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Audio Video News
Meridian Commemorates 25 Years of Digital Speakers with Live Event Tour
SV Staff  |  Apr 01, 2014  | 
Public Events to Highlight New Special Edition Digital Speakers

On April 8, Meridian is kicking off a year-long series of public events to commemorate the 25th anniversary of its first digital speaker, the D600. Each event will feature in-depth demonstrations of new Special Edition versions of the company’s DSP8000 ($80,000), DSP7200, ($46,000), and DSP5200 ($20,000) DSP-controlled digital speakers. Meridian engineers will be on hand at the events to conduct demonstrations and answer questions.

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Audio Video News
McIntosh Introduces High-End Headphone Amp and Audio System
SV Staff  |  Mar 31, 2014  | 
McIntosh Laboratory has announced the imminent arrival of the MHA100, the company’s first dedicated headphone amplifier, and the MXA70 integrated audio system.
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Audio Video News
Pioneer Once Again a TV Maker
Mark Fleischmann  |  Mar 25, 2014  | 
In a surprise announcement, Pioneer revealed that it will re-enter the TV manufacturing arena. No, it won’t resume building its world-beating Kuro plasmas. But it will make LED-backlit, 1080p, Wi-Fi streaming sets of 55, 46, and 40 inches. Dixons Retail has an exclusive agreement to develop and sell Pioneer TVs in European markets through Currys & PC World stores. No word on whether Pioneer would resume making TVs for North America and other markets. Pioneer quit the television business in 2009 and licensed its Elite TV brand to Sharp in 2011.
Audio Video News
Crestron Home-Automation Integration Now Available for Select Denon and Marantz Receivers
SV Staff  |  Mar 25, 2014  | 
Crestron has announced that select Denon and Marantz AV receivers can now be updated via firmware to seamlessly integrate with the company’s home automation systems. The update can be accessed via the receiver’s system setup menu.
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Audio Video News
Pioneer Entry-Level AVRs Incorporate HDMI 2.0
SV Staff  |  Mar 24, 2014  | 
Pioneer has introduced three entry-level, 7.2-channel AV receivers equipped with HDMI 2.0, Roku Ready certification, and its proprietary iControlAV5 app. The new models will be available at the end of the month with suggested prices of $399 for the VSX-824, $499 for the VSX-1024, and $599 for the VSX-1124.
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Audio Video News
Poll Recap: Old AV Never Dies, It Gets Recirculated
SV Staff  |  Mar 24, 2014  | 
John Sciacca offered a number of great suggestions for what to do with old equipment in his recent Old Electronics Get New Life column, which inspired us to pose this question to Sound & Vision readers: How do you get rid of old AV gear that’s past its prime.

Well, the results are in and 60 percent of the tally was a near toss up between 1) moving gear to another room, 2) giving it to a friend or relative, and 3) selling it at a garage sale or online through a site like eBay—all excellent ways to keep good used gear in circulation. Here’s the complete breakdown:

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Audio Video News
Elite Screen Announces Affordable Ambient Light Rejecting Screen
SV Staff  |  Mar 19, 2014  | 
Elite Screens has announced that its CineGrey 5D Ambient Light Rejecting projection screen is now available to the consumer market. The screen, which is compatible with active 3D and 4K projectors, is said to counter the wash-out effect from ambient light while enhancing contrast and color balance.
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Audio Video News
Sharp Announces Availability of Aquos Quattron+ Series TVs
SV Staff  |  Mar 10, 2014  | 
Sharp has announced the nationwide availability of its Aquos Quattron+ series of televisions it unveiled at the 2014 International CES in January. Q+ models accept native 4K signals and incorporate proprietary Revelation technology, which divides each subpixel in the display to create 10 million more subpixels than a standard 1080p HDTV for a playback resolution between standard HD and Ultra HD.
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Audio Video News
Miller & Kreisel Brand Returns
Mark Fleischmann  |  Mar 05, 2014  | 
The venerable Miller & Kreisel loudspeaker brand is making a comeback. When a Danish company bought the brand in 2007, it was forced to take the name MK Sound. But new products being released for the 40th anniversary will wear the M&K (as opposed to MK) badge. These THX Ultra2–certified products include the S-300 monitor ($3,500/each), MP-300 on-wall speaker ($3,350/each), and S-300T on-wall tripole speaker ($4,000/pair).
Audio Video News
TCL to Sell 48-inch HDTV for $449 at Sam’s Club
SV Staff  |  Mar 05, 2014  | 
Chinese consumer electronics giant TCL (The Creative Life) yesterday introduced a 48-inch 1080p LED-backlit LCD HDTV that will be sold exclusively through Sam’s Club stores nationwide and online at SamsClub.com for $449 starting in early March. The model is the first in a 2014 lineup of TVs with screen sizes ranging from 23 to 55 inches due out later this spring.
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Audio Video News
Poll Recap: Cable/Satellite Is Preferred Way to Watch the Olympics
SV Staff  |  Feb 16, 2014  | 
The results of last week’s survey are in. We asked how you are watching the 2014 Winter Olympics and just over half of you chose cable/satellite TV. Off-air antenna was the next closest choice with 19 percent of the vote, followed by DVR recordings and “other,” which netted 12 and 11 percent, respectively. We interpret “other” as meaning you are watching two or more ways—say, streaming and cable/satellite—which in hindsight probably should have been a choice. Remarkably, streaming via a smart TV got no votes. Here’s the complete breakdown…
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Audio Video News
What’s in a Name?
Michael Antonoff  |  Feb 12, 2014  | 
Companies want shoppers to think of them first—just not too deeply. If consumers start dissecting the brands synonymous with electronics, some of them are just weird.
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Audio Video News
Netflix Eyes Cable
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 12, 2014  | 
Netflix is interested in expanding its reach to the world of cable television—and is doing so on two fronts.
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Audio Video News
Audio Xperts Coulda Been a Contenda
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 04, 2014  | 
One of the most promising new stars in audio-for-video technology has unexpectedly left the stage. AudioXperts, founded by Harman International veteran Eli Harary, specialized in luxury-level TV consoles and bamboo-sheathed Bluetooth speakers. Its first products were just about to hit the street when the lead investor pulled the plug. Delays in bringing products to market were blamed. We’re mentioning this because some of the products may eventually be sold through other channels. One of those 4TV smoked-glass soundbar consoles might be just the thing to spruce up your flat-panel TV—not to mention that it’s now a collector’s item. Harary has made arrangements to service products already purchased.
Audio Video News
Why Your Kindle Has the Blues
Mark Fleischmann  |  Feb 04, 2014  | 
Why does the Kindle Fire HDX have that blue tint around the edges of the touchscreen? Amazon says it’s actually to improve overall color: “Most LCD displays use white LEDs, and then apply filters to extract the desired color. The result is oftentimes a compromise to tone and color accuracy, or—if attempting to address these compromises—an increase in battery consumption and, thus, device weight. We’ve taken a different approach. To achieve perfect color accuracy on the Kindle Fire HDX 7-inch at the lowest possible battery consumption and weight, we used blue, not white, LEDs. Blue LEDs allow for a much more accurate and rich representation of color and result in an up to 20 percent improvement in power efficiency.” Amazon was selling the device for $229 at press time.

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