Mark Fleischmann

Price: $3,149 At A Glance: Brilliantly ironclad build quality • Tight, tuneful sealed sub • Carver-worthy dynamics

Little Speaker Lusts for Power

My lonely battle to establish the satellite/subwoofer set as a respectable speaker category just got a little less lonely. Bob Carver, legendary designer of amps and speakers, has joined me on the space-saving speaker front. Carver first gained fame when he founded Phase Linear in 1970. He designed what the industry then considered some of the world’s most powerful amplifiers. His current company, Sunfire, has branched out into surround processors, an extensive subwoofer line, and speakers. With the HRS line, he enters the sat/sub category with a product that—like most Carver products—shows a healthy lust for power. Take these four satellites, a barely larger center, and one of Carver’s famously potent subs, and you’ve got a sat/sub set that’ll turn heads and change minds.

Following the DTV transition next February, cable systems will be required to carry broadcast channels, under a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals that upheld requirements of the Federal Communications Commission. Must-carry rules are nothing new. What is noteworthy here is that they will continue after the transition.

Panasonic is making a bid to purchase Sanyo. The move would not only make one of Japan's leading consumer electronics giants even bigger--it might also lead to a dominant position in batteries, a fast growing segment of the industry.

Netflix will bring its streaming movie service to owners of TiVo Series3, HD, and HD XL DVRs. Testing began last week, with the rollout to all TiVo subscribers following in December.