LATEST ADDITIONS

Steve Guttenberg  |  Sep 18, 2004  |  First Published: Sep 01, 2004  |  0 comments
They're cool—really cool!

MB Quart's new Vera Series speakers have redefined cool. They're cool-sounding, for sure, but I also mean cool, as in low-temperature cool. Heat, you see, is the enemy of good sound. When you're rocking with Aerosmith's ballistic blues bash Honkin' on Bobo or crankin' Master and Commander, your speakers' voice-coil temperatures shoot up. In extreme cases, they can heat up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. The excessive temperature does bad, bad things; it can raise the voice coils' resistance by as much as 25 percent. Distortion creeps up, dynamics flatten out, and transient response goes to hell. Worse yet, sustained overheating can lead to driver meltdown. Ouch!

Darryl Wilkinson  |  Sep 15, 2004  |  0 comments
If you're old enough to remember the extremely popular (and still produced!) Klipsch Heresy speaker, you'll probably be a bit surprised by the look and feel of some of the latest Klipsch loudspeaker introductions. On the other hand, if you're young enough that the first thing you think of when you hear the name "Klipsch" is one of their svelte ProMedia personal audio systems, then you'll probably just say, "Cool!" Either way, you can't fault the venerable 58-year-old company for focusing its engineering efforts on keeping up with the times.
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Sep 15, 2004  |  0 comments
Denon calls it their "flagship" receiver; but if you want to fully carry out the nautical metaphor, you'd have to refer to the new Denon AVR-5805 as the biggest, baddest, boldest combination battleship/aircraft carrier/submarine/destroyer/frigate/(throw in some secret stealth technology reference here) ever to have floated on the home theater seven seas. Denon claims it's "the world's first A/V receiver with 10 built-in amplifiers and 16-channel output...[and] unprecedented multi-source and zone capabilities with perhaps the most comprehensive analog and digital audio/video switching configurations ever offered."
Ultimate AV Staff  |  Sep 13, 2004  |  First Published: Sep 14, 2004  |  0 comments

Nothing less than "a new standard in video quality" was promised this month by <A HREF="http://www.siliconoptix.com">Silicon Optix</A> in announcing its new Realta single-chip video processor.

Ultimate AV Staff  |  Sep 13, 2004  |  First Published: Sep 14, 2004  |  0 comments

At last weekend's CEDIA show, <A HREF=€�http://www.panasonic.com€�>Panasonic</A> unveiled a new series of high-performance plasma displays (PDPs) whose bold hardware-free minimalist look is a big departure from the competition. With their only exposed surface a single sheet of glass, images on the company's Onyx XVS series of plasma sets appear to float in mid-air. With no visible hardware, "all you see are crisp, clear, deep images,€� said Panasonic Display Group vice president Ed Wolff.

Barry Willis  |  Sep 13, 2004  |  First Published: Sep 14, 2004  |  0 comments

The near future looks mighty promising for HDTV fans. On September 8, <A HREF="http://www.directv.com">DirecTV</A> announced an ambitious plan to launch its next generation of satellites, a move that could dramatically expand the availability of high-definition programming. The development comes in the wake of DirecTV's acquisition earlier this year by News Corp., which now owns an 82% stake in the direct broadcast satellite operator.

Ultimate AV Staff  |  Sep 13, 2004  |  0 comments

Keith Yates decided to do the definitive subwoofer survey and <I>UAV</I> published the results. We start with the first two parts of the three part series: <A HREF="/features/604way">Way Down Deep, Part One</A>, and <A HREF="/features/704way">Way Down Deep, Part Two</A>.

Keith Yates  |  Sep 12, 2004  |  0 comments
In Part II of the perhaps most ambitious report on subwoofers ever to appear in print, Keith Yates gives you the lowdown on four more contenders, from one that uses a water-filled membrane in its design to a model popular for producing gut-wrenching rumbles on theme-park rides.
Keith Yates  |  Sep 12, 2004  |  0 comments
In this multi-part review, home theater designer Keith Yates gets down and dirty with some of the most ambitious subwoofers on the planet. Six months, 5000 measurements, four dozen batteries, three sore backs, and two big bare spots on the lawn, all for one thing: to get to the bottom of the bottom end, to separate Real Wallop from Codswallop.
John Sciacca  |  Sep 10, 2004  |  0 comments

Three years ago, I received an e-mail from my cousin, Chris, who was stationed in the Philippines with his team of Navy SEALs. His message described life in the village where they were staying, the people he was "working" with, the unusual local cuisine, and so on.

Pages

X