I collect old magazines. And (surprise!), most of them have something to do with audio or video. When I recently came across a copy of the June 1962 issue of the now defunct <I>High Fidelity</I> magazine, it seemed like a good time to have a look back at audio's past. Particularly since we sit on the cusp of the <A HREF="http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com/">2007 Home Entertainment Show</A> (May 11-13 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel near Grand Central Station in New York City)

Several years ago a major television manufacturer attempted to market an 80-inch rear projection TV. I first saw it, if I recall correctly, at our annual Home Entertainment show, then still known as the <I>Stereophile</I> show. Yes, this is a shameless plug&mdash; <A HREF="http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com/">HE 2007</A> is coming up in New York City on May 11-13!

HDMI 1.0 was introduced to the market in 2002. As a means of carrying both digital audio and video between the source and the display, it offered several advantages over competing technologies, the most prominent being IEEE 1393, commonly known as FireWire. HDMI carried both audio and video, and also offered alluring security advantages that appealed, in particular, to Hollywood.

We haven't spent a lot of review time here at <I>Ultimate AV</I> on two major trends in speaker design. One of them is euphemistically referred to in the industry as "architectural speakers." That is, speakers designed to be mounted either in or on a wall. The other, an outgrowth of the on-wall category, is the tall, slender column speaker that takes up little floor space.