A little motorization can add a lot of enjoyment, both functionally and aesthetically.
Plasma TVs swing and pivot in midair with the help of articulating arms. Motorized speakers unhinge and then retract. Projectors and screens gracefully descend from ceilings and then magically disappear. TVs rise and fall with the help of hydraulic lowboys. Drapes open and close at will. Seats (and parts of your anatomy) move and shake. Think your equipment needs to stay still? Think you need to stay still? Think again.
Four speaker systems. One verdict. Five hungry editors.
Two Californians, a Canadian, and an Israeli walk into a bar. No, wait. It was an apothecary. Two Californians, a Canadian, and an Israeli walk into an apothecary. They say, "Ow." No. They order a drink. No. They make speakers. Yes. That's it, they make speakers, and we've gathered their sub/sat systems together here: the PSB Alpha B from the great white north, the Morel Spiro from the other side of the planet, and NHT and M&K systems from what many people consider to be a different planet. They range in price from just under $1,400 to just over $1,900. To make things interesting in this land of reality TV shows, we will ceremoniously eat the loser of this Face Off. Next on Fox: When Hungry Editors Attack. Intrigued? So am I, and I already know how it ends.
The consumer electronics industry has a unique way of making a mess of things. Take HDTV, for example. Competing and completely different connection standards have made a mess of what should be a simple but substantial advancement in picture quality. Analog connections are fine, but they don't have the copy-protection capability to appease content providers. Then there's IEEE 1394, a copy-protected and network-enabled solution that only works with displays that have built-in HDTV decoders. Finally, you have the digital visual interface (DVI), a modified computer-display connection. DVI works well with satellite and cable systems that use interactive program guides, but it uses an expensive connection type that's difficult to run longer than 10 to 15 feet.
MartinLogan MartinLogan's Cinema i center-channel speaker builds on the same foundation as the company's Cinema center channel, but it incorporates some new technologies and a supercool industrial design. The speaker includes ClearSpar technology, which is said to enhance the Cinema i's transparent aesthetic and increase both efficiency and dynamics. MartinLogan's MicroPerf design is also aboard. In this design, the stator's individual holes are smaller, which allows for more open space compared with that of the traditional ESL transducer. This 37-pound speaker is ergonomically friendly, too. Using its included stand, you can mount it on your display, on the wall, on the ceiling, or even on the floor. Just use the incorporated handgrips to aim the speaker at the listening position. This versatile center channel costs $1,795. MartinLogan (785) 749-0133 www.martinlogan.com
<I>Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, T.P. McKenna, Del Henney, David Warner, Jim Norton, Donald Webster, Ken Hutchinson. Directed by Sam Peckinpah. Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital mono. Two discs. 117 minutes. 1971. Criterion 182. NR. $39.95.</I>
Photos by Ebet Roberts Molotov photo courtesy of Universal Looking through some past Austins: I told you 'bout punk-happy Donnas. You know the place where everything's Norah. . . .
You hear a lot of buzz lately about how inexpensive digital TVs have become. Prices for big-screen rear-projection TVs (RPTVs) have leveled off to the point where even high-definition models cost about what analog RPTVs cost before TV started to go digital.
Illustration by Bill Villareal Ah, summer. The warmth of the sun, the smell of fresh-cut grass, the taste of backyard barbeque - and your music playing too softly to hear on the patio but blasting as you walk inside for more ice cubes. As life migrates out of doors at this time of the year, your tunes don't have to get left behind.
With the drive-in theater largely a thing of the past, could outdoor video be the wave of the future? Taking video outside isn't very practical unless you live in an area with a mild year-round climate.
