Tom Norton

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Big Mac
Tom Norton  |  Jun 04, 2006  |  0 comments

The McIntosh XRT2K speakers sounded as big as they look, driven by a pair of the company's MC2KW, 3-module, 2000W (into 8 ohms), modular monoblock amps. Each speaker has six 12" aluminum cone woofers, sixty-four titanium-cone midranges, and forty " titanium-cone tweeters. The speakers are $45,000 each (and a quarter ton of weight, or 590 lbs.). The amps will cost you $30,000 each (they're nearly as heavy as the speakers at 495 lbs.!).

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Big Mc Attack
Tom Norton  |  Sep 05, 2008  |  0 comments
McIntosh was loaded for bear--not to mention carabou and moose--with this rack of gear.
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CEDIA 2009
Big Mits
Tom Norton  |  Sep 10, 2009  |  Published: Sep 11, 2009  |  0 comments
As the biggest entry in its premier line of DLP rear projection HDTVs, not to mention that Mitsubishi is the last holdout in this product category, this set has to grab attention. When I was there, however, there were more passers-by than onlookers. A shame; it offers a lot for the money if you want a really big screen and space is not an issue.
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CES 2009
Big Optoma
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2009  |  0 comments
Opoma continued its reputation of having the biggest screen at the show. It was well over 10-feet wide, and the new HD8200 projector (discussed far below) was putting up a bright image even at that size. The image was also crisp and detailed. The color was clearly off (with fleeting hints of too much green, especially in flesh tones), but that's a calibration issue and should be easily fixable. l
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CEDIA 2009
Big Samsung
Tom Norton  |  Sep 11, 2009  |  Published: Sep 12, 2009  |  0 comments
Samsung wasn't showing much new that we hadn't seen or reported on before, but one new introduction was the LN 65B650 65" LCD HDTV. Nothing 2010 cutting edge here--no LEDs, no local dimming, just straight engineering with a claimed peak contrast ratio of 100,000:1, online TV widgets, 120Hz features, fast 4ms response time, Energy Star compliance, and more. $6000, available now.
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Black Diamond
Tom Norton  |  Sep 06, 2008  |  0 comments
This flash photo was taken off-axis SI's Black Diamond screen, one of several entries in the market to make video projection practicable with some room lighting. It actually did a good job in avoiding wash out by at least a modest amount of ambient light
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Blade Runner: 5-Disc Complete Collector's Edition (HD DVD)
Tom Norton  |  Dec 26, 2007  |  3 comments

Deckard is a Blade Runner. His job is to seek out and eliminate Replicants who….oh, never mind. If you need me to describe the plot of <I>Blade Runner</I> in detail then you must be new to the entire movie game. If you haven't seen it, you should discover it for yourself. And if your reaction is typical you'll likely be blown away by this new 5-disc HD DVD boxed set from Warner Brothers (also available on Blu-ray). (Much of this material is also available on a multi-disc DVD package, but be careful; the 4-disc standard DVD set omits the work print version of the film described below.)

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CES 2009
Blu-ray Guest Stars
Tom Norton  |  Jan 10, 2008  |  0 comments

Clearly the Simpsons are big on the Blu-ray format.

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CES 2009
Boomerang
Tom Norton  |  Jan 10, 2008  |  Published: Jan 11, 2008  |  2 comments

The Davone Rithm, from a Danish speaker maker new to the U.S., utilizes a 5" coaxial driver in one of the oddest shapes ever for a product category (loudspeakers) known for inspiring odd shapes. $5000/pair.

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Boston Vistas
Tom Norton  |  Sep 05, 2008  |  Published: Sep 06, 2008  |  0 comments
The newest member of the Boston Acoustics family is the Vista 336 ($3400/pair), available in a wide variety of standard and optional finishes.
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