For most listeners, compressed audio is a way of life. Between purchased iTunes music, streaming from Pandora or Spotify, satellite or terrestrial radio, for practically an entire generation, the only audio they know is some smashed down version of what music is capable of sounding like, and they rarely experience the capabilities of what even CD quality audio can deliver. The new Signal Doctor by Harman looks to fix all of this, but restoring what has been lost and letting people hear what they’ve been missing.
At a time when many people aren’t willing to spend $500 for a speaker, Bang & Olufsen is coming out with the new optional advanced grill to accompany its new line of in-ceiling speakers that are being manufactured by Origin Acoustics. To be fair, pricing hasn’t been set on the new grille, but the company stated that it would cost more than the price of the lowest speaker and would probably retail for around $500 each.
To clear up any confusion for the American market, even though the grill that is included with the speakers is called the “premium grill,” the truly premium option will be the aluminum advanced grill. So, what exactly is involved in making a $500 speaker grill?
Illustration by Chris Gould; room photo by Tony Cordoza
See if this doesn't sound familiar: You don't just love movies, you love the whole moviegoing experience. When the time comes to check out a film, you drive miles out of your way to go to the best theater around-one with stadium seating, digital surround sound, and that awesome THX trailer that comes on before the movie.
January 11, 2007 - Modern A/V systems are so complex, it's easy to miss a setting and end up with an experience that is less than ideal. Setting aspect ratio is a perfect example.
You’ve likely heard that Star Wars will be re-released in a digital movie collection on Friday (April 10th), finally allowing people to legally own and enjoy all six of the films (or at least enjoy four of them, tolerate Episode II and just agree to disagree on most of the filmmaking decisions from Episode I ) on a host of devices wherever they are.
TiO stands for Turn it On, and the company is looking for ways to breathe new life into existing, outdated audio systems with a system that is incredible retrofit friendly. Imagine turning your old, lame analog only volume control system into a state-of-the art streaming music system with multiple zones and app based control over all of your favorite music services including high-res audio up to 192/24-bit and you have an idea what TiO is bringing to the table.
In a recent blog I dealt with some of the big-picture infrastructure items when planning a video installation. Beyond the brand and size of TV you’ll be getting, the big four preinstallation items requiring attention are power, sources, audio, and control.
TiVo is going to take on low-priced streamers like Roku and Fire TV with the introduction of its new streamer, the TiVo Stream 4K. Unlike all previous TiVo products, the Stream 4K will not have any traditional TiVo DVR functionality, but rather will be entirely dedicated to streaming.
Beyond designing and installing new AV systems, one of the things my installation company does is perform service calls on existing systems. Whether it has been installed by the homeowner themselves, a trusted friend/family member, or some other “professional,” we routinely run across the same kinds of installation issues when we pull open the rack or cabinet and start digging into the guts of the gear.