of Perlisten models is astonishingly long and encompasses towers, standmounts, center and surround speakers, in-walls, and subwoofers, all of them engineered in the U.S. and manufactured in China.

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SmartStream
Netflix May Soon Charge for Sharing Passwords
Barb Gonzalez  |  May 11, 2022
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