Premiere Design

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New ProductsPremiere Design
Mother of All Amplifiers: The SAE 2HP-D
Bob Ankosko  |  Mar 31, 2016  | 
Is your mouth watering yet? Mine was when I laid eyes on the 2HP-D, one of three amazing amplifiers that signal the return of Scientific Audio Electronics. Founded in 1967 by stealth designer Morris Kessler (see "15 Minutes with SAE Founder, Amp Guru Morris Kessler."), SAE has always been synonymous with world-class amplification, which in Kessler’s view boils down to three key ingredients: reliability, accuracy, and freedom from noise. As he puts it, “Voltage and current must be available to satisfy the demands of the program material, and the amplifier itself cannot intrude on the user experience.”
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New ProductsPremiere Design
Audio Synthesis: Trinnov Altitude32 AV Processor
Bob Ankosko  |  Feb 16, 2016  | 
When JBL fired up the latest iteration of its state-of-the-art Synthesis system at 2015 CEDIA Expo, more than a few jaws dropped (ours included). The system mated a mind-blowing array of 32 speakers with a 17-foot-wide screen and a battery of amplifiers that delivered 10-plus kilowatts of power to the (eight) subwoofers alone. Talk about visceral.
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New ProductsPremiere Design
Reaching Nirvana: Pioneer SE-MASTER1 Headphone
Bob Ankosko  |  Jan 27, 2016  | 
When I picked up Pioneer’s SE-MASTER1 headphone at CEDIA Expo in October, I knew it was special. Substantial yet lightweight and exceptionally well crafted with scrupulous attention to detail, right down to the contoured ear cushions and engraved serial number. (Sorry, S/N 00001 is already spoken for.) If you were to crack open the ear cups, you’d find the same commitment to excellence in the form of a highly refined ceramic-coated aluminum diaphragm surrounded by a ribbed ring, designed to reduce distortion, all framed in a sturdy aluminum alloy to minimize resonance.
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New ProductsPremiere Design
The French Connection: La Boite Cube
Bob Ankosko  |  Dec 01, 2015  | 
If you’re French, you don’t just build a speaker, you build a French speaker—one that takes design seriously. So seriously that you might end up with a speaker that looks nothing at all like a traditional (boring) speaker. La Boite Concept made a name for itself in Europe with the imaginative High-Fidelity Laptop Dock, a small desk featuring an integral sound system and high-quality USB DAC. The Cube is an extension of that concept that would seem to be ideally suited for small living spaces.
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Desktop Deity: Serene Audio Talisman Speaker
Bob Ankosko  |  Oct 23, 2015  | 
It might take a minute to process what you’re looking at. Those squiggly figures are not pieces from a life-size puzzle, and you won’t find them in the gift shop at Muir Woods (or some other rustic destination). Nope. What you see is the brainchild of Sia Rezaei, who had been building speakers as a hobby until he took on the challenge of making “some awesome desktop speakers” back in 2010.
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Premiere Design
What Would Mozart Think?
Bob Ankosko  |  Sep 23, 2015  | 
Poet Audio Pandoretta 360° Wireless Sound System

When I stumbled upon Poet Audio’s Pandoretta, I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at. I knew it was a speaker and not some sort of fancy air-filtration system, but what kind of speaker? Was it a new take on Yamaha’s Digital Sound Projector with an array of tiny drivers behind all those holes? It didn’t occur to me that the stainless steel “grille” might be an elaborate design element. Yet that’s exactly what it is.

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New ProductsPremiere Design
The Phantom Exposed: Devialet Implosive Sound Center
Bob Ankosko  |  Aug 14, 2015  | 
Viewed dead-on, the Phantom looks like a huge eyeball. Catch it from the side and it resembles a dinosaur egg. Either way, this self-contained, powered speaker—small enough to be cradled like a baby (albeit a heavy baby at 24 pounds)—embodies an unmistakably unique form factor and technical design. We spoke with Quentin Sannié, co-founder and CEO of Paris-based Devialet, to get the story behind this most unusual speaker.
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OLED Obsession: LG 65EG9600 4K OLED TV
Bob Ankosko  |  May 28, 2015  | 
2015 is shaping up to be the Year of the Ultra HD as the balance begins to shift from everyday HDTVs to 4K/Ultra HDTVs with their higher-than-HD 3840x2160 pixel count. The latest projections from the Consumer Electronics Association show UHD shipments growing exponentially over the next few years, jumping from 1.3 million sets in 2014 to 4 million this year and tripling again to 13 million in 2017. Before long, UHD will become as commonplace as HD.
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TV as Sculpture?
Bob Ankosko  |  Apr 14, 2015  | 
Samsung S9W Ultra HDTV

I tried to imagine the S9W at home but quickly realized my rustic family room is no match for its art-gallery vibe. Although I have to admit, when I first laid eyes on its magnificent 82-inch Ultra HD screen with its cinematic 21:9 aspect ratio, I wondered why it was perched, just shy of teetering, on a compact refrigerator. Refreshments at hand, perhaps? No, that wasn’t it. (Not even close, knucklehead.)

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Premiere Design
A Do-It-All Processor, At a Price
Bob Ankosko  |  Mar 02, 2015  | 
Steinway Lyngdorf P200 Surround Processor

At last September’s CEDIA Expo, Steinway Lyngdorf offered a sneak peek of the P200 surround processor it plans to start selling in early 2015 for $18,000. (No, that’s not a typo.) The P200 distinguished itself as the first processor to support both Dolby Atmos and Auro-3D. Equipped to handle multiple speaker setups, it’s designed to switch between speakers positioned for either format at the touch of a button. To get the story behind this one-of-a-kind product, we spoke with CEO/CTO Thomas Birkelund.

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LG's Tim Alessi: Why You Want Ultra HD OLED
Bob Ankosko  |  Dec 23, 2014  | 
LG 65EC9700 65-Inch Ultra HD OLED TV

LG made headlines this past summer with the announcement that its 55-inch OLED TV would sell for $3,500. Not cheap, but a whopping 75 percent less than what its predecessor sold for. Then along came the 65EC9700, a TV capable of delivering lush OLED images in 4K resolution that sells for $10,000. LG made headlines again—this time for making television’s holy grail a reality. We spoke with Tim Alessi, director of new product development, for the story behind this inspiring 65-inch hybrid.

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New ProductsPremiere Design
How Sweet It Is
Bob Ankosko  |  Nov 24, 2014  | 
Audiophiles have long been enamored with the lifelike presentation of electrostatic speakers but vexed with having to sit precisely in the sweet spot to enjoy the glorious sound. Canada’s Muraudio aims to change that with the “world’s first omnidirectional electrostatic speaker,” the Domain Omni ESL, perfected over more than a decade by company founder and chief technology officer, Murray Harman.
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Premiere Design
Arc De Triomphe
Bob Ankosko  |  Oct 07, 2014  | 
Samsung 105-Inch UN105S9W Ultra HD TV

Hailed as “the world’s largest UHD display,” Samsung’s 105-inch flagship is a sight to behold, standing nearly 5-feet tall and 8-feet wide on its sleek, minimalist arc of a frame. We were eager to learn about the company’s vision for this $120,000 statement piece so we asked Dave Das, vice president of home entertainment to take us behind the scenes.

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Full Immersion: Auro-3D Auriga Home Theater Receiver
Bob Ankosko  |  Sep 05, 2014  | 
Note to readers: See Clarification at the end of this article for an update.

Weeks before Onkyo and Pioneer announced the first Dolby Atmos-equipped AV receivers, we received a press release touting the “first ever immersive sound receiver”—the Auro-3D Auriga from Belgium-based Auro Technlogies. Intrigued by its high-end looks—and $16,700 price—we reached out to CEO and Auro-3D inventor Wilfried Van Baelen to learn more about the product and the Auro 3D surround-sound format at its core. Auro 11.1, which adds height and overhead channels to an existing 5.1 surround-sound setup, debuted in theaters in 2011 and today supports almost 500 screens worldwide, according to the company. Recent movies mixed in Auro 11.1 include Oculus, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and a number of foreign films.

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New ProductsPremiere Design
Fashionably Functional: Estelon Extreme Speaker
Bob Ankosko  |  Aug 20, 2014  | 
Alfred Vassilkov’s latest sonic creation looks more like a sculpture than a speaker, which is why you can’t help but do a double take. But beyond its stunning looks are several unexpected—and highly practical—surprises. We asked Estelon partner Alissa Vassilkov, who also happens to be Alfred’s daughter, to tell us the story behind this unique, $239,000/pair speaker.
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