Mark Fleischmann

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Audio Video News
Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here to Make 5.1 Debut
Mark Fleischmann  |  May 13, 2011
You already may have heard about the massive "Why Pink Floyd...?" reissue series scheduled to hit in September 2011. But the most artistically significant aspect of it has been grossly under-reported. The series will include the first release of the 1975 album Wish You Were Here in a 5.1-channel high-res medium.

There will be two ways to get it. One is the six-disc "Immersion" boxed set, which will include both new 5.1-channel and old quad mixes, not to mention stereo mixes, in multiple formats. One disc will be a DVD with lossy codecs (we're guessing Dolby Digital). The other—be still, our hearts—will be a Blu-ray disc with both 5.1 and stereo mixes in 96/24. You can read about the numerous other extras on Amazon.

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Surround Sound System ReviewsBookshelf Speaker ReviewsSubwoofer Reviews
Pinnacle Black Diamond 650 Series II Speaker System
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 30, 2014

Speaker System
Performance
Build Quality
Value
Subwoofer
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $3,996

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Sweet dedicated midrange
Solidly musical bass
Multilayer lacquer finish
Minus
Sub is merely average

THE VERDICT
The Pinnacle Black Diamonds are stellar performers with a winning personality, delivering consistently pleasing sound.

Even in our industrial twilight, the USA still has a cornucopia of great loudspeaker brands, and Pinnacle Speakers is one of them. Since the company’s founding in 1976, it has always been a family-owned business—and if there’s one kind of outfit you don’t want to mess with, it’s a family outfit. I haven’t reviewed a Pinnacle product in eight years, but just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

A limousine screeched to a halt outside my building, and two bulky guys in Men’s Wearhouse suits got out. They didn’t leave me much choice: I was blindfolded and driven around for hours and hours until I had no idea where I was. At one point, I thought I smelled Secaucus, New Jersey. Another time, the blindfold slipped, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Satriale’s Pork Store.

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Pinnacle Has Got a Slot for You
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 07, 2007
The Pinnacle OC HT 1 in-ceiling speaker ($349 for one, $999 for a three-pack) uses a slot locking mounting system that attaches to a ring you screw into the ceiling. Also shown was the QP 2, a speaker designed for use with projection screens, an unusual design with neodymium magnets mounted on the outside ($999/each, black or white). Why we didn't photograph that will always be a mystery to us.
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Pinnacle Hides the Sub
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 06, 2008
Want to make your sub disappear? Pinnacle's SCI M Sub ($600) is compact enough to fit behind a sofa. It can also work on-wall. Look for it in 2009 for $550. The external amp is $450. Pinnacle is also adding a new S-FIT line to supplement the existing Black Diamond line. In lieu of the latter's gloss enclosures, it has a simple woodgrain-like vinyl wrap with some nice build-quality details like metal grille pins. Models include floorstanding for $998/pair, monitor for $315/pair, LCR for $190/each, satellite for $115/each, and center for $265/each.
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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Pinnacle Microburst MB 5500 Speaker System
Mark Fleischmann  |  Apr 17, 2005
Small-speaker virtuosity trickles down.

Speakers needn't be big. Smaller speakers are better candidates for wall-mounting, they're less-visually intrusive on stands, and they're more-harmonious mates for flat-panel displays.

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Pioneer and Jones Make Killer In-Walls
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 05, 2008
The fruitful collaboration between Pioneer and speaker designer extraordinaire Andrew Jones continues with the EX Series Reference Class Architectural Loudspeakers. Demoed without sub, they produced tight, fast, strong bass with the kind of silky midrange Pioneer EX speaker fans have come to love. In fact, they are in the running for best sound of show. Murderously brilliant in-walls. Go figure. Drivers borrowed from Pioneer's more conventional EX speaker models include ceramic graphic tweeters, magnesium mids, and aramid/carbon composite woofers. Pioneer also added two receivers to the line. The more noteworthy one is the SC-07 ($2200) which uses the same digital amplification found in the top-line monster SC-09. If you'd prefer THX to digital amps, try the VSX-03TXH ($1000) which is Select2-certified. Both include HDMI jitter-reduction circuits and are shipping now.
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CEDIA 2014
Pioneer Atmos Demo Is Tops
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 11, 2014
You're looking at a cutaway of the coaxial driver array that makes Pioneer Elite's Dolby Atmos enabled speakers special, in the hand of designer Andrew Jones. It has a one-inch textile tweeter nestling amid a four-inch aluminum woofer. With two of Jones' very substantial looking crossovers, this coaxial array lives on both the top and front of the Elite monitor and tower speakers, shooting Atmos height channels out of the top, and everything else out of the front in the usual manner. Models include the SP-EBS73 monitor ($749/pair), SP-EFS73 tower ($699/each), SP-EC73 center ($399), and SW-E10 sub ($599). Pioneer's Atmos demo, using the company's Class D powered SC-89 receiver ($3000), was the best Atmos demo we heard on the first day of the show, with not just strong height effects but an overall tonal balance that made even the most aggressive movie soundtracks a treat. Can't wait to review these. Pioneer also showed its $349 SP-SB02 Speaker Base, with pairs of front-firing tweeters and midbass drivers and bottom-firing bass drivers.
Audio Video News
Pioneer Becomes Second 3D AVR Maker
Mark Fleischmann  |  Mar 05, 2010
Pioneer has announce some 3D capable a/v receivers.
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CEDIA 2013
Pioneer Bows A. Jones Soundbar
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 26, 2013
Celebrity designer Andrew Jones, having already ennobled two loudspeaker lines that sell for real-world prices with his high-end touch, brings much the same values to the SP-SB23W soundbar. The 2.1-channel bar uses the same curved MDF enclosure, the same one-inch soft dome tweeter (times two), and similar three-inch woofers (times four) plus a 100-watt, 6.5-inch, wireless sub. Each of the six drivers gets a separate 28-watt amp channel. Designed for music as well as movies, the bar offers Bluetooth with aptX compression coding, plus Dolby Digital and DTS decoding, and is designed to plug into a TV's analog output. See upcoming review by Brent Butterworth. Price $399, shipping this fall.
Audio Video News
Pioneer Confirms Will No Longer Make Plasmas
Mark Fleischmann  |  Mar 07, 2008
Today Pioneer confirmed a previous report that it would cease making--but not marketing--plasma DTVs. Pioneer's exit from plasma manufacture adds another name to a list of casualties that already included Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, and NEC, from whom Pioneer purchased two of its plasma production lines.
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