In the realm of 2-channel high-end audio, tube power amplifiers are still king—so you'd expect them to hold court, or at least a decent market share, in the world of high-end home theater as well. Alas, most home theaters are tubeless, except for the cathode-ray tubes in CRT projectors and direct-view monitors. Perhaps the time has come for tube power amplifiers to make an inroad into home theater. Manley Laboratories' new Snapper monoblock—the first tube-based power amplifier to be reviewed in the <I>Guide</I>—could be just the unit to pull the sword from the stone.
For more than two years, audio- and videophiles have been hearing about the SACD and DVD-Audio formats. But judging from the number of units sold, far more people have heard about the new formats than have heard them in their own homes. Until recently, I was among that poor huddled mass, but the arrival of Marantz's new SA-12S1 SACD player has changed all that. Is SACD worthy of the hype? More specifically, is the SA-12S1 worth its lofty price tag of $3800? Welcome to the wonderful world of early adoption.
Martin Logan unveield a completely redesigned Descent subwoofer, dubbed the Descent-i, because it's an improved version of the Descent, but I bet you already guessed that.
McIntosh ranks among the best-known names in high-end audio. Since the company's inception in the early 1950s, McIntosh products, with their immediately recognizable black-glass front panels, have earned a place in homes of passionate audiophiles throughout the world.
From the early 1950s through the mid-'60s, almost every doctor, lawyer, and chief audio enthusiast had McIntosh products in their home-entertainment systems. Together with Marantz, McIntosh ruled the American high-end audio market.
I Reviewed the Meridian 568 surround processor in the December 2000 <I>SGHT</I>, and since then I've used it almost continuously in one of my two systems. So I was expectantly curious when I discovered that Meridian was sending out their new 568.2 processor ($6995) to replace it, along with the new, companion 598 DVD-Audio player. (Actually, they sent me the 568.2MM, which includes the multichannel input module and lists for $7745.)
NAD's new M5 CD/SACD player features AES/EBU PCM digital output, separate 2-channel and 5-channel analog outputs, bass management for SACD, Burr Brown 24 bit 192 kHz audio DACs, and pure class A discrete gain modules. With a suggested list price of $1,799.00 it complements the rest of the NAD Master series of components.
"Despair all yea that hope for a true high-def movie format before late 2006."I read that in the background of one of the opening scenes in HBO's <I>Rome</I>, which looks utterly fabulous in high-def, by the way. Many videophiles, even the well-heeled ones, find it difficult to justify spending high dollars for a DVD player whose useful lifespan can be measured in months rather than years. With the new HD formats on the horizon (yes, I realize it's a receding one) the appeal of an inexpensive DVD player that can tide them over until the next technological storm is undeniably seductive.
Technology, like time, never stands still. Take DLP projectors, for example. Since their inception, Texas Instrument's DLP display chips have continued to evolve at a dizzying pace. For both reviewers and home theater enthusiasts, opinions based on one generation of DLP projectors are quickly overturned by the next generation.